Christmas Traditions

We have been busy these past few weeks trying to fit in all the fun things to do around Christmastime! Here are a few of the highlights:

Christmas Workshop:
The week before school got out, each of the families in our school group hosted a Christmas Wrokshop with Dickens' Christmas Carol as our theme. Each family took part of the story to read and discuss during their workshop. I had "The Spirit of Christmas Present" so we talked about our traditions and then listened to that part story...
Followed our Holiday Tradition of making Gingerbread houses...

And painted these adorable Santas...


Church Christmas Party:
We had Breakfast with Santa this year. Tanner was very excited to let Santa know what he wanted and Hunter was a little shy. He was happy to sit on Santa's lap, but once he got there, he would only whisper. But, he has been talking about how Santa came to his church all week.
The primary kids sang a few songs during the program...


Christmas Caroling:
Every year since I was in high school we have gotten together with this fun bunch to go Christmas caroling on Thoroughbred (Thoroughbred is a street in Alta Loma that goes all out with Christmas lights).
Bryant has been our fearless leader for many years...

Here are some of the guys that have been going for years (Adam, Nick, Aaron, and Bryant). We missed Ladd this year. We are learning that his new calling on the high council keeps him pretty busy on Sundays!
After we hit up all the lamposts on Thoroughbred with our beautiful Christmas carols, we head back to the Bishop's house for treats and hot chocolate!
It is fun to see all the changes. When I first started it was all about who was holding hands with who and now its all about seeing everyone's cute kids and catching up with great friends that we just don't see enough!

Advent Calendar:
I couldn't leave out our advent calendar this year. Tanner has been obsessed with it. I found a LEGO City advent calendar. Tanner has set up a whole LEGO Christmas scene, with snow and all, and each day the boys get a new LEGO thing to add to it. Tanner tells everyone he meets about it and has about 3-4 journal entries about his LEGO Christmas City. Here are a few pictures he took of his pride and joy...

Merry Christmas!

From our family to yours, Merry Christmas! We hope this season brings happiness and health to you and your family. As you are rushing around these next few days, please take a moment to click on the link and watch this video that helps us all remember the true meaning of Christmas.

What-Shall-We-Give?

A roaring good time!

Saturday was Ladd's Christmas Work Party. They go all out for this annual tradition. The theme this year was Roaring 20's. Everyone looked great! It was at the Hilton Waterfront in Huntington Beach. It was in a beautiful room complete with dance floor and pool table.
They hired a choreographer to teach us the Charleston, so fun! There was a white elephant gift exchange that was pretty entertaining. We brought a "Rotato" and went home with a high tech UNO game. Here is Jeremy trying on his new bear suit jammies and duck hat. Can you see the snuggie in the picture? I think about five people went home with snuggies.

I didn't get a lot of pictures because they had a photographer walking around. I am hoping I will get access to those somehow and then I will add them...

We even got our own hotel room so we didn't have to drive home late at night! Fun, Fun! I am really looking forward to future Christmas parties with this group!

Nutcracker

Last Friday we went to the Nutcracker with our school group. I grew up going to the ballet and want my boys to at least appreciate it, even though they are boys. Hunter loved it and now plays "Nutcracker versus Mouse King" games and gets all excited whenever he hears the "ballet music" when we are out. He keeps telling me he wants to "go to the Ballet with Gwandma because Gwandma likes ballet." Tanner tolerated it, but wasn't overly impressed with the Ballet. However, his light saber moves were much more graceful (leaping and pirouettes were involved) after seeing the ballet.

A few days before the performance, I had the school kids over to learn a little more about the Nutcracker. They had fun doing a few crafts, learning the Nutcracker story and a little about Tchaikovsky's life. But, their favorite part was cracking nuts. Good thing I didn't mop the floors before they came over!

Hunter took his "Nutcracker Class" very seriously and participated in all the activities that the big kids did!

Update

Thank you for all of your well wishes when I was sick. It is nice to know that people care and that there are a few of you who read my blog! With the help of my prescription plus some over the counter stuff, I have got my heartburn under control and since Friday have been able to eat without pain. I went to the doctor today and all my tests were normal, which means there is no major problem, but I do have GERD (an acronym that basically means chronic acid reflux). I need to continue to take the medicine for 6-8 weeks and I am hopeful the condition will correct itself so I won't have to be on medicine for the rest of my life. For now, I am just happy I can eat again and feel normal!

Fantasyland Ball

We had a Fantasyland Ball today to celebrate the end of our Fantasyland unit for school. It was hosted by Cinderella (who is still waiting for her Fairy Godmother to come and turn her into a princess!) Each of the kids dressed as a Fairy Tale character,
brought a "Fairy Tale Food" to share (my favorite was the "Golden Eggs" because it was the only thing I could eat!),
and had either a Fairy Tale or a Fantasyland Newspaper that they had made to share with the others. Tanner dressed as the Woosdman from Little Red Riding Hood and made "Jack's Magic Beans". He was very proud to share his Fantasyland Weekly that he has been working on throughout the unit.

This little one couldn't decide on a costume and kept surprising us with a new outfit every twenty minutes or so. Here he is convinced he is Jacques Cousteau. We tried telling him that he is not a Fairy Tale character, but he wouldn't hear of it...

The kids played a life size version of Candyland called you guessed it-Fantasyland! The goal was to get to the Fantasyland Castle "Where all of your Dreams come true" but sometimes you missed a turn or had to go back because the wolf ate your Grandmother or a troll wouldn't let you cross his bridge. Julie came up with this cute game!
This was a fun way to culminate our Fantasyland Adventures!

Pain Management

I really enjoy sleeping and eating. But for the past week I have probably eaten about 500 calories a day and my sleep has not been nearly as enjoyable either. One week ago today I woke up with a lump in my throat and mild heartburn every time I ate or drank anything. I had never had this before (aside from mild indigestion while pregnant) so I got some over the counter stuff and ignored it hoping it would go away. Well, it didn't. Later that week I ended up being turned away from Urgent Care (they did not want to deal with someone complaining of chest pains and shortness of breath) and I was sent to the ER. After a chest x-ray and an EKG they decided my heart was fine and I have severe acid reflux. They sent me home with a prescription and an appointment to see my regular doctor. I know it sounds ridiculous that I was in the ER for heartburn, but it was really unbearable and pretty scary. Because I have no history of this and it came on so suddenly, my doctor was a little concerned and they are testing me for lots of things to try to find the cause. It is starting to feel a little better (the pain is not constant now, only when I eat, drink, and wake up in the morning) after being on the medication for five days. I am forcing myself to eat and drink a little more because I don't want to get dehydrated or pass out from lack of food. So, if you see me around and I am making a miserable face, it is not because I don't like you, it is just because I probably just took a sip of water. Hopefully I will find out by next week what is happening to my insides.
Thanks for listening to my frustrations...