Christmas Programs

This December has been so busy with fun Christmas activities.  We had lots of school parties and programs, Ward Christmas parties, parties with friends and Ethan's birthday.  It felt like a lot of baking and running around but it was loads of fun.

  Pictures from the Hawaiian themed ward Christmas party.

My favorite is watching the kids perform in their Christmas programs and sing in sacrament.  And again they didn't disappoint.  Ethan had three performances where they did a Charlie Brown Christmas program and sang some songs in English and Spanish.  As much as he doesn't like to sing he was belting it out with the best of them.

 Taylor's class had a performance based on the Christmas story and she was one of the angels.  She was giving it her best and, as usual, giving the evil eye to anyone that got out of line.  She looked just beautiful in her costume.

Ethan also had his first piano recital after starting piano in the Fall.  He had been practicing Jolly Ole Saint Nicholas since he started piano so he was beyond confident in his ability to play it.  I always love how confident he is.  He had been playing the song for so long that after awhile he started playing it with his eyes closed and then crossing his hands over each other to make it more challenging.  He told his teacher that he was going to play it that way for the recital.  He cracks me up.  When we went to get in the car to go to the recital he didn't have his book with him.  I suggested he bring it but he was sure he didn't need it.  I brought it anyway, just in case, since that is how I am.  It was funny to see Taylor, my "mini me" so concerned about him not having the book.  She held it on her lap and kept saying "Don't you think he should have it just in case?"  She is my child.  Even without the book he did a good job and we were so proud of him.  But he will never be my perfectionist.  He doesn't have any desire to play a song until he gets it perfect and is just always ready to move on to the next song.  They often remind me that no matter what they are their own person and I can't change that.

Ethan has been begging for a birthday party with his friends from school so we finally gave in this year. As we were deciding who to invite I started to realize that we were going to have to invite 44 kids since he wanted to invite kids from both of the two classes he interacts with and if you invite one kid you have to invite them all.  I made sure to ask for an RSVP by a certain date and I was thrilled when only about 6 kids could come by the RSVP deadline.  So we started planning what we would do and decided on a food theme where we would make homemade individual pizzas and decorate cookies and play games all involving food.  Ethan was so excited about it.  I started to get nervous as a few additional people called to RSVP after the deadline but I didn't start to panic until I was at his school and some other parents made some vague comments about how they were "probably" going to come.  Maybe I'm missing something these days but I thought asking for an RSVP would force people to decide if they were coming or not.  So I was really worried that all 44 kids could possible show up and I wouldn't have enough food for everyone.  And in my family that is a crime.  By the time it was all said and done with had 14 kids at the house and it was crazy!  They had fun but I was running around so much that I didn't have a chance to snap one picture of the kids having fun.  I was so appreciative of great friends who were willing to help me out and a great husband to help things run smoothly.  I am definitely ready to wait another 7 years before we try that again but Taylor is already making requests for her party in February.  We will see.