Christmas Festivities (part 1)

Of course December was very busy getting ready for Christmas, but most of it was filled with enjoyable activities. We started off the month with our ward Christmas party. This year we participated in Back to Bethlehem. As a child, Back to Bethlehem was the Christmas party that I remember the most. It was also very memorable this year as we were able to focus on the true meaning of Christmas and dress up like Bethlehem days (thanks Carmen!)and travel from room to room and participate in a program like we were of those times witnessing the events leading up to Christ's birth. It was a very nice evening. The Young Women leaders were in charge of the Inn.

Later in the month we hosted several gatherings at our home in preparation for Christmas. If nothing else, it made me get all my decorations up quickly and kept our home very clean all month. Carter and McKay both had their school Christmas parties as well. Although, Carter's was a "winter party" (I will not get started on the whole don't even mention Christmas thing...no candy canes, trees, ect.) which his grade did the winter olympics. I ran the paper airplane toss and all the kids had a lot of fun. McKay enjoyed his preschool party with cookie decorating and candy cane reindeer making.Let the games begin!

But, Christmas wouldn't be complete without a trip to see Santa. This year we visited Santa at Bass Pro Shop. The boys enjoyed the morning playing in Santa's Wonderland and loved every moment of it. They had guns to shoot, cars to race, and sports video games to play. I would definitely recommend going here next year. The best part was that everything was free!