Merry Christmas!

With the kids being off track for the entire month of December, things start getting a little hectic around our house.  I like having them home because that means we don't have to worry about bedtimes, homework, or getting up early to get to school.  However, that also means I have to get all Christmas shopping done early.  I always start out with great intentions of doing lots of Christmas crafts, baking Christmas goodies, and spending lots of time with the kids, but time flies when we're having fun and I always get to the end of the season and wish I had done more with them.  Needless to say, we did cram a lot of activities into our December.

One of our annual traditions is to make our gingerbread house.  Adam was very excited this year because our kit had fondant.  He is an avid watcher of Cake Boss and so excited to try using the fondant.  I think he discovered it wasn't as easy as he thought.  We built, frosted, decorated and ate a great gingerbread house.

We also have a tradition of collecting an ornament from the places we visited.  It is a fun way to remember our vacations and the memories we created.  This year, we collected this one from New Orleans (the kids thought this was creepy):

We got this one from Kauai (Mmmmm, Authentic Hawaiian Shave Ice):

And this one was from Seattle (a rain drop because it rained the entire time we were there):

And, of course, we were visited by our friendly Elf on the Shelf, Buddy.  He comes on Thanksgiving night to see how the kids are behaving.  He takes notes and then every night he flies back to the North Pole to report to Santa.  In the morning, he comes back and finds a new place to sit.  The kids love waking up in the morning to find Buddy in a new place.  He is very tricky!

We also hosted the annual Marshall Group Christmas party.  This year we asked all employees and spouses to bring a picture of themselves as a child.  It was really fun trying to figure out who was who.  Some were really tough to figure out.  They also had to bring a story or fact about themselves that no one else knew.  It was fun getting to know them better and to hear their stories.  And, last we asked them to bring a white elephant for the annual gift exchange.  There were some really creative gifts.  I ended up with the "bed snake bat - for those one-eyed snakes that creep under the covers" and Aaron got a Menopause DVD - a man's guide to understanding menopause.  We even had a big 13" TV show up as a white elephant gift.  We had a blast!  We are so lucky to be able to work with such great people.

After all the parties were over, and there were a lot: Ward dinner, Voice Male Concert with neighbors, another white elephant gift exchange with neighbors, family parties, etc., we were ready for rest and relaxation on Christmas with our family.  Aaron and I had a lot of fun with the presents this year.  We decided to take the "big" gift and hide it until all other presents had been opened.  Abbi's was a pink electric scooter and Adam's was an Ipod.  We put them in the garage.  When all presents had been opened, we asked the kids how it was.  "Great" is what they said, "Except, I didn't get ______."  We told them to go look in the garage and their excitement was so funny!  We suddenly became the best parents in the whole world.  We had such a great day putting toys together, dancing to Abbi's Just Dance 2 on the wii, and spending time with each other and the extended family.

I love Christmas!  Even though it always seems to be extremely hectic, I enjoy listening to Christmas Carols, putting up the tree, decking the halls, shopping for gifts, doing sub for santa, spending time with my family, and remembering the reason for the season - the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Merry Christmas from the Marshall's!