THREE Crazy Christmas Parties In One Day

This morning Autumn woke up earlier (6:30) than usual, which stinks b/c I was up so late.  We watched some TV and then took Andrew home w/ us so Autumn & I could change clothes and then we went to the church for our ward Christmas party.  We sat at a table w/ the Deckers and each table had some ornaments in the middle that the kids could color.  Even the adults colored and ornament to help pass the time until it was time to start and eat breakfast.

They said a prayer and then there were all types of doughnuts, fruit, breakfast casseroles, quiche, etc to eat.  The kids just wanted a doughnut and hot chocolate.  We were told we could wear our PJ’s (which is why Autumn is wearing hers).  I told her to give Andrew a big hug and this is what we got.  LOL.

After we ate, they had a little spiritual program where they did a slideshow and read the nativity story out of the Bible.  Then we sang some Christmas hymns.  After that, it was time for some non-spiritual fun.  They had Santa Claus come visit & the kids were so excited.  They did an AWESOME job this year of keeping the kids entertained so the wait didn’t seem as bad.  Last year was pure chaos, so I was very appreciative of how much effort they put in this year.  They had games and music and activities like this one.  The kids held a parachute thing and they would throw cotton balls in the middle so it looked like it was snowing.  As you can see, they had quite a big wind going and were having a blast.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When it was finally our turn to get in to see Santa, my camera died! NOOOOOO!  And, my back up battery was dead too.  I was SO SAD, but luckily they had someone there taking professional pictures that they emailed out to everyone.  We stopped at WalMart to get a few groceries and then rushed home so I could start cleaning.  Nick was an angel and vacuumed the whole house, I started making some soup, we cleaned up the leaves outside, etc.

We had 3 different kinds of soup, breadsticks, and rolls.  The kids all sat up to the bar and all the adults squeezed around the kitchen table.  We did a serious picture for the kids but then had them do a silly one.  After they ate, they ran upstairs to play in the game room.  Us adults sat and visited, and I was busy running around getting things ready for our special visitor.

The kids came flying down the stairs when they heard a big “Ho, Ho, Ho” & some jingle bells.  They each got a turn to sit on Santa’s lap and he even brought them each a present to unwrap.  I love this look of admiration that Autumn gives Santa after she unwrapped a new Ariel doll.

This group shot makes me laugh b/c it’s so typical.  No one is looking at the camera, Autumn is bugging Andrew, Jamie is looking for a way to escape, Brooke is more interested in playing w/ her toy, and the whole thing is just true to life.

After Santa left, we had all the kids sit on the stairs so we could try and get another group picture.  This one is a little bit better.  You might be wondering why there is a red tablecloth clamped onto the stair railing.

It’s b/c we had to ghetto rig a backdrop for our fun Christmas themed photo booth.  I printed all of these off of Lifestyle Crafts for a whopping total of 99 cents.  I think they turned out SO CUTE and am glad we tried this b/c it was a lot of fun.

After all of that fun & excitement, it was time for our white elephant gifts. Everyone sat in a circle and usually we read T’Was The Night Before Christmas poem and pass presents to the left on the word “and” and to the right every time we say the word “the”.  The poem went too long last year and the kids had a hard time keeping up with it.  So this year Aunt Sandy said we would sing, “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and pass presents once to the right when we sang “Rudolph” and 2 to the left when we sang “reindeer”.  It didn’t work at all, but we still had fun and were laughing like crazy w/ trying to pass presents the right way.  There were some good gifts that got stolen quite a few times.  After that, we exchanged regular gifts and then just sat and talked until people decided they were going to head for home.  It was SO MUCH FUN to host everyone at my house and to just sit back and look at all the love and laughter and memories we share as a family.  I’m so grateful to live close enough to some extended family that we can get together.

After everyone left, I sat down on the couch and took a little cat nap b/c I was exhausted from being up since 2:30 am the night before and all the fun & cleaning of the 2 previous parties.  At 7:00, I went over to the Berrett’s for their annual White Elephant Christmas party.  They ask everyone to bring a finger food or appetizer to share and it’s always a blast.  I brought my Christmas photo booth stuff and took pictures of people as they came in, which was a huge hit.  After everyone had a chance to eat and socialize, it was time for the white elephant gift game to begin.  As you can see, there were a LOT of people there, which always makes it tons of fun.

I don’t know how it happens, but Sis. Mannewitz always picks the craziest and funniest gifts.  This is a huge blown up picture of Britt from the 1970’s and she didn’t even know it was him at first.  Britt had no idea that someone had gotten this picture and blown it up and was completely shocked and caught off guard.

At one point, he was laughing so hard that he was crying.  I LOVED the look on Sis. Mannewitz’s face when she realized it was Britt’s picture that she had been making kissing faces at.  It made me think of last year when he said crap and she spanked him!  My sides and stomach hurt so bad from laughing so hard.

In the middle of the game, someone said they had a “joker” which means they can jump into the game whenever they want to take a gift.  Patrick said he had the “joker” and wanted to get his gift.  Little did we know, he had just received his mission call and wanted to read it in front of everyone!  He got called to serve in the Peru mission, which is where Britt served!  It was so neat when he read that and everyone started cheering.  It gave me goosebumps.

It was another great party and I ended up getting a pinata that came w/ a 2 pound bag of candy that we will use for our Annual Pool Dip Party.  I just love this group of people so much and am beyond grateful to have such wonderful people in my life.  Today was exhausting, but I wouldn’t change a thing about it!