I don’t know about you but Christmas in my house is done in shifts. Yep, that’s right shifts. The first shift is the Christmas concert. Dr. Huffman does such a wonderful job with the elementary kids. The younger classes sing, the older classes perform in "Then Nutcracker". The pictures in the gym turn out terribly so here's the picture I took of them before the performance.
Shift 2 - The Christmas Tree- We still get real Christmas trees & I do not like to get them to early in the month due to the fact that they dry out so bad. So the Sunday before Christmas we not only got our Christmas tree, Nick purchased a new stand for it. Every year he fights with the midget trees as if it were 7ft tall. I will say it is quite comical and next year will miss that scene ..
The next shift is preparations for the class parties, teacher gifts, and bus driver gifts. Adrian’s class was a breeze, just needed to provide snacks for him for the afternoon. Elijah’s teacher is awesome. She has centers set up with a parent in each one. I had the game center. So we played Christmas bingo. I found this cool website for printable Bingo cards that you can make in themes. So we prepared the game, the game pieces, the prizes (one for each child-thanks to the dollar store). I made Elijah's teacher the First Grade Survival Kit. And Adrians' two teachers got a mug with all different types of cocoa and I put some marshmellows in a baggy & printed a label stating "I heard you were naughty this year so here's the scoop to go with your cocoa is some "snowman poop". Adrian got a kick out of it. For the bus driver & the dispatchers I made Fudge, Killian Corn, and Pretzel Turtles. They are all so good about working with me in the bus crisis I have some mornings. That afternoon I was able to go and help in Elijah's class. There were 4 centers set up. The game center, the craft center, the treat center and the gift center . It ran so smoothly and the kids had a blast.
The next shift is the work shift. Heather, Annette, Lola & I all exchange gifts. We usually take a nice lunch and exchange. Alls I can say is wow!! Annette made me this Acrylic picture frame for my scrap room that says Darla's Scrapin' Room in red and it has Kim Anderson pictures in it .. It is absolutely adoreable... Heather took the time and made us each an idea box. You know the one that if you have 3 pictures , you go to the box look under 3 and there are a whole bunch of layout ideas. (She fought at the retreat in November & won Michelle's in the Christmas exchange). And than Lola got each of us this huge & I mean huge gift set of scrappin stuff that was coordinated. It had flowers, ribbon, metal embelliments, paper, 2 scrapbooks, and tons of other stuff... And then we got a gift certificate to Sydney's in Moses Lake on top of that... WOW!!
The other part of the shift is I try and do something small for the guys in the office. It is never enough for all the extra's they do for us but it's a small something. This year I just made trail mix & put it in ziplock bags and gave them a card. We were able to go home about 3:00 that day. And then the next shift began.
Eric came over that night & watched the boys so I could get my shopping done.. Now I know you are all shaking your head but I must say I did much better this year. I am usually running around Christmas Eve morning trying to finish up or start I should say. I actually had been buying or making so it didn't seem quite as bad as normal. It only took me about 3 1/2 hours and not only did I finish shopping I got all the groceries too!!
Christmas Eve we spend at my mom's house. We go over in the evening & have snacks, the kids open gifts and we play games. Well Christmas Eve morning, I spent wrapping gifts, making snacks, cleaned house but still found some time to make cookies with the boys.
That evening we went to Mom's and celebrated Christmas Eve. The kids opened presents , the guys played cards, after all the hecticness it felt nice just to sit and visit. We were there till about 11:00 or so.
Headed home, put the kids to bed, put out the cookies, and waited for Santa to come. Eric came stayed the night. I will say that is the first time since Jeff & I had gotten our divorce that one of my kids was home for Christmas morning.. It made me warm and fuzzy all over.
The next morning, Adrian woke us up, we opened presents, had a big breakfast and got ready for the day. Everyone was coming over about 2:00 or so for a prime rib dinner (Thanks Uncle Wilbur). The boys went to their grandparents for a couple of hours. It was a nice, relaxing day. I still get a little teary eyed when I think of my dad, and also this year was tough due to Scott being in the hospital and not being able to come home. It was a very relaxing day. Good food and good company. One of my favorite moments was when Nick dressed up Daisy and had her deliver a present to Allison. 
I thought we were all going to die laughing. I know this post is extremely late but I hope you all had a great Christmas!!!
We had a small party for him Saturday night. (Susan I wish I had your party skills- I suck at birthdays) Dave, Dolly & Allison came over. My mom had the flu so she was able to make but Chance & Colton came over & they were able to spend the night. He had a great day!! He got several Hastings cards, some money & Nerf Blaster for the WII. The boys all get along so well... Colton & Elijah went outside to ride skateboards. Now Colton had a good tumble, and the next thing I knew he was Tony Hawk but on the grass!! *lol* They both were telling me to take pictures of them doing tricks .... 
