Ten of My Favorite Memories from this December

1.  Nicholas told jokes for his talent at the Wells Christmas Eve Party.  He did a great job wearing his Santa hat and his slinky eyes.  We had practiced two jokes, but he choose to go with his own material.  His jokes went something like this: "What do you get when you cross a girl, a shoe, a clock, and a piano?....A clockgoshoe!!!"

2.  The kids loved dressing up like wise men during the Wells family nativity.  Lexi especially loved all the sparkly things she got to wear.  For the Muhlestein nativity they were very uncooperative but cute sheep.

3.  We went to Frozen on Christmas Eve morning as a family.  It was fabulous!  The kids loved it, but Nicholas thought the Ice Monster was too scary.

4.  Lexi got 4 pairs of shoes for Christmas and loved them all.  Nicholas also got a pair of boots.  True Texas children!

5.  We made lots of Christmas cookies.  Nicholas loved the dough much better than the cookies.  We dropped them off at neighbors and took lots to the Christmas Eve Party.  Nicholas called himself the "Cookie Dough Monster" and told me, "I just can't help it!  I'm so attracted to the dough."

6.  Jack, our Christmas elf, came and visited for the month of December.  He stayed out of reach most of the month, but did get touched by Lexi one time and had to get magic sent from the North Pole.  Nicholas really wanted her to get coal as punishment.  In this picture, Nicholas is saying goodbye to Jack.

7.  I was in charge of the decorations for the ward party.  It was a lot of work and worry.  I ended up wrapping every small box in our house and using them as centerpieces.  The kids had fun unwrapping them later.  Nicholas went up on stage with the Primary children to sing and ended up playing in the curtains.  Got to love him anyway.

8.  We ate Pat's BBQ for Christmas Eve dinner at the Muhlesteins.

9.  I got a lot of emergency supplies, food storage, and laminating pouches for Christmas.  Joseph got a ladder and a circular saw.  Lexi got princess things, Minnie Mouse things, shoes, and a doll.  Nicholas got a headlight, bike, flashlight, boots, new iPad games, and angry bird stuff.

10.  Joseph is currently working the night shift so he made it to most Christmas events, but kept falling asleep.  He is the best.  We postponed our family Christmas until the evening because Joseph wouldn't make it home in time to open the gifts.  Nicholas was okay with that because we promised him all the iPad time he wanted on Christmas morning and new games to keep him busy.