Christmas Time is Here

 We had a great Christmas! The holidays are so much more fun when you have kids. Paige was so excited about everything.

Sunday before Christmas family photo

Christmas Eve- sandwich making.

 It was a great thing that Margaret invited some friends over for dinner or it would have been a really quiet Christmas Eve.

 When kept tradition alive and carried the sandwich around the house.

 Margaret had us all play this fun little game. We had to draw a Christmas scene on a paper plate that was on our heads.

 Then we all did the Nativity. It was fun to see all the grown-ups take part since there was only one little girl.

 We decided that the flash on the TV was the star leading to Christ. :)

 Paige got to open up her Christmas pajamas before going to bed.

 I love the excitement on her face in this picture.

 She was so excited to set everything up. We had made chocolate chip cookies earlier in the day because that is the type of cookie Santa likes according to Paige. She helped set out the cookies and milk and we leave out a magic key for Santa so he can come through the front door since we don't have a fire place. It took her awhile to settle down but soon she was dreaming of all the fun that was about to happen the next day.

 Santa spoiled her this year. All the presents got passed around and we took turns watching each other open all their gifts. Paige got doll stuff, craft things, and candy. She opened up a box full of barbie furniture which she loved but the best present was saved for last. After all the presents were opened we read a note from Santa that said to look on the front porch for her last present.....

 And she got her Christmas wish- a barbie dream house. She has played with it every day since and LOVES it!

 Nate got these slot machines- one for his parents and one for us. It came with some tokens and once you run out you have to open it up to gather them up again. All the kids have loved them!

She is definitely loved lots!

It was a really fun Christmas! Paige loved every minute of it and we are truly blessed with everything that we have.

Advent Calenders

 Paige has enjoyed numerous advent calendars for the month of December. Every morning and every night there was something to do. It was fun way to get more excited for Christmas!

The first advent calendar she opened for the day was the Christmas play mobile that it is the bathroom. Thanks Nona for this one!

 Next she would got downstairs and find all her chocolates for the right day. Every morning she would ask me what number the day was and open up this one from my mom.

 And then find the chocolate kiss in this one.

 Then every night before she went to bed she got to open up a Christmas book. Nona found 25 books for each of the families. That is a lot of books and a lot of wrapping. Thanks again Nona!

 And last we put together this chain and she got to cut a chain off every night or sometimes that next morning if we forgot the night before. :)

She loved all these daily doings!

It's a Charlie Brown Christmas

 Nate and I got asked to be on the Ward Christmas party again this year. The committee decided that a Charlie Brown Christmas would be our inspiration for this year. It turned out amazing!

Nate came up with these awesome invitations.

I volunteered to do the decorations which was quite the undertaking with all the ideas that flowed through my head. I watched the show a couple times and each time added more things to my to do list but got a lot of inspiration from it. There is a lot of pictures but I wanted to remember all the work I put into it and how cute it turned out.

I started by getting a lot of posters from the dollar store and made lots and lots of characters. I projected them onto the poster boards, painted them, traced with with a black Sharpie, and then cut them all out.

It was Nate's idea for this one to put Snoopy on a stand so he could actually be dancing on the piano. I love how it turned out.

 For one part of the character wall, I had the stage inspired part of the show. There was the lights, director's chair, and the different characters when they are getting ready for their Christmas pageant in the show.

Closer view of them.

On another portion of the character wall I did ice skating characters since in the show they have the whole ice skating scene in the beginning.

Then by one of the doors I made this character. I did this one later after I watched the show again and got more inspiration. 

Then for the opposite side of the gym was where the food tables went. For these walls I was inspired by Charlie Brown shopping for a Christmas trees and all the colorful aluminum trees he looks at. So I painted a whole bunch of colorful trees that were vibrant colors. I made sure I had some pink ones since all the girls in the show make sure and tell Charlie Brown to get a pink one. I also hung up some stars inspired when Charlie Brown is walking through the night and thinking about the true meaning of Christmas.

 Nate made Snoopy's doghouse. It looked incredible! We found the lights with the big bulbs at the thrift store and I am so glad we found them because they were the perfect touch.

When people arrived to the party Lucy's psychiatrist stand welcomed them. Nate built it for me and I painted on the words. It turned out so cute!

On the stand I had a dog dish filled with Christmas advice. Everyone got to take one. They were like paper in fortune cookies with little things I found on the internet to encourage people to enjoy Christmas and remember the true meaning of Christmas.

For the round tables with Nate's help we made these cute center pieces. I saw an idea similar on Pinterest and I got the inspiration of sprinkling the pine needles from the movie since every time Charlie Brown moved his tree pine needles would fall off.

Then for the rectangle tables I had a few different things.

For some tables I got some small tree branches and had some sparkly ornaments, flowers, and little presents mixed in.

 Then I got a couple of boxes of these strings of ornaments that were used last year for the ward party. Thanks so much Jaime for all the cute decorations that added to what I had.

 And for the last few tables I bought these garland at the dollar store.

Lastly on the food tables I had a bird cage on each table with Woodstock hanging in each of them.

The view of the whole room. 

 I made almost two hundred snowflakes that were hung all over the entire room. It really made it all come together and they just turned out so good. I even had the activity day girls cut out some for our activity in December which helped me out a ton.

I didn't get any good close-up pictures of the snowflakes. I probably should have because they were very pretty but I did make these Star Wars ones since the movie recently came out. They turned out amazing and I did keep these ones. :)

On the stage Nate helped me find the perfect large Charlie Brown tree. He built a stand for it and I found a large red ornament at the dollar store. In the pictures you can't really tell but the tree is about my height. Below it I had a few strings of white lights and tulle. Then hanging above the tree I made the signs that say "Merry Christmas Charlie Brown."

 Close up view.

 Everyone enjoying the great party.

 Santa even showed up even though Paige didn't want anything to do with him.

 There was a short program at the end of the party and all the Primary kids got up a sang a beautiful song.

 At the end of the party I invited anyone that wanted to take a character or snowflakes or the little charlie brown trees home with them. They pretty much all got taken home and I am so glad that they all got to be put to more use than just the one day and I didn't have to just throw it all away. 

Merry Christmas Charlie Brown!