Half Of December

 

 December was, as usual, a busy and wonderful month. We started the first day with the reappearance of our elf, Oafie. The children were so excited to see him again. They left their Letters to Santa for him to take back to the North Pole. Daphne was especially excited about Oafie this year. I would catch her talking to him throughout the day and telling him all about how good she was being :) Laylah left him some notes with questions asking him about himself. He answered back and she was so excited. He also brought us some pictures of himself having fun up at the North Pole with his elf buddies (I'll have to add some of them when I find out where they went....). The kids absolutely loved it. So did I. I love the magic of Christmas with children.

 

We had a lot of Christmas parties this year. We had a neighborhood one for families and Laylah got to play the piano for it, a neighborhood one for adults (I have pictures of this somewhere.... if I find them, I will add them!) that was a Christmas scavenger hunt. It was soooo much fun. We had one with my mom's side of the family where Laylah and Jonah played the piano. We also had our ward party where I was in charge of decorations. I wish I would have taken pictures, but I didn't. The theme was Christmas Oranges, and it tunred out so darling. It was a fun party.

 

We made a gingerbread house, of course. The kids ate a lot of it this year before I threw it away.

 

Laylah got to go on a snow skiing field trip with her class, and she had a blast. I am so glad she has learned how to ski, so now we can go together.

 

The kids' school has a little tradition where the first grade class does a performance of the nutcracker every year. Daphne was a snowflake dancer, and oh my. It was the most darling little performance I think I've ever seen. I couldn't believe how well these little children did. Absolutely darling.

 

 

Their performance was the night before the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary. After hearing about what happened on the 14th, I cried for days and days. Every time I would think about this performace, I couldn't help but think of those precious little first grade children in Conneticut. So horribly sad and tragic. I am so thankful I have my little first grader still, and my prayers have been with those who were affected since that terrible day.

 

 The kids had several choir performances and this was their big Christmas concert. They were so cute. Sorry about the picture quality, I was in the very back of the auditorium and my camera is not the best.

 

Some other fun things that went on in December:Laylah and Jonah both got to have some fun Christmas parties with Activity Days and Cub Scouts. Laylah's group had a party and Jonah's group went ice-skating and had hot chocolate and donuts. We had our friend's the Olsen's over for dinner, who we hadn't seen in a year and a half. Our kids are all similar ages and it was so great to see them. I spent a day making toffee with my mom. The kids all got to have fun parties at school too. Such a fun time of year.

 

Andy and I took the kids downtown on trax to see the lights at Temple Square.

 We had a fun time, even though it was absolutely freezing and Magnus cried the second half of the night. After we went to see the lights, we went to Liberty Park to see a free program called Echo's of Christmas. It was beautifully done, and the kids really enjoyed it. They didn't enjoy the mile walk to the park from the trax station. I think we'll have to drive if we do that again next year. We went home and had hot chocolate and cinnamon toast to warm our frozen bodies. It was a nice night together as a family.

 

Baron had a Christmas performace at his preschool. Oh my goodness. Why is a group of 4 year old's singing Christmas carols the cutest thing ever?! It was darling. And Baron is hilarious. He had everyone laughing with his cooky-ness.

 

Me and the kids spent a whole afternoon delivering Christmas goodies to friends in our neighborhood and from school.

 

We also got to have a fun visit from Becca and her family who were in town for Christmas. Our kids love each other so much, and it was so fun to just chat and relax together.

 

Ahhh, I love this time of year. It is so wonderful, and even though it's stressful at times, I love it and I'm sad when it's all over for another year. Next up, Christmas!