The Most Wonderful Time of the Year, Part 2

Our December fun continued during the last half of the month. 

Matt and I had a fun eating at our Sunday School Christmas Party. 

Ruthann always plans the best game. We play the "Where are you going?" game every year. It's become a tradition. 

The next morning, the kids got to have Happy Birthday Jesus parties in their classes. Matt and I served in Katherine's class during the party. 

And then they all nicely asked the preschool coordinator if they could take home the leftover balloons. 

Elisabeth was about to float away, ha!

That evening we walked around Rhema and looked at the lights. 

These circles are always their favorite part of the light display. 

Katherine received some Christmas light glasses from her teachers, and they were a hit. We were all switching off wearing them as we looked at the lights. 

 Elisabeth had to write about one of her favorite Christmas traditions as an assignment, and she wrote about Santa Pancakes. We had them for dinner one evening during the week before Christmas. 

It's such a simple tradition that all the kids look forward to each year. 

The week before Christmas was also filled with lots of baking! The kids each asked to make special treats, and we also made a few to remember Grammy. 

We made fudge and potato candy to honor Grammy this Christmas season. She made them every year. 

Elisabeth also asked to learn how to make cake balls, so we made some of those as well. 

And Samuel had been craving puppy chow, so he made a batch of it all by himself. 

And of course we baked and decorated Christmas sugar cookies- another favorite tradition. 

We've come a long way in our cookie decorating as the kids get older. I remember not even attempting them for a few years when they were little, and I didn't have any extra margin for more messes. Now, they all do a great job, and we all look forward to it. 

We baked up a plate full of goodies to share with friends and family throughout the week of Christmas. 

Matt took a couple of days off work right before Christmas too, so we fit in plenty of board games during the break.