Christmas Fun

We have been keeping very busy this holiday season trying to squeeze in all of the Christmas fun we can since it will be here before we know it. Here are some of the things we have been up to...

My mom wanted a picture of all of the babies born this year for her Christmas card. Sadly, this was the best shot we could get. The good thing is that they are all so cute that it doesn't matter if they are all looking or smiling!

Our ward had our annual Breakfast with Santa activity last week. Somehow it ended up that we were the first ones in line to see Santa so we didn't have to wait like we usually do. All three boys did so well- no crying at all this year! I was so proud!

Later that morning I went with the youth in our ward to the Veteran's hospital to deliver the Christmas boxes that we made for them. It was such a neat experience. We were assigned to the Hospice wing which was really hard for some of our youth knowing that these Veterans didn't have very long to live. We talked to a man named Bill who fought in the Korean War. He was the cutest old man and was so excited that we were there. It was really cool to be able to thank these Veterans for sacrificing everything for our freedom.

Later that night we took the boys down to a street nearby that has been nicknamed "Candy Cane Lane!" We usually just drive by and look, but this year we actually got out and walked by all of the houses. It was so much better to walk- you could see so much more. We will definitely be walking every year from now on. The boys loved it!

Nathan danced around to the Christmas music that was playing!

Jake ran around counting all of the candy canes- and there were a lot of them!

One of last week's projects was to get all of my treats delivered to our family and friends. This year I decided to dip Rice Krispy treats, Nutter Butters, Oreos and pretzels. It was a huge pain and ended up costing a lot of money, but I think they turned out pretty cute. Next year I will probably go back to my normal baking!

Nathan had a little Preschool Christmas party this week that the parent's were invited to. They had a gift exchange and sang Christmas songs. It was really cute. I'm glad that Nathan loves preschool so much. I think he was more excited to see Ms. Cari at our ward Christmas party than he was to see Santa Claus!

Last Thursday night we went with my family on a yacht in Newport Harbor and were able to be part of the Light Parade. It was so much fun. The boys ran from room to room the entire night playing with their cousins and looking at all of the lights. The railing on the side of the boat was pretty thin and so Jon and I followed close behind them the entire night to keep them from falling in.

We were on the boat for almost 4 hours and by the very end the boys had lost it. Luckily we were almost back so it wasn't too bad. I think that's a long time to be on a boat for little kids, but at least they loved it up until the end!

Max had fun crawling around on the floor and trying not to get stepped on!

They had a microphone on the front of the boat with an amplifier so that those watching the parade on the shore could here us singing and talking. Nathan took the mic and sang "Jingle Bells" about 15 times. I told him to sing something else so he broke out singing the alphabet followed by "Twinkle Twinkle" and ended it off with "I Am a Child of God!" I'm sure the people on the shore were a little confused, but at least Nathan was having fun!

We finally got around to decorating our gingerbread house today after church. I think this is one of the best ones we've done (which isn't saying much)!

Not pictured activities include:

-Going to a Live Nativity

-Disneyland at Christmas time

-Going to see the play "It's A Wonderful Life" with Jon

-Driving around looking at Christmas lights
-Reading lots of Christmas stories
-Christmas Enrichment
-Cookie Exchange party
Jon's work party (that I was actually invited to this year!)

-Making Christmas crafts

-Going to Sing Noel

I love Christmas time. I feel like this year we have been extra busy, but luckily it's been with fun stuff. I figure that I can sleep after the holidays are over!

A funny side note... Last Sunday at church we started singing the opening hymn. We looked up at the chorister who is a little bigger and noticed that she was wearing a red sweater with white furry trim and her hair was kind of around her face. Jake looked up at her and got all excited and exclaimed very loudly, "Look, there's Santa Claus!" Needless to say, Jon and I started cracking up, but it was still pretty embarrasing!!!