Christmastime Fun!

Christmas is my favorite time of year.  Ask anyone in my family... I love it!  I start at Thanksgiving and I enjoy the entire month.  I love preparing and finding things for my kids to do to help us find the Christmas spirit.  Some of the things I have enjoyed:

• Cooking Thanksgiving for the Olsen family
• Shopping on Black Friday!!! (a first)                                                                               
  
• Decorating a tree for the Festival of Trees (a six year tradition) with my mom, sisters, and aunts
• Decorate our house and tree.  Jackson was so fun and he was singing the entire time.
  
• Making neighbor gifts with my mom and sister.  This year we made 70 batches of syrup.
• Making candy and baking cookies with boys.  We love Gingersnaps and Carmels.
• Playing Pinball.  The Superman Machine was fixed and has been played constantly.
• We did a service/Christmas spirit Advent calendar.  Each day we gave service to someone or did something to get us in the Christmas Spirit.  The boys loved it!
• Party with friends from home.  We get together every year and I always look forward to it.
• Jackson's school progra
  
• Shopping!  A personal favorite.  I always ran into people I knew and it was especially funny to run into my mother-in law at Nordstrom a couple of times. 
  
• Dinner and movies with friends.  We try to be social but Wade and I struggle with being social.
• Writing a Christmas card and anxiously awaiting the arrival of cards from friends and family.
• Reading Christmas stories with my boys.  
• Making homemade gifts for friends and family.  
  
• Traditions with family. 
• Exchanging gifts.  I love giving presents.  I get carried away but I just can't help myself.
• Enjoying my family.  My boys give me so much joy and there is no better time with kids than Christmas.  Jack was so excited he thought he was going to throw up.  I long for the days when I was THAT excited!
  

                                                   Watching a movie in 3-D.

                                Playing Clue with Jackson.  He is getting old enough to play some fun stuff.

Doing the Nativity.  The boys had a hard time not being wild.  I was Mary.

Watching a personalized e-mail from Santa.  This is a must. 

                                      Recipe book I made for a couple of people.


Christmastime is so dear to me.  I'm grateful for my Savior for all the blessings I have in my life.  I always try to hope to keep the special Christmas spirit throughout the year but somehow I get caught up with life and often forget what is truly important.  So again, I will refocus and hope to keep the Christmas spirit alive throughout the year.  And now on to resolutions...