Christmas festivities

Last Friday Chase helped me with preparations for our family Christmas on Sunday. He does a really good job using the hand mixer. He mixed up the pumpkin pies for me, he also did some dusting. Everything from his shoulders down got dusted, I was appreciative of his efforts! After the kids went to bed, I did the last of my Christmas shopping.

Saturday we had to go to church for the dress rehearsal of the cantata. Eric and I got to sit in front of the choir. I pretended to sew a doll and a new outfit. Eric was busy sanding and painting a new crib for the doll. The story is, we had taken a card from the angel tree, and we were getting the presents ready for the little girl. It was really corny. They should have had us memorize our lines. Instead they had someone else read it. So we just sat there when they said our parts. Stephanie was going to tape it, but the camera wasn't on the right setting, so it didn't work! Eric was very happy to hear that.

After the dress rehearsal we had Judy over for lunch. She works at Mercy with me. She is an older woman that never had kids. Her husband drives a truck and is gone most of the time. She just loves Chase and Anthony. So she came over for lunch and brought presents for the boys. Chase enjoyed it.

Saturday night we had Eric's work party at the Elk's Lodge in Pleasant Hill. Miranda and Rob came to babysit the boys. G & K catered in dinner from Hy-Vee. The ham and turkey were really good. We had a good time. It helped that some of Eric's co-workers had come to our party, so it was fun to see them again and get to know them better. We made ourselves by home before midnight. We had a lot to do on Sunday.

Sunday we went to church and did our thing. Stephanie, Chris and Kira came too. Stephanie held Anthony while we were up front. After church we went home and started making lunch. Eric took care of the cheese dip. I worked on the taco meat. Miranda and Rob arrived at 12:30. Stephanie and the kids came shortly after. We were suppose to eat at 1:30 or so. Lisa called to say they had not left Ames yet. We finally got to eat around 2:45. Chase was so patient. We weren't opening presents until after we ate. So we let him open one small one early. He got some fun stuff. Aunt Lisa gave him a big soft cuddly teddy bear, Aunt Miranda and Rob gave him the game Cootie and a DVD with 4 episodes of Justice League. Aunt Stephanie gave him Bob the Builder's Big Plan DVD. Aunt Meagan gave him a work bench that has a talking saw, drill vice grip. He was really excited about it. He had seen it in a toy add, and had carried the picture around for weeks. He kept saying, " I love this, I really love this toy." Anthony received clothes and a pooh bear. He needed some bigger clothes, so I was excited! I am sorry about these bars. My eyes closed ( I am working on 4 hours of sleep) and apparenly my finger hit a strange key. I am trying to delete this, but it won't let me. lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll