Christmas is Coming!

We decided to try making popcorn & cranberry garland this year.
It turned out really pretty but took longer than we expected.
We'll have to give ourselves more time next time!

Eliza's teacher handed out a long list of random acts of kindness
ideas and Eliza was really excited to do as many as she could.  She
completed several, including a "Smile" note that she gave Suz.

Another kindness task was to make a gift for your teacher.
Luke helped Eliza make bath salts for both of their teachers.

Finished product ready for wrapping!

Cat's good friend offered to help her put up Christmas
lights and it only took the two of them about 3 hours.
They did a great job!

So pretty!  And kudos to Ben for putting the lights on our office
balcony and on the bush in front of the front porch.

Decorating the tree felt like a sweet, festive experience this year.  And now that the kids are older, it was pretty worry-free.  I just kept an eye on things and took a few pictures, then added some ornaments toward the end.  It didn't take very long, and we loved working on it together.

Watching The Mandalorian together every week has been a fun tradition this fall.

It was fun to come downstairs on Sunday morning and find these three quizzing
each other using a set of Christmas Trivia cards they found in a Christmas bin.

Confession: I loved being home all day on the day of the First Presidency
Christmas Devotional.  I loved making treats and doing other Chritmmas-y
things with the kids, and I loved watching the devotional together.

Whacking the candy canes is the most fun part
of making Christmas treats.

Jack was a great helper for the Peppermint Bark

Luke also helped cleaning up the extra stuff left on the spoon.

Cat and Eliza were in charge of fudge, and I also had helpers
working on shortbread and gingerbread with me.

Luke used treat scraps to furnish a little apartment
for this gingerbread man.

We all signed Christmas cards for several widows we know
then delivered the cards, along with some flowers, the next day.

Ben, Suz, and Whit joined us to watch Elf the next weekend
while we worked on a couple of service projects for Lifting Hands International.
When we discussed service options at the beginning of December, the kids
chose to work on a projects for this organizatoin which helps refugees.
Here everyone is helping to assemble school kits.