December was filled with lots of parties, family, and fun. Here are some of the other fun things we did:
Precoa’s Christmas Party: Shane and I went to his company Christmas party the first of December while the kids had a late-over with their cousins. There was delicious food, beautiful decorations, and great company. It’s fun to get dressed up and go out every once in awhile.
Norwegian Christmas Party: Several years ago, when James was a baby, Shane met a Norwegian man in the area who got him connected with the Sons of Norway group in Portland. We attended their Norwegian Christmas party that year, but because of the cost and the scheduling conflicts in December, we hadn’t been back. This year, everything seemed to work out to go. We ate delicious Norwegian food, sang Christmas carols around the Christmas tree decorated in the Nordic style, and finally got to see Santa. The kids were excited to see Santa and sit on his lap. He gave them each a little bag of goodies and toys.
Cookie Dough for Project Christmas Joy: My dear friend Becky, who lives in Italy, raises money each December for the refugees in the area of Italy where they live. They take food, clothing, and necessary personal care items to a few shelters in their area as well as to many families. This year, to help the boys participate a little more in the process, we made frozen cookie dough and sold it to neighbors and friends, and donated the money to Project Christmas Joy. Landon helped me to organize all of the orders, and to print the labels, and all the boys helped to scoop out, count out, package up, and deliver the cookie dough.
White Elephant Party: Our friends have a yearly white elephant party, and it’s always a fun night to get together and laugh until we cry about the funny gifts. This year, they had us play a round of Christmas Speak Out while we were there and has us in tears even more than usual.
Ward Christmas Party:
The kids had fun meeting Santa at the ward Christmas party, although Madeleine was a little too nervous to sit on his lap.
Parade of Ship and Grandma and Grandpa Morris Gifts:
My parents flew to Chicago to spend Christmas with Dave and Liz, but they spent a little time with us before they left. We went to the Spaghetti Factory and Christmas ship parade the Thursday after some snow hit Portland. The side roads were still snowy, but the main roads were clear so we ventured out and still went. It was great because the Spaghetti Factory was almost empty, and the boat parade was better than I remembered in awhile, with several new boats going by.
My parents also had the kids open their presents from them before they left. They were especially excited about the gift certificate towards Great Wolf Lodge!
Christmas Light Scavenger Hunt: We made hot chocolate and drove around the neighborhood for our traditional Christmas light scavenger hunt. We found everything on our list this year!
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