The 24 days before Christmas

I wish I had taken pictures of everything, but I didn't.  So I'll just share what I have.

Mormon Tabernacle Christmas Concert

We got tickets to the Christmas Concert this year!!!  It was awesome!!! We actually got enough tickets that Weston's parents and both of his sisters with their husbands were able to go.  And then before the concert we were able to go out to eat at PF Changs. So we were able to have a delicious dinner and watch a wonderful concert.   

The guest star for this year's performance was Alfie Boe- so wonderful!!

Here's a little clip from YouTube

And then the story that they shared was The Candy Bomber.  WOW, what a powerful story.  Right

after the concert I told Weston that we had to make sure to share this concert with the boys.  Luckily we were able to have the boys watch it on Sunday during Music and the Spoken Word.

Primary Christmas

I was called as the 1st Counselor in the Primary for our ward.  The whole presidency is new and we have only been in for about two months.  We were trying to think of a cute/fun Christmas gift for the kids.

We saw this cute idea and decided it was perfect, since the Primary Theme for 2011 was, Choose the Right: CTR

So I ended up cutting out 100 vinyl CTR crests with the help of my wonderful silhouette.

Teacher's Gifts

I wanted to make something cute but simple this year for the wonderful teachers that play a great role in the lives of my boys.   I made one for Walter's speech teacher and then two for Hunter, since he has an English and a Spanish Teacher

I liked them so much that I ended up making three more for  the other members of the Primary Presidency.  I cut a piece of vellum and then used my silhouette to cut the nativity scene out of vinyl.  Then I used glue dots on the corners of the vellum paper to adhere the vellum to the glass block.  Then I put one of those battery operated candles in the glass block as well.  I love the way it glows right around baby Jesus

During all of this I had a wonderful helper named Quincy: 

This is his "Yes I know I'm cute face"

 

The next morning after working so hard with me the night before I walked into his room to find this:

 

Right after I took that picture he woke up, and when he saw that I had the camera he gave me this cute smile

Sleeping under the Christmas Tree Lights

So one of our small Christmas traditions is on the first night of the Christmas Break.  We let the kids sleep under the lights of the Christmas tree.  Quincy is a bit too young to join the boys, but maybe next year. 

They were so excited they kept reminding us over and over that they were going to sleep in their sleeping bags. 

Gingerbread House

I have yet to master the art of making a gingerbread house, so we still use the kits, but the boys don't care, so maybe the art of making my own gingerbread house can wait. 

Every once in a while we have to taste the frosting and candy

Quincy and Weston supervised

Dancing with Tia Wendy

 So on the 21st we went to my cousin's house for a dance party.  Quincy sure had fun.  And Wendy said that he was one of the best dance partners she had ever had. 

Gingerbread Men

We were able to decorate our Gingerbread Men again this year, and we were able to have one of our neighbor's join us. 

And Tia Wendy came as well.  The boys love the Candy Eyeballs.  I think we had more Gingerbread Zombies then Men.  Here is a picture of Walter using Wendy's phone to take a picture of their masterpiece

Sunday the 23rd

The boys wore their Christmas best and Tia Wendy joined us for church.  Right before church we were able to take a few pictures of the boys.  

23rd- Jesus Dinner

We always have our special Jesus Dinner on the 23rd, (since on the 24th, we have extended family events)

I didn't get any pictures of the dinner, but we eat by candle light and we eat food that the people during the time of Christ may have eaten: like bread, cheese, grapes and yogurt.  The boys love it.  I remember the first year we had this dinner, I was so worried because the boys were so quiet.  But this year I just sat there and enjoyed the quiet. 

After the dinner we told the Nativity Story and we watched this awesome video

Then this year we focused on the Wise Men

I got some information from this blog: A Day In My Life

Don't you just love this picture of the Wise Men?

Then we talked about  what it meant to be a wise man:

They read the scriptures and understood them

They listened to promptings from the Spirit

We then read this book called:

The Not-So Wise Man

 

And we discussed what mistakes he made and how we could avoid making the same mistakes.

Then I gave the boys the crowns that I had made for them.  

Christmas Ornaments

Each year we make new ornaments for our tree.  This year we kept it very simple, since it was Quincy's first year.  I just got the wood cutout ones and the boys colored on them with markers. 

Weston helped Quincy

Yes, Quincy really is super cute!!

Walter colored his all blue.  Go BYU!!!

Quincy inspecting his work

Yep!!! It's good