The Night Before Christmas

The Night Before Christmas was a great finale to our Christmas Countdown. 

We loved hearing this classic poem and appreciated the charming illustrations by Jan Brett. And then, we celebrated with a party! Our candy canes grew to an edible length. (We wondered if they'd continue to grow if we hadn't pulled them up:)

Our plan was to use them for stirring hot chocolate but after seeing the snow in which the candy canes grew, we decided on snow cones instead. 

We added ice to the snow cone machine.

Once it was the right consistency, we added the flavoring of our choice.

They were a great addition to our candy cane cookies. Let's get this party started!

Merry Christmas to all!

Katie the Candy Cane Fairy

Today was all about candy canes and peppermints including our book, Katie the Candy Cane Fairy.

We had an invitation to play with peppermint play dough. It was a great sensory experience because besides the regular squishy, soft play dough feel, it smelled wonderful and the smell permeated throughout the room.

We used candy cane kisses to make cookies for Santa and for us to have at our Christmas party tomorrow. 

We rolled peppermint flavored sugar cookie dough in festive sprinkles.

And as soon as they came out of the oven, we placed candy cane kisses in the middle of each. 

Aren't they so pretty? Almost too pretty to eat...almost!

We're going to have hot chocolate at our party, so we grew candy canes to use for stirring. We planted peppermint seeds and added magic snow to help them grow. 

After quiet time we could see that they had grown a bit. Such magic! It is a magical time of year... 

We can't wait for tomorrow!