our December so far.......

December is my favorite month of the year. We have my mom's birthday, our wedding anniversary, Christmas and my birthday. Just Christmas alone is such a magical time and I adore everything about it -- the music, the lights, the trees, the decorations, the wrapping, the stockings, the elves, the nativity displays, Santa and all the excitement that surrounds him, the countdowns, the parties, the treats -- everything. I love Christmas. Here is our month so far leading up to the big day....

We took the kids to the Valley River Center mall in Eugene and they met THE best Santa. He was great! He just sat and chatted with the kids for forever and didn't make it feel rushed. He even talked about Sam and how the kids need to keep an eye on him this year because last year he tried to eat his cookies. (which the kids thought was so funny) He made it so fun. And the kids soaked it up. Jackson was totally enthralled with him. It was darling. I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!!!

We took the kids to Build-a-Bear because I purchased some groupons for it which expire at the end of the month - so we made a trip out. Sam is against Build-a-Bear because it's just a gimmick, but I don't care. The kids LOVED it. Addie has done them before but this was a first for Gwen and Jackson.

Here is Gwenny with her new little friend "Hannah".................

Addie with her new friend "Star Wars" -- (which the whole Star Wars obsession in a whole different post)..........................
And Jackson with his new friend - "Two" (that was my favorite name of the day) :)............

We had our ward Christmas party. We had dinner and then the primary was in charge of the entertainment -- and since I am the primary president - that meant I was in charge of the entertainment. (along with my counselors and secretary of course - who are HUGE helps)

Anyways -- we dressed the kids as angels and had them hold little electric light up candles and sing 'Away in a Manger' and 'Silent Night'. It turned out really cute and the kids did a great job.

and some of the kids (my nephew Dallin) used their candles as lightsabers :)
after their performance they sang "Here comes Santa Claus" till Santa appeared....


and I had to include this one of my poor terrified niece...............

Next is my new obsession with craft blogs. I love them. And I especially love them around holidays for decoration ideas. These are the cute glitter trees that I made this year - courtesy of some craft blog. Aren't they cute?!?....................

Storybook Land. This year only Gwenny got to go. And that was just because she went on a field trip. We missed out this year for the rest of them for different reasons - I've been sick a lot this month - plus it ends so quick that we kinda just lost track of time. I haven't brought it up to Addie that it's over. I'm hoping she'll just forget about it this year.

Anyways - when Gwenny and I went - she got to meet Santa's top elf - Elfie -- and she hung on every word. It was cute.
Ginger bread houses (and trains). For family home evening we had Keith and Alicia come over to make these - because Maci insisted that she was left out at some time in the past when we made these before. I have no clue what she is talking about --- but we wanted her to be part of the fun anyway. :) It was a fun and frustrating activity --for all. The trains are much easier for anyone who is wondering -- the darn roofs of the houses would not stay on.

We also decorated sugar cookies - which we actually could eat - so that made up for the frustration. :)



someone got into the chocolate chips...............