I am widely known as the Grinch when it comes to the holidays.  It is too stressful and I just don’t enjoy it.  As such, I swore I would not be participating in the Holiday Ho-Ho-Hops my bento blogger friends have been orchestrating. And yet, here I am, packing Christmas bentos and sneaking a real Christmas tree into our home – what’s left to do but join the hop?!?

It all started on Tuesday, when Girlie discovered some Christmas cookie cutters and had the brilliant idea to make mini quesadillas with them!   So, for Tuesday’s lunch, she got a fun winter scene with a candy cane, a reindeer, and Frosty. Her Christmas countdown is hidden in the pirate booty snow… she’s got 7 pieces there to count.  Little Dude got a Frosty the Snowman scene with candy canes and pirate booty snow.  He was so excited about this lunch that he was begging to be taken to school!  I love how happy these lunches make him!

The fun continued onto Wesdnesday’s lunch because a good friend decided she no longer wanted her Christmas tree and generously gave it to us, including a loan of her tree stand and ornaments!  We’ve never had a tree before (well, we have a small tinsel tree and that has always  been enough for us), but the kids are so into Christmas this year and I just couldn’t pass up a FREE one.  Our friend included a note to the kids from Santa and Mrs. Claus, telling them that the tree was a gift for their good behavior this year.  We snuck it into the house after they went to sleep last night and their faces were priceless when they discovered it this morning.    Of course, Girlie wanted to commemorate the Christmas Miracle tree with a bento! She made her own (left) and I made Little Dude’s (right).

Girlie’s mini-quesadillas have a tree, bell, candy cane, and star.  I put her 6 days countdown on to a tangerine.  She also has sugar snap peas and carrots. I saw her sneak a Chobani Champions chocolate chunk yogurt into her lunchbox too!  She must be growing again!  Little Dude has a candy cane, a star, and a tree, along with tangerine slices and Chobani Champions.

Ok, it is safe to say that I am getting into the holiday spirit more than usual this year.  It is kind of hard to resist with a 6 year old and a 3 year old and all their Santa talk.  They are both so into it and I can’t helped but get sucked into their excitement.  Does this mean I have to get a tree again next year???

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