And There Went December!

Our you ready for a whirlwind of pictures of December?! We had a great month even if it was busy, busy, busy! More on that later!!

Sam, our elf, rang in December with a stack of lovingly wrapped books - one for each day until Christmas. The boys loved opening a story each day and reading about Christmas. We also received our advent candle from Karina and watched it burn down each day in anticipation of the holiday. Jason's work party was again held at Luigi's where arcade games and laser tag are kings. At our ward party, Kent got right to work opening the decorations, Bishop (aka Boompa) read the Christmas story, and Clark played some "reindeer games." St. Nick delivered stockings, Kent started nursery, and we found many new uses for the Cars suitcase. We baked a lot of cookies, spent a lot of time on the longarm quilter, and put together a lot of Christmas cookbooks. Of course, we enjoyed the live nativity put on by our ward and the other wards that are in the building. I was so excited to sing in the choir this year and we were amazing, if I do say so myself! The boys visited Santa - each with very different reactions. Clark decided at the last minute to ask for a Ghostrider toy (think Halloween) which sent the elves in a flurry searching the Internet for a suitable, and reasonably priced one. We put up the Christmas tree...the boys loved it...I hated it. But for a moment...just a moment...the boys were still and basked in the glow that is the Christmas tree. Garland was fun, ornaments were yummy, and the tree topper was loads of party fun! We had our first snow where Kent learned the art of eating snow. Classic  monkey see, monkey do, monkey not too sure about that cold stuff.

I had to include this lovely collage of Christmas card picture outtakes! This was a pretty average session...175 pictures or so and lots of reasons to smile!! There were a few Christmas card worthy shots this time which was nice, but I still had to Photoshop the smile on Kent's face for the final picture! Check it out here. It still looks a little crooked to me, but it was the best I could do.

Jason vowed next year to make Clark Griswold proud with the lights on our house. I'm hoping it was all a joke, but we did enjoy other people's Christmas spirit! I finally remembered to use my "made by mary" tags when I made our Christmas PJ pants this year. I just love them. The boys and I made our Christmas goody deliveries which was a lot of fun. Dad was home to play Hot Wheels while I finished up a few projects in a flurry! Clark treated us to dinner with his winning coloring contest entry at Papa's Pizza! Congrats Clark! His interpretation of Turkey Hulk and Papa Smurf won us a free pizza. More cookies to bake...this time kolaczki. And presents to open...boy oh boy...were there presents! Kent lost interest pretty quickly with the gifts. He thought they were better chairs than they were to open. Clark was sick most of Christmas Eve...just feeling yucky with a headache. After the Tylenol kicked in, he was ready to go again. The boys got lots of fun toys and enjoyed playing with them in the days following Christmas.

Now it's a new year and I don't have any idea what I'd like to work on this year. So...no new resolutions for me yet. Maybe not this year. I think this would be the first year in history where I didn't have a list of resolutions!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!