Christmas Festivities

In my efforts to play catch up (yes, this is my fourth post today - haha!), I thought I'd do a catch all post about some of the fun things we did for Christmas this year (other than the events mentioned in previous posts)!

Katie LOVES having her own Christmas tree in her room.  In fact, tonight at dinner, she said she wasn't going to take it down until next Christmas :)  We will give her another week and then it will come down!

Here she is with it!  She's so proud!

And Katie's preschool did a Christmas program this year - it was so cute!  Katie was in the midst of a terrible, itchy rash all over her body, so we would see her sing a song and then reach down and scratch her legs or her arms or her back.  Poor thing.  So glad that's behind us!

Here is Jack finishing lunch before we left (with remnants of his food all over his face)!

And some action shots :)  She did a great job singing the songs! 

And of course she got excited to see us in the audience :)

They weren't able to have a "day before program" practice because of a "snow day" so the kids did a SUPER job considering that!  They had us wait until after the program to take some pictures - but here's Katie surrounded by some of her classmates!

Me with my girl :)

And a family picture!

And Tanja came to see her in the program too!  Katie asked about who was coming - us, grandparents, and then Tanja and Nick - in that order :) She was so excited Tanja came!

And here's Katie with Cee Cee and Uncle Will!

And Katie with Grandma - you can see the rash on her face...poor thing!

Later that week, we did the annual visit to see Santa!  And there was NO LINE!  A miracle!  Jack was way unsure of Santa - he cried at first (they weren't ready for the picture), but by the time the picture was taken, he was just pouting and giving me the evil eye.

A few weeks before Christmas, I helped out a toy store set up at a church that is an area next to public housing and most people below the poverty level.  Katie's preschool (and our church) collected toys and other items and we went down to allow these families to pick things out so their kiddos could have things to open on Christmas.  Each family got one toy, one stocking stuffer, and one article of clothing per child in the family.  It was such an amazing experience and I cannot wait to do it again next year!  Here I am with my friend Heather after we finished at the toy store!

And here is this crazy guy - it was pretty mild one day so I let him romp around in the flower beds at church before we picked Katie up.  He had the best time - and of course found a stick!

I also signed up to help with Katie's class Christmas party!  Here is the room before the kids came in!

We had a station to decorate an ornament with the kids' picture in it!  Katie got way into that (of course) - anything with paint pens and glitter pens :)

And then the kids decorated their own cupcakes with icing and sprinkles - and then got to eat them!

I was sure to get a picture with my girl :)  Doesn't she look thrilled?? HA!

Another fun tradition is the gingerbread house!  A few days after Alvin brought it, Katie and Brad got to work on it!  Here they are planning it out!

Clearly Brad gets way into it :)

Katie was excited to spread some icing and put the candy decorations on!

The masters hard at work on the masterpiece!

And this little man decided to ham it up while they were busy!  He just stopped and posed for like 5 minutes!  Silly guy!

And here's Katie with the finished product!  They did an excellent job this year!

And a close up :)  So cute!

Another fun thing we got to do was go to a Holiday Luncheon at Brad's work!  His department had a catered BBQ lunch for the employees and their families - so fun!  And they bought gifts for all of the children that were able to come!  Katie LOVES the little toy she got!  And Jack got some blocks - of course he loves them :)

After the luncheon, we finally got the tour of where his office was and where they recently relocated to in the building!  The kids had a blast running around and meeting everyone!  And it was so funny - Katie got SO many compliments on her dress...by mostly guys!  So sweet.

We also celebrated Christmas with Tanja and Nick at our house the Friday before Christmas!  It was so fun and relaxed - and the kids had a blast (as did the adults)!  I love this picture of Katie riding Tanja like a horse :)

And we got together with Cat and Tyler for dinner at Chuy's the Sunday before Christmas - it was so fun too!  This was our attempt at a group shot!

I am sure I am forgetting some of the fun things we did, but this is just a snapshot into how busy we have been lately!  But we love all of it - family time and time together with family and friends!  We are so lucky!