It's Christmas Time!

This weekend was a busy one! Friday night I whipped out 12 ornaments for an ornament exchange party I went to in the morning. The ornaments are little stuffed heart pillows made out of a map of Oregon. I made sure to cut the hearts so each ornament would have a place in Oregon that would most likely be special to someone in the group. Saturday morning at the party, everyone seemed to have their own special place in Oregon that I just happened to have an ornament for, so they worked out great. I saved the "Medford" ornament for an ornament party I'm going to tonight. This one is more of the "white elephant exchange" style, and I hear it can get pretty wild!

Saturday evening was a ward party at the church. Santa Clause was there. I wasn't surprised when neither of my kids wanted to go up to him and sit on his lap! I finally convinced them with candy canes to get close enough for me to get a picture or two. The party was very cute and simple. The Young Men and Young Women (teenagers) in our ward were in charge of the party and decided to do an "Elf" the movie theme. It was pretty fun. Part of it- Santa's Workshop- was an area where we put together kits for lonely elderly in our community. They also had a workshop for the kids to put together sock snowmen. The Youth were all dressed as elves and we had a spaghetti dinner and our choice of sauces or syrup to go on the spaghetti! 

Sunday evening we had the Sister Missionaries over for dinner. We'd never had Sister Missionaries before so this was all new for us. Hayden is usually really wild and hyper when we have company so lately if we want to have people over we wait until Hayden is in bed, except for the Missionaries. Since these were girls and not boys, Hayden decided he was going to show off in a totally different way. He was on his absolute best behavior for the entire hour and a half they were over. He was sweet and funny and polite and quiet, and maybe a bit flirtatious! We REALLY like our new Sister Missionaries and will definitely be inviting them over for dinner much more frequently!

Our little house elf, Saucy, has been getting more comfortable in our house and sometimes get carried away being silly. One day she decided to hang out on the shower head to remind Hayden he smelled bad and needed to shower. It was a great idea because as I guessed he REALLY did not want to shower that day, until he saw Saucy up there, then he thought it was funny! Another day she was wondering what the toilet paper in the kids' bathroom is for since she NEVER sees it get used, so she decided it must be something she could decorate the tree with. Another night Hayden was pretending to play on a zip-line before bed and she overheard and thought it sounded fun. She also heard Hayden talking about what she wanted for Christmas and decided she wanted a list too. Just last night she decided to read a Christmas book to some of her friends she's been meeting in our house.

"Saucy wants: new clothes, skirt, necklace, candy, my own reindeer, to drive Santa's sleigh"

Today I  finally got around to making some Christmas gifts and finally got a Christmas wreath up on the front door! I'd counted on having my super nice smelling evergreen wreath from Costco on the front door, but it just smelled too nice to leave it out there, so I brought it inside and get to enjoy it every time I walk by. Unfortunately this left my front door bare and sad. I found an old sweater and the berries at Salvation Army. I already had the wreath form, bought the green felt ribbon the other day because I just loved it, even though I didn't know yet what I'd use it for, and the bell and star ornament came off my Christmas tree. I think it pulled together quite nicely and is definitely "me".