December 2010

December has been a whirlwind of a month...it started off with Brenda being the decorating committee for the 2nd annual Colorado Springs Creche exhibit at our church building. It was a week full of lights hung across the ceiling, 27 tables covered with white tablecloths and then decorated with burgandy, forest green and gold cloths with boxes and books underneath to provide differents levels for the nativities to be displayed on them. We had 6 fake palm trees, 2 Journey to Bethlehem silhouettes, a 20 ft by 8 ft mural of the city of Bethlehem, 10 Lit Christmas trees, 6 sparkly winter trees. That was all done by Wednesday morning to get ready for the 400+ nativities that were brought for the next 2 days and set up. It was a glorious event and there was even a live nativity re-enactment done outside with live animals, script, singing etc. ( thank goodness i didn't have to plan that one)
Anyways, the event had close to 4000 visitors and we collected 300+ lbs of food for care and share at the door. There were some awesome stories of non members and members alike who truly were touched by the spirit that was present during the event!!! I was glad to be a part of it but also glad when it was over...then the rest of the month could commence.

A nice treat was that Maddie, Lilly and Chase flew in for the weekend to have an early celebration of Maddie's birthday. Mike had planned to come but ended up having a work meeting that he couldn't get out of. We went out to eat and Austin made an awesome chocolate cake with buttercream frosting...DELICIOUS...LADIES...HE'S A GOOD COOK!!! Lilly was so much fun to have around and to spoil. She is quite the little talker now, in full sentences and she does say the darndest things....for example...she was dancing to some music and wanted Poppy (Steve) to dance, she said, "dance Poppy" but Steve was sitting on the ground so he started to move his upper body to the beat. Lilly wasn't satisfied with that and she said "No Poppy, get off the carpet and dance" we laughed so hard! It was a very fun visit, with no big plans but lots of fun and rest for Maddie (I hope)
There were two of Austin's band concerts to attend in one week. And the our ward party on a Saturday night...Brenda only got to go to part of it as she has been putting in some extra hours at work to help pay for Christmas and the Cruise that is coming up in January.
And then there was all the shopping to get done, presents to wrap and goodies to be baked.
Chase drove home on Saturday the 18th from BYU, it took him 11 hours to drive the 8 1/2 hour trip because of snowy weather in the mountains...he did get home safe and mostly sound. It's been fun having him around...he cracks us all up!
Tonight for Christmas eve we had our traditional Seafood dinner but didn't have crab...we settled for Lobster tails this year...the shrimp was plentiful...boiled shrimp, popcorn shrimp, and large deep fried shrimp. We also had sweet potatoe fries to go with it all...YUMMY!
AFter dinner the boys opened their Christmas Eve gifts...it wasn't pajama's this year...to their disappointment. They did get home made Snuggie's and some boxer's with super hero's on them.
After all the frivolity, I had to go to work and here I am, working hard (teehee)No new Christmas Babies yet....
Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful new year!!!