December celebrations

This December was full of life, traditions, and juggling--of schedules. Luckily, a chunk of my shopping was taken care of on Black Friday and then over the internet. The singing/performing group I belong to, Friends in Harmony, had a full schedule this year with 15 performances. I also got to sing with a few of them in church, our Christmas Relief Society meeting, and at a Hula dance recital. I got to learn "Silent Night" in Hawaiian...something I never have even dreamed of.

Emma and Lizzie had been attending Hula classes for 6 weeks before their recital. They danced to "Pearly Shells", "Silent Night", and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas." They were so cute! This night definitely brought a unique flair to our holiday celebration.

Emma has turned out to be quite the performer and loves to show anyone and everyone all of her moves.

Lizzie really got into the songs with her facial expressions, but because I wasn't allowed to record it on video or my camera, this is all I could get after it was finished. She loved being able to dance with Emma.

Here are the children at our church Christmas party. The theme was "Who's Angel are You Going to Be?" The activities committee had each family in the ward read the book, Christmas Jars, and then collect their own change in a jar and give it away to someone in need (just like the book). It was a really nice evening.

Evan changed his request to Santa at the party--one week before Christmas.

Lizzie loved Santa this year!

Carter and Santa were actually teasing each other. Carter's asking for the moon (a cell phone) and Santa's telling him he should work on asking for bigger muscles so that the girls will answer when he calls on that phone. Thanks a bunch, Santa.

Isn't the marriage of the flavors chocolate & peppermint just divine?!

I love it in any shape or form. Peppermint ice cream in hot chocolate is the perfect night cap for me.

I have some of the greatest kids in my Primary! We had a lot of fun acting out the nativity in sharing time and remembering the true meaning of Christmas.

I have to get a picture of my kids every year in their Sunday best in front of my tree. They are my angels and my Christmas gifts.

I love, love, love doing my girls' hair. Emma and Lizzie got to have a star and a Christmas tree made out of their hair for the last 2 days of school. Too fun!

We were invited by Steve's friend, Ron Dodd, to participate in the Staff of Life Christmas service project again this year. People have been donating food and toys over the last month. He then organizes it in a warehouse somewhere, picks up a bunch of produce & perishables, and then has families, neighbors, etc. come to help. When you arrive, you receive a sheet with the name, phone number and address of a family on it, how many children are in the house, and a list of items you are to gather. You then choose a toy for each child and have it wrapped. We loaded all of the stuff in our car and headed out to a neighboring town to deliver it. Our family had decided to also give our Christmas jar to our family. I'm so glad we did. When we arrived, we discovered that the phone was disconnected. So, Steve did a door approach & explained who we were and why we were there. Upon looking in, he saw 10 children living in this little 2 or 3 bedroom house. Our paper had one child 10 years old listed, so there was a communication breakdown. When I took up the jar of money, a child started jumping up and down and chanting, "Money, money, money!" I told her what it was and when I gave it to her, we both had tears in our eyes and she gave me a huge hug. The amount of food we had delivered was not enough for a house of 12 people, so we called Brother Dodd and told him this family's situation. The elders were able to follow up and take additional supplies. I'm so grateful we had this opportunity to serve and share on Christmas. My family (despite fighting a horrible snowstorm home) came away feeling the spirit of Christmas this night.

OK. Last year, the kids made darling tye-dye t-shirts with snowmen on them and had a great time. This year, a friend of mine and I decided to try something new. We were trying to create pictures on our shirts using sponges and bleach. None of them turned out except for Braxton's, but the kids all had fun playing and attempting our craft.

BASS PRO SHOPS

Last year, we had a great time going to Bass Pro Shops to visit Santa and hang out. The kids really wanted Steve to join us this year, though, so that he could meet the real Santa. After much pleading and knocking on his office door, he gave in. Upon arrival, we were given a ticket for 2 hours later to see Santa at 8:00pm! Typically, Steve would have turned and walked away, but we made the best of it, decorated our cookies, played all of the fishing and hunting games we could handle, and went to dinner at Potbellys. We made out with a great family photo with Santa (Steve calls it our white trash Christmas shot--it's my 1st picture on this post) and Santa told the kids that Steve was on his naughty list. This little tidbit of info has laced its way into many conversations and given the girls a lot to tease Steve about. They think they are pretty funny.

Emma's making sure Santa knows she wants an American Girl doll and a camera.

Evan's trying to shoot his deer. He's lucky they don't move.


On Christmas eve, we woke up to BEAUTIFUL snow!

I made all of the kids go outside to enjoy it. Here's Braxton trying to use his weight to pack down a trail for the sleds.

December had been so busy, I hadn't had time to do sugar cookies with the kids yet, so that was one of our fun things to do on Christmas Eve! They didn't get frosted until Christmas Day because...

One of Carter's friends got baptized! We were excited to go support Harrison and his decision to be baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!

Later that evening, our wonderful friends, the Stradlings, invited us over for pizza (their Christmas Eve tradition) and the nativity.

Hailey was Samuel the Lamanite and she never got hit by the arrows/marshmallows!

Carter was a wise man. Doesn't this picture capture him looking for the star?

Emma took her role as Mary VERY seriously.

Here we are! Because Steve's on the naughty list, he got to be the donkey.

For Christmas Eve, the kids usually open a new pair of pajamas or slippers or something of that sort. This year (because mom can't find where she "safely stored" her box of hats and scarves) they all got new winter hats!

Christmas Eve morning, Braxton noticed we had 4 Santa hats and asked if we could get more so that everyone could have one and no one would feel left out. He really wanted a picture of everyone in their hats looking festive and ready for what was to come. I love him!