Week of Parties/Days of Christmas

This week our holiday season got started with a BANG. Not only did we have fun with our DOC/Advent, we had a whole slew of holiday get togethers to keep us busy. I don't REALLY feel like blogging this morning but know I should get it done before I forget everything.

Advent/DOC: One of the things that I realize stressed me out about this last year was feeling like I needed a perfect picture to document everything. I've washed my hands of it this year. Some days I haven't taken a picture at all. Liberating, I tell you.

Day 1: Trim the Tree

Day 2: Make and Drink eggnog. I totally have to give the back story here. After this picture was taken, Carter's eggnog was thrown down the drain. He was being SO lippy (which is kind of his new and annoying thing) that I threw it away. And didn't give it back. The ensuing temper tantrum caused him to lose his books for the night. Just keeping it real. Even the best intentions don't always work out how you hope. The eggnog WAS good though!

Day 3: Drive around and look at lights. This was so easy but the kids had SO much fun doing this so I think we'll do it again one of these nights. It worked out great because we just did this on our way home from dinner. (No picture)

Day 4: Write a letter to Santa (No picture will scan later)

Day 5: Buy a gift for someone in need. This was the highlight of the week for me. I took the kids to the store between school and a bday party we were attending and had them pick out a gift for the ward giving tree. It was sweet to see them really think about what this child would like and weigh their options. We had a good talk in the store about why we help other people and that we show our thanks to Heavenly Father for our blessings by serving others. It went WAY better than I expected and I think we all felt the true spirit of Christmas. (No picture)

Day 6: Attend the ward Christmas party/ Open new pjs. The ward party was really fun and pretty low key. We decorated gingerbread houses, had a visit from Santa, made cards for the missionaries serving in our ward and had dessert. It was perfect! Matching pjs (of course):

Visit with Santa. Addie was freaking out! Hilarious! Working on our house: Day 7: Watch 1st presidency fireside with a treat (no picture)

This was also the week of parties. The fun started with a couple of my friends hosting a lunch for my birthday on Thursday. I have seriously GREAT friends here and it is such a blessing. We had YUMMO Mexican food, amazing desserts and I was more spoiled than you can imagine with gifts. (Thanks SO much sweet friends!!)

Thursday night was our Christmas Enrichment. More great food, a nice program in a beautiful environment.

Friday we had a birthday party and Al and I were supposed to attend a holiday happy hour for work. In the end we didn't end up at the happy hour because of babysitter issues but we still went out to dinner and I got a new outfit out of the deal. (Thanks to my awesome friend Kar for shopping with me and getting me out of my clothing comfort zone!)

This weekend was also our ward party and the family party for Al's company. Every year his company hosts a huge holiday on ice extravaganza (there are like 15,000 employees here in Phoenix so it is a big deal). Allen was asked to be a greeter this year so we got front row seats for the show. It was awesome! We were so close and got quite a bit of interaction from the performers (high 5's and the like). After the show they pass out gifts to all the kids based on their ages (they were VERY nice gifts). We were very impressed with the whole event and the kids had a great time!

This is how close we were (only the security guy was closer)

We only have a couple more holiday events this year so we really accomplished a lot this week!

Whew! I think I'm caught up (for now!)