Christmas Part I

December is always a busy month.  This year I signed up to coordinate Ava's class Christmas party, and Cameron's parent breakfast, both which fell on the last day of school before Christmas break.  Not too smart on my part.  Since there are only 10 kids in Ava's class it wasn't overwhelming, but I wanted the kids to do some fun things which required a decent amount of work on my part.  Cameron's class breakfast was easy, we just asked each parent to contribute an item to the breakfast.

But prior to the parties, many things were happening to celebrate the upcoming holiday.  We had daily visits from our elf Sparkles. 

He tried to find new and fun places to hide.  I think Sparkles realized last year that Cameron became very upset when he decided to use his trucks and trains as a good spot to sit and watch, so this year Sparkles did lots of tricks hanging from the ceiling and lights.  Ava really loved Sparkles this year and would write him letters almost every night.  Sometimes she would ask him questions in her letters in hopes that he would answer.  This year we found out that Sparkles is 22, his favorite color is blue, he was born on December 25th, and he lives in the North Pole.  One night he forgot to move...we think he fell asleep on the job.  It was always a challenge for him to remember to relocate every night!

Chocolate advent calendars are always another exciting part about the Holiday.  What can be better than getting a small piece of chocolate every morning before breakfast.  I love these little traditions.

We picked out the Christmas tree the first weekend in December and decorated it later that afternoon. 

The decorating usually is fun for about 20 minutes, and then everyone else seems to lose interest and I'm left finishing the job.  That's OK I suppose.  We had lots of pretty white lights up outside too this year and every time we would pull into the driveway after dark Ava giggled and said she thinks I went overboard with the lights...but I thought it was just right.

Cameron did not make out a Christmas list,  just circled everything in any toy catalog that came in the mail.  He loved to sit down and flip through the magazines.  Ava made one list out, but then when she saw Santa at Shady Brook, she told him the only 2 things she wanted were a gymnastics mat and a bedroom doorbell.  She stuck to that and continued to tell us that was pretty much all she wanted.

Ava went shopping for Cameron this year and picked out 2 things at Five Below that she thought he would love.  New headphones, and a new pack of Hot Wheels.  She also went shopping for daddy and got him a nice Flyers hat.  Cameron was not so cooperative.  He refused to go shopping for Ava...he's refused to do a lot in the last couple of months.  And I wasn't about to drag him into a store kicking and screaming.  So there was a wrapped gift under the tree Christmas morning from Cameron, to Ava, that magically appeared.  She was pleased so that was all that mattered.

We had 2 small snow storms before Christmas.  Snow #1 cancelled school and we had a fun sled date with the neighbors.  Storm # 2 came over the weekend and we had a fun playdate with sledding and gingerbread house decorating.

 So back to the school parties.  I bought Mason jars and mixed a huge batch of hot cocoa up, and the kids filled jars with hot cocoa mix, topping them off with marshmallows, chocolate chips, and peppermint candy.  Ed helped me make cute labels for the jars and they looked great.  The kids loved them.  We played games, ate food, and I bought them necklaces that lit up like a string of lights...lots of fun.

Cameron had the stomach bug the day before his party but seemed to be better the following day so I sent him to school.  5 kids had been out the same day as Cam.  During the parent breakfast, one of the little boys threw up at the party and so the sickness continued.  The following day, Saturday, Cameron was feeling a bit better and both Ed and I came down with the dreaded stomach bug.  We were so sick.  It ruined our Singer/Wissler Christmas at mom's house.  Ed was too sick to go, I went, but actually got sick as soon as I got to Mom's house.  It took us both a few days to recover.