December Doings

Miscellaneous December pictures:

Hallie showing Shaelyn what it's like to hold snow in your hand

Shae Shae wants to be just like her sisters

My Santa baby!

Hallie and Claire had two Christmas programs this year: one school Christmas program and the Coalition of Churches' Christ-centered Christmas program. 

Hallie and Claire ready for their Christmas program.

School program directed by Mrs. Brumbaugh, the wonderful elementary music teacher

Hallie got to be one of the instrumentalists.  She did a great job! So cute. 

The small childrens' choir at the Coalition of Churches program, directed by my dear friend Tenya Hall.  She is awesome!

More miscellaneous December fun:

Daddy wrestling with his girls

Waiting for Santa, who traveled around the neighborhoods of Bridger Valley in a fire truck on Saturday, December 14th.  He never actually came in front of our house, darn it! But now that we know of this tradition, hopefully we won't miss it again!

Family Home Evening: acting out the Nativity using the new Nativity costumes that Grandma Grace made for us this year! Love the crowns!

 We also got to see Santa Clause at our ward Christmas party right at the beginning of December.  It was a nice party, with a yummy ham and potatoes dinner and some impromptu hymn singing (due to the fact that the scheduled entertainment was unable to attend because of bad road conditions).  Our ward does a lot of ward parties, and they always turn out well. 

We missed Santa on the fire truck, but we got a special personalized visit from Santa here at our house.  Our neighbors the Sprays have an uncle that came to visit them and he referred Santa to our family.  We've never had a visit from Santa at home before!

Shaelyn would not sit on his lap, but since she loves candy canes, she came close enough to grab one and run!

We went to the Bridger Valley Parade of Lights, which sounds like a really big deal.  But, like most events here, it was kind of pint-sized...which was just right for our family.  We drove down and parked in front of TJ's, our favorite pizza and ice cream joint, to watch the parade.  Evie fell asleep on the way there, lol! I love all the places that girl falls asleep.

It's hard to tell in the picture, but if you look closely you can see...yup, that's a tractor decorated with Christmas lights.  You know you live in the country when...  :)

Making gifts for each other with Hallie and Claire's new bead sets.

December was filled with lots of fun and exciting things, as always! The one thing we didn't do this year that we usually do was make Christmas goodies for neighbors and friends.  We received a lot, but didn't have enough time between the baptism preparations and all the other holiday craziness to get that one done.  But next year, it's definitely going to happen!

I love all the magic and fun of December--the busy-ness of it all can sometimes feel overwhelming, but when I look back and see how much we got done and how much fun we had, all the memories are worth it! We are building happy childhoods, and there is no better work!