Christmas Time!

Christmas so soon?

(Ethan with the gingerbread house he made in school).

After a hectic and fun-filled month, Christmas finally arrived. Here are some of the activities that led up to Christmas day.

(Ethan playing with sock puppets from Uncle Chet and Aunt Jenny.)

(Playing games and Mark and Marlou's house on Christmas Day.)

Dec. 3rd -- Reveled in my cleverness and did some Internet Christmas shopping.

Dec. 5th -- Baked holiday cookies.

Dec. 6th -- spend seven hours in the woods finding a cutting down a Christmas tree. It's an annual family tradition and it was snowing hard that day.

Dec. 6th -- Marcelle's work's holiday party. Let the feasting begin!

Dec. 7th -- We hosted our annual cookie exchange party. Guests consisted of about 12 moms and 15 toddlers.

Dec. 8th -- Decorated that 14 ft tall Christmas tree. Heath put up the decorations outside.

Dec. 12th -- Christmas shopping during the day.

Dec. 13th -- Visiting Santa. Ethan didn't really want to sit on his lap so we just admired Santa from a distance. In the evening we went to zoo lights at the Denver Zoo. It was amazing-- they lit up every part of the zoo with about a zillion lights.

Dec. 14th -- Took Ethan shopping to find Heath's Christmas present. Meant to spend some time making an informed purchase and ended up buying the third watch I saw due to the fascination of the nearby escalators to my three-year-old.

Dec. 15th -- Christmas card day! Wrapped Christmas presents.

Dec. 16th -- Baked more holiday cookies. In the evening we walked around the community and saw some gorgeously decorated homes.

Dec. 17th -- Ethan's Christmas program at his preschool. It was cute!

Dec. 19th -- Succumbed to exhaustion and canceled plans to go to Catherine & Jeff's party. Bummer!

Dec. 20th -- Frantically cleaned, baked, and practiced a new recipe in preparation for hosting Chrismas Eve dinner at our house. Yikes!

Dec. 21st -- Scrapped 1st recipe and found a new one for chicken and scallops--I think it's a winner!

Dec. 23rd -- Parents arrived from out of town. Picked them up after work. Dealt with a very cold and snowy storm. Ugh!

Dec. 24th -- Cook, cook, and more cook : ) My happiest activity! Welcomed Mark, Marlou, and kids. Gathered all 12 of us around and ate, drank, played games and opened gifts.

Dec. 25th -- Santa! Watched Ethan look past his shiny new bike and squeal with excitement over a LOLLIPOP! Went with parents to Mark and Marlou's house in Windsor. Had a great time!!!

Dec. 26th -- Came back home, put on my sweatpants, and vowed to start a fast.