December Happenings

Church Christmas Party 

       I love that our ward does a breakfast for the annual Christmas party.  Breakfast consists of parfaits, egg bakes, and the biggest pancakes we see all year.  The theme this year was The Polar Express and it was really cute.  The dress code is pjs, but we had plans right after the party, so we came dressed for the day.  

       After breakfast, tickets were given to the kids to board the train.  Someone read the storybook and though out the book, different parts were acted out.  At the part where hot chocolate is served, the teenagers came out dressed up and passed out hot cocoa and candy.  As they were passing them out I had two simultaneous thoughts: how cute this was and that somebody was going to spill their hot chocolate.  Less then a minute later, guess whose kid spilled hot chocolate all over?  As soon as Little Man was given his cup, he tried to balance it on his seat next to him resulting in an almost immediate puddle.  We cleaned it up quickly and got him a new cup before the "elves" disappeared into the kitchen, so no damage was done, but I was the keeper of the hot chocolate after that. 

 Is is just me or is there something about little boys in railroad train overalls? And when you have got a pair of these in your dresser is there really anything else you could wear to a party involving trains?

 Kids getting ready to board the train with their ticket.




Picking out the Christmas tree


       We went to a local tree farm, where we trudged all the way to the back of the field to find that perfect tree.  After finding the lot a little picked over, and discovering that Little Man and Kiwi had some strong opinions about which trees they wanted (and they never seemed to be the same tree), we settled on an almost perfect tree.
        Mason insisted on walking over the bumpy terrain the entire time we were there.  He fell in the mud more than once, but I picked him and his puffy coat up, he would want to be walking again.  Getting the tree to the front of the farm was an adventure and truly a family effort.  Picture ten foot tree, huge mud holes, one baby stuck in the mud, a saw, and two adults attempting to get everything/everybody back to the front of the farm safely.  I'm sure we were quite the spectacle, but we eventually made it.

Making Christmas treats

The kids and I did a gingerbread house one afternoon.

Both Kiwi and Little Man made candy trees at school.

Watching holiday specials and movies

    Mason never lasted more than two minutes before crawling off the couch to find something more interesting to do, but he always likes to start on the couch snuggled up with blankets and stuffed animals.  

Little Man's Christmas performance

     So this was the only picture I got and if anyone can spot him, bonus points for you! I couldn't even  spot him when we were there until into the second song.  I started to get worried that he had been left in the classroom or something.  The gym was packed and although we got there twenty minutes early (which is when you needed to have your first graders there) we were in the very, very back.  

     Even though I had a hard time seeing him, it was very enjoyable to listen to. All the children were so into it, and the songs were really cute.  Afterwards Little Man said, "I could do that 100 more times!"   He loved being up there performing and couldn't stop talking about it.  

Christmas Lights (and my baby)

     Although we all love Christmas lights in our family and went on numerous walks/drives to look at them, Mason was by far the most fascinated with them.  He would (and still does) go to the front door and knock on it from the inside gesturing that he wants it open.  When it's open, he points to our neighbors lights and to our snowmen lights lining the walk way until we tell him it's cold and then he comes in.  

     The lights on our tree were plugged into an outlet that is set up with a light switch behind the chair in our living room.  Mason learned that if he climbed on the chair and switched the light switch he could control the Christmas tree lights.  This was amazing to him and has provided many minutes (is there any other time measurement when it comes to a baby's attention span) of fun and entertainment for him.  He is always happy to see the tree when he comes downstairs and I think he will be sad to see it go later this week.  

 Look how pleased he is with himself.  

     Although Mason was probably the most into the lights on the tree, he did a pretty good job leaving the ornaments alone.  The other kids, however, were a different story.  I didn't expect to have to watch my four and six year olds with the ornaments, but they loved to take them down and play with them.  Since most of the ornaments are kid friendly, I let them a couple of times and they made ornament families and took them on trips.

     In fact, they loved to play with all of the Christmas decorations.  Numerous times, I found toys hanging out in the Christmas village and once as I was walking by our Nativity scene, I was surprised to one of Kiwi's dollhouse babies in the manager.  Puzzled I asked the kids what was going on and where Baby Jesus was.  Their response?  The baby had never slept in a manager and wanted to see what it was like.  The Baby Jesus figurine was upstairs hanging out with the rest of the dollhouse family.  I did put a stop to that, but it made me laugh.

Mike's knee surgery

      A week and a half before Christmas, Mike had knee surgery to replace his ACL and a torn meniscus in his right knee.  Any guesses to the cause?  Church basketball.  Everything went well with the surgery and he is recovering well, but it will be a while before he is back to normal.  He has exercises he does daily and has started physical therapy.   He no longer needs crutches though and has driven himself into work the last two days, so he is definitely making great strides (he has done some work from home the last couple of weeks).

      Having Mike out of commission definitely made for a little bit different of a Christmas season this year.  It was the first time I have felt the "stress" of Christmas mostly due to the fact that I stubbornly tried to do everything we normally do at Christmas time even though I was the lone adult.    I learned two things from this.  1.  Mike is a huge help (I actually already knew this, but was reminded of just how much I appreciate him)    2.  Sometimes it is better to let some things go.   Luckily, as Christmas weekend approached, I was able to realize that maybe not everything on my checklist was going to get done, but that I needed to just enjoy the time with my family.  And we did have a wonderful Christmas, which I still need to finish recording.