Christmas Eve

 Andersons love to host Christmas eve dinner. The theme this year was "Downton Abbey". They also have the candy bar gift exchange, and the puppet show as traditions. Dinner wasn't prime rib this year, but beef wellington, and some really yummy sides. My assignment was applesauce and baked red cabbage. Ashley brought an amazing salad and green beans. The meal also included mashed potatoes and gravy and Yorkshire pudding rolls. Hailey made an amazing gingerbread Christmas cake and Audrey made a sticky toffee cake. The puppet show this year was great. Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree. The candy bar exchange has evolved into something more than just simple candy bars 😉😎

Christmas Gifts

 I did a few gifts for friends and ward members. One thing was "missile toads and kisses". Another was HEB salsa and chips. (We always get way too much sugary candies and cookies- I like to give something that is "not that".) 😂I put together some gift bags for four of our closest neighbors. I didn't take pictures of those... 2 with hand soap with small towels and 2 with hot chocolate mix with marshmallows in a cute bowl. I had purchased some super cute plates, and I thought about making cookies... but that idea went by the wayside- lol 😕 I will save those for next year and see what I put on them. I did some cute handouts for our primary class. For our adult kids, they got two books and a cute picture of baby Jesus and lambs. The books were "Present Over Perfect" (not an LDS book) and "The Shepherd and the Lamb" by Gerrit W. Gong. The "Shepherd and the Lamb" book was smaller than I expected, but that makes the reading of it easy. The Pete kids and the Anderson kids got gift cards from us. Target had some cute plastic ornaments to put those in, to look very festive. That was easy for me... but our adult kids need to take their kids shopping now. For the Christiansen kids, Emmy sent me their Amazon wish lists, and I picked out two items each and shipped directly to them. I labeled some of those with Emmy's name and some of those with Dallin's name. Then they wrapped what was in the packages. That was especially fun for Dallin and Emmy. We sent money to Annie, and she purchased gifts for the kids to open. (Except Savannah... she got cash to buy clothing with.) We sent money to Mike. He put money in two accounts, one for Nick and one for Ryan. I guess they love getting money 😉. I am way more practical than Ron... I gave him a new pair of jeans and some flower seeds. He gave me some Jasmine perfume and an expensive necklace. 

Hazels Birthday and Pete Stuff

 On Saturday, Dec. 14, the Petes planned a little soccer and games and donuts party for Hazel. We went for the donuts- lol. That was our "once a year" donut. 😂😎 Then on Sunday evening, for a family dinner at Petes, Ashley cooked the foods that Hazel wanted and my assignment was a "Minecraft" cake. (My first attempt at fondant frosting- I have been able to avoid that all these years- haha) Ashley suggested that we get a Pickleball set for her for a gift. The other pictures are from a family activity that the Petes did at Six Flags- "Wrappin with Jack".

New Month- December Decorations

 New month, new focus, new intentions, new decor ;) It took me a couple of weeks, here and there, but I have to say that I am almost done decorating. I have so much out now, that my mind can't handle any more- lol. But, the house looks great. Of course, we don't have any little kids any more to decorate around. "Christmas is supposed to look like "Joy" throw up in the house"- haha. Nope, I can't do that much "Joy". I have been watching a ton of Christmas decor videos on Facebook. Those are not only showing me Christmas decorations, but also "home ideas". I am going to put together a notebook of pics of ideas. I may not get to all of those, but I can dream... right?? Anyway... here are my decor pics. Starting with two new table runners, from fabric that I got from a quilt shop last month. Mason and Daniel came over and helped with the outside lights. I still have one inside decor project and one outside decor project to finish. Then I am REALLY done- 😂

PS- I did this original post on Dec. 16, then I kept working on my Christmas decor, rearranging and adding things. The last few pictures, with the red border are newly added (posted on Dec. 26).