December Festivities

We had a busy and wonderful December full of lots of different activities. These pictures cover most of our pre-holiday activities this year. We always kick of the month of December by giving the kids a new pair of Christmas pajamas. It's getting harder to find cute jammies for my older kids! They also receive their chocolate advent calendars and we start our tradition of reading Christmas books every night.

Our ward held a wonderful Christmas party. The theme was Christmas around the world and each auxiliary had a  booth that highlighted a country. There was a traditional craft or activity, traditional treats and decorations from each country. Each child received a passport that was stamped at each booth they visited. The YM were in charge of England so we did lots of prep work to get ready for their booth. The other countries were Japan, Germany, Mexico, the Netherlands and the Holy Land. At the Holy Land booth families could dress up in traditional costumes and have their pictures taken. I still haven't received a copy of our family's picture but here is Makenna with a couple of her cute friends:

After some time to visit each of the booths we had dinner and a short program. It was a great party!

We took the kids to visit the festival of the Nativities that one stake in the area hosts every year. It was extremely well done and it help set the tone for our holiday celebrations:

 Our family in the dress up booth at Festival of the Nativities:

 We took the kids to downtown Seattle to attend the Gingerbread Festival. Companies donate gigantic gingerbread houses as a fundraiser for Juvenile Diabetes research. This year the theme was fairy tales and the houses were incredible!

 I was able to attend the Nutcracker with Makenna's school class. It was a shortened version but still fun to see. I always love going with my kids on their field trips because i love watching them interact with their peers. Her class had a fun winter party after the performance that I helped organize.

We attended 2 different work parties at MS. Man, they really know how to throw GREAT parties. I've never seen anything like it and they go all out. Our kids had a fantastic time at both parties - there were games, crafts, delicious food, rides, arcade games, face paint/tatoo/balloon animal booths, gift bags, and more. 

Party #1

Party #2. Makenna and her friend showing off their henna tattoos:

 Addie playing a life-sized game of Connect 4:

A few days before Christmas my parents and brother Steve flew into town to spend the holiday with us. We did some fun sightseeing while they were here. We spent a day in downtown Seattle. Our first stop was Pike Place Market. With the brass pig:

Before we headed to the market we gave everyone in the family $10 to spend on someone that we encountered during the day. It was our way to do some random acts of service during the holiday season. The kids opted to buy flowers from one of the vendors and pass them out to people on the street. It was so much fun to watch people's expressions as our kids approached them with a flower and wished them Merry Christmas. Priceless. They had the best time too. Our intent wasn't to have them all pick the same thing but it worked for this year and we will definitely do something like it again next year. My mom and I used our money to buy Starbucks gift cards and passed them out to people in line. My dad loved giving his money to the different performers on the street and Allen used his to buy balloon animals for some kids. It was a really fun way to bring the holiday spirit into our day.

We made a stop at the famous Top Pot donuts to get a treat.

We ended the day by attending the Festival of Ships that Seattle is famous for this time of year. You can stop at any number of beaches throughout the month and watch a procession of ships that are decorated for the holiday that cruise the lake. There is also live entertainment on some of the ships and they make scheduled stops to allow the performers to perform for people on the shore. It was SO neat and definitely worth the effort to see it.

One of the ships:

It was freezing but there was  a bonfire on the beach that we huddled around:

 Our crew huddled together trying to stay warm:

 We had a great month and did lots of other little things to celebrate the holidays but we tried to focus on some things are unique to the Seattle area. We only scratched the surface this year and I can't wait to explore more things during the next holiday season!