'Tis the Season

Wow!  Its only the 13th (Happy Birthday, Molly!) but we have already squeezed in a ton of Christmas fun!  We have never had this many parties and activities to attend, and we are not used to being this busy.  But we are having lots of fun!  And since my 3-year-old is totally into all things Christmas this year, we are eating it all up.

We started things off the first weekend of December with Chris's office party.  I met a lot of new people, his office has really grown in the past year, and we enjoyed some nice steaks.  The next day I saw a performance of The Nutcracker with one of my girl friends.  Can you believe that it had been 7 years since I have seen a live performance?  Back then Chris actually went with me...ahh the joys of dating.

Last weekend was more kid-friendly.  Sam had a blast at the kids Christmas Party at church.  Bouncy house, petting zoo, cookie decorating, crafts and playground.  That evening we ventured to the other side of our neighborhood for Lights In The Heights.  This annual block party involves decorated homes, bands on front porches, cookies and parties.  Some friends live on the route so we had a welcoming home base as we walked around and found friends.  Sunday afternoon we attended a much more low-key, but no less enjoyable, block party just around the corner.  Gotta love a mom who puts a tray of chicken nuggets mixed amongst the spread of baked brie and shrimp cocktail.  "This way you don't have to feed your kids dinner when you get home!"  I love you.

We all helped to decorate the tree this year.  Sam took great pride in placing the non-glassy ornaments around the bottom.  Annabelle enjoys removing them and tasting them.  Sam has taken his job of replacing them on the tree very seriously.

Sam and I have done a good deal of baking, as well.  He is very interested in helping, but thankfully only for short periods of time.  He wants to try every shape and color of cookie, and is learning that they are privileges and not rights.  Hard lessons.

We have also been reading a daily advent devotional with Sam each night.  The children's ministry at church sent it home, and its great.  A short paragraph, a bible verse and a sticker.  He looks forward to it each night.

So yes, we've been busy.  But December isn't over yet...I have at least 4 more parties on the calendar before we head out of town.  One of those is Sam's preschool class party - should be fun!