We decorated our tree last week on Sunday!  We decorated in the last half hour before the Christmas Devotional came on TV, but with so many hands to help with the “work,” that was plenty of time!

Sarah had her Christmas Choral Concert this week on Wednesday night.  She looked lovely.  I know this because I saw her before and after even though two tall boys stood in front of her during the performance!  That’s alright.  I could see half of her face most of the time and all of her face some of the time.  She sang with confidence!  They even sang in Russian!  They even sang Betelehemu which I first fell in love with when I heard the BYU Men’s Chorus sing when I was in college.  We really enjoyed the whole performance.

Thursday night was Cali and Cheyenne’s Third Grade Christmas Program.  They did awesome singing Christmas songs and teaching us about traditions from all around the world.  Calianne dressed as a Santa Lucia girl from Sweden in a white dress (my baptism dress that my mom made for me!) with construction paper candles on her head.  Cheyenne didn’t have to dress special, but she played the Santa Lucia song on the ukulele with the other kids!  I was so impressed!  It was a fun night!

Cali even wore the apron that goes on top for school.  So cute!

Friday night was our ward Christmas Party.  The decorations were fabulous and the program was full of the spirit of Christmas.  The food was awesome, as usual, as well.  I brought apple turnovers.  That’s the first time I ever made them so I was very impressed with myself.  Cali and Cheyenne were in the primary’s reenactment of the nativity.  They didn’t script the kids very much this year, and when it was over, everyone was crowded around the manger.  All we could see were the backs of a bunch of kids, trying to get a look at the baby.  Which is how I’m sure it really was, afterall.  It was pretty special to me.  We had a good night!

Saturday night, Kevin and I went out for our date night (since we couldn’t on Friday) and we went to Mr. Mac’s to get him a new suit for his birthday present.  He’s going to look great in it!

In between all that, we played a lot of basketball.  Sarah had a game on Monday and practices Tuesday thru Saturday.  Megan had games on Wednesday and Thursday and practices on Monday and Thursday.  Mariah had games on Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday and practices on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.  Calianne and Cheyenne had practices on Tuesday and Thursday.  Kevin came home from his game Saturday and said, “Hey!  I’ve been thinking of a way we could get Megan on another team.”  Yeah, I think we are suckers for punishment.

Sarah got her "warmups" for the basketball team and she loves them!  She thinks she looks totally cool in them, and . . . she's right!

Savannah worked holiday hours at Funfinity on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.  She also went to see Lincoln at the theatres for extra credit for her history class.  She really liked it.

Bethany went to preschool on Monday and Wednesday and ballet on Tuesday and to Grandma’s on Thursday and Saturday.  She and Ben also watched “Sofia the First” 400 times . . . or thereabouts.

Benjamin has had a bad cough all week, but if you think that has made him more willing to nap during the day, you would be mistaken!  He has learned that he can crawl out of his crib, open his door, and rejoin us.  Mostly so far I have just let him.  He has been calling Bethany, “Beffy,” but lately he can say Bethany with only a small lisp.  He follows her everywhere.  On the way back from preschool this week, he walked next to her and kept his hand on the small of her back.  What a gentleman, eh?  He missed her.  Those two are good friends.  I love to see it.