Holiday HAVE-TOs

I don't know why it is, but every Christmas season, there is always ONE week that is jam packed with what I call, "Holiday Have-To's". They are the events that come around every year that MUST be attended. All of them are FUN and purposeful, but somehow they all end up in the same week, proving to be exhausting and crazy! I kind of thought this year might be a little less stressful since I am not working full time, but that theory was beaten down pretty quickly. I was still lost in a deep sea of Christmas chaos right up until the last Christmas carol was sung and the last present was wrapped and tucked under the tree. Here is a quick re-cap of SOME of the events (I didn't even take pictures of all of them this year):!

Conner's Piano Recital-

Conner started taking piano lessons at the beginning of the year soon after Lewis started them. It has been fun to watch him progress and develop in his skills. Piano doesn't come as easily to Conner as it does to Lewis, however; Conner is better at practicing than Lewis, so it has been interesting to watch. They each have different teachers with different techniques. It has been a good learning experience for our whole family.

At his recital, Conner played two pieces: "Jolly Old Saint Nicholas" and "I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus". He was the last player of the evening which was a good thing because Steve was busy overseeing one of Lewis' basketball practices and got to the recital just in the nick of time! Conner did great and we are so proud of him. We went out to dinner at Durangos to celebrate!

Ward Christmas Party-

Steve was recently appointed Ward Activities Chairman and this was his first opportunity to try out his party planning skills. It was actually super easy since the former chairman had already booked the entertainment and basically mapped the whole thing out! It was all a matter of advertising and delegating. Some of the highlights were:

1. Re-connecting with old friends and neighbors,
2. eating a warm meal that I didn't have to cook,
3. listening to good, live entertainment,
4. watching the boys run around with their friends and do karaoke,
5. taking advantage of a photo opp with Santa!

Nothing better than a good, old fashioned, ward Christmas Party!

Traditions Show and Tell-

Conner had an assignment to tell about one of his favorite holiday traditions at school. I was surprised when he chose this one that we do with our Christmas books. I started this tradition when the boys were really little to give them something fun to look forward to each day as we count down to Christmas. What I do is gather up as many Christmas books as there are days until Christmas and wrap them up. We start on the first day of December so I wrap 24 of them. I then number the "gifts" and put them in a basket next to our Christmas tree. Each night one of the boys unwraps a book and we read it. When they were little, Steve and I read the books to them, but now they are old enough to read them to us which is a nice change. I can see why this is a fun tradition for Conner (a man obsessed with presents). He gets to open a present every day and even though we have read all the books before, they somehow seem more special and new as they are opened and revealed.

I brought the basket into his class one day and he unwrapped book number 15 in front of his class and then had his teacher read it. It was the book, "Bear Stays Up For Christmas" which was just a perfect book for the occasion. Not too short (some of our books are little board books) but not too long (some of them are really lengthy). His teacher was interested to see what some of our other books were so Conner showed the ones we had already read to his class too. It ended up being a really cute little show and tell situation!

Preschool Polar Express Party-

One of the major stresses of the season for me is preparing for the Christmas festivities at preschool. From art projects, Christmas gifts, party preparations and on and on, it can take a lot of time. Luckily, I just have the one class this year so surprisingly, it was easy to pull it all off! We did the Polar Express party again (my favorite way to celebrate) where the kids wear their jammies to school and we have a yummy breakfast, read the story, drink hot chocolate and make fun Christmas crafts. You know it is a good party when the kids beg to stay longer! That is exactly what happened this year. No one wanted to leave! Ahhh. So sweet:)

Ugly Sweater Party-

Laura and Kurt hosted the Christmas party at their house again this year. It was the ugly sweater competition and I must say, we all could have won! It was a nice change to be able to wear something UGLY instead of having to try and pull something CUTE together in my limited, 'plus size' wardrobe (I still can't fit into most of my pants. . .arghhhh). Anyway, we did the annual white elephant exchange (which gets a little more R rated with every passing year hmmm???). No one will fess up to who is bringing the questionable stuff, but it sure makes for some good laughs!

Miscellaneous Have-To's-

For Young Womens this month we went to the Dickens Festival, had a White Elephant Party, went Christmas caroling and participated in the "Koins for Kids" charity drive at Walmart. I thoroughly enjoyed attending all of these events with my girls. They are so great and added so much to my holiday season. I only snapped pictures of the Dickens Festival and the caroling though.

Steve decided that it was MANDATORY to go COYOTE hunting with one of his Lunch lady's husbands days before Christmas this year, causing me a little extra stress. Hunting isn't exactly something you can do in a couple of hours and I was feeling pulled from all directions so to have to give up my hubby for the day was a bit tricky but I survived and Steve had fun, although-no coyotes!

Speaking of Steve, this year his school district had a party at his boss's house in Beaver Dam and I tagged along. The boys were in HEAVEN because they got to go play at their friend Jaiden's house for the evening while Steve and I partied, ate and exchanged white elephant gifts. The boys made plates of goodies with Jaiden's grandma, played video games and had a general blast that evening. We didn't get home until really late and it was a school night. Kind of inevitable during this crazy week of holiday have-to's!