...to take a family walk

So we have an Advent calendar that the kids LOVE.  It is a long wooden box type piece with 25 doors in which I am supposed to put something clever in, each day.

Well, last year I realized that with four children, there was no way we could fill our box with the traditional candies, chocolates or prizes each day.  Four pieces wouldn't fit and if I only put one thing in, it would be a fight each day to determine who got to open the door..you see where the saga is going.

So I decided that we were going to do something for each day of Advent.  Some days have been more simple than others (candy canes by the fire) others a little more elaborate (a trip to a bakery) but they all have a common theme...something that we can do together.

I do allow myself the flexibility to come up with each task in the morning of each day.  This way, I am not likely to put something in the box that we simply can't accomplish (although I wouldn't recommended putting 'make truffles' in after working a full day!).

So today's fun well really not so fun (as my children reminded me constantly on the walk) idea was that we'd take a family walk, in the dark, to look at the neighbor's Christmas lights. 

Only three of thirty houses had any lights (one of them was ours).

Breezy and 28 degrees.  Along the river on a hill.

Comments from the gallery:  "How far is it that we have to walk?"  "Do we really have to walk the whole way?" "How come Abbey and Audrey get to ride in the wagon?"

Not the vision of a Norman Rockwell family evening walk that I had imagined.

But it did beat walking Timber by myself at 10:00 this evening!