This has by far been my busiest, craziest December ever. I have tried to do everything I normally do in December, but had the Ward Christmas Party hanging over my head all month as well. It was on Saturday, the 19th. It went well, and is a great relief to have it behind me. But December was just a whirlwind of activity.
I have few pictures to account for this busy month of December 2009, but I want to remember that I have reached the point of pure and utter exhaustion after having successfully completed the following this month: hosted White Elephant Exchange party, threw Ellery a birthday party with 20 guests, ran the snack portion of Ellery’s Winter Party, was heavily involved in the planning and execution of our ward Christmas party, had all of my neighbors and their kids over to decorate Christmas cookies, had the missionaries and the bishop’s family over to celebrate Joseph Smith’s birthday. Made and delivered bread and thank you notes to all the people who helped with the Ward Christmas Party. All of that on top of Christmas cards, neighbor and teacher gifts, and Christmas shopping. I want to just crawl up in a ball and sleep for a week. But I can’t because I’m not quite done with the wrapping. And because I am in the midst of washing table cloths from the party, doing laundry of our own, and packing for my family of 6. This December has been kind of a nightmare.
A few pictures to post before Christmas and all the pictures THAT will entail.
Elle and Haley had a play date on a day that they planned to wear their matching dresses. So we had to take some pictures. Such cute little friends.
I brought donuts to Elle’s class for her birthday treat. She helped me pass out the plates, napkins, cups, donuts, and juice, and then her class sang to her. Lots of fun.
Elle’s Winter Party was later that day, and fun as well. Four stations, including Story Corner, a game, painting a picture frame, and decorating gingerbread men. I ran the gingerbread men station. Bennett got to come with me to this party, which he enjoyed. And I think Elle enjoyed it.
We had the Jensen Family over on Sunday to celebrate Elle’s birthday. We had a special dinner, and Elle blew out candles on a pumpkin pie.
Chloe wasn’t able to come to Elle’s birthday party, so we tried to make up for that by having her sleep over. She and Elle had a great time playing Guess Who?, eating popcorn and brownies and watching a movie, and reading together in bed. The next morning we had cinnamon rolls for breakfast, and the girls played together outside for a long time. I think they had a great time together.
Tuesday morning the kids and I made sugar cookies in preparation for our annual Cookie Decorating party with the moms and kids in the cul-de-sac.
The party was that afternoon. Lots of sprinkles and sugar intake – can’t go wrong with that, huh?
Reagan proudly displays one of her creations. Too bad you can’t actually see the cookie. And there’s Campbell cruising in the background. She turned 11 months this weekend. Crazy how old she is getting. She has three teeth now, is crawling and pulling up to standing a ton more now, and it just growing up really quickly.
And here we are to tonight. Christmas Eve. I’ll post about it in a separate Christmas post. But how grateful I am for the Savior of the World. Our theme for our Ward Christmas Party this year was Christmas Around the World. During the program we showed a short DVD that shows images of people all over the world, set to a beautiful song called “Joy to Everyone This Christmas.” If you have 4 minutes you should watch it here – it is very touching, and served as a wonderful reminder to me that Jesus is the Savior for everyone, all around the world. I very much got sucked in to the busyness of this time of year these past few weeks, but am grateful for chances to step back and remember the Savior.
Merry Christmas from our family to yours!
