Christmas Parties 2010

So the boys missed school for the entire week up until Friday...they were able to make it in for their 1/2 day. It almost seemed pointless, but I'm glad they were able to get their Christmas parties in BEFORE Christmas. I literally spent that 1/2 day running back and forth between both schools and Mom's house, trying to get the teachers' gifts thrown together, since the snow days had put me WAY behind! Jacob's school gathered in the gym for a little Christmas performance by all the students. Each grade level sang a different Christmas carol, and then the entire school sang a few all together at the end. Jacob's class sang, "Deck the Halls", which he has been practicing at home. :) I took video with my camera, but I'm not sure if the video loaded or not. I see the box for it at the end of the post, but cannot check it until I publish it.

Jacob's class also did a gift exchange, and he got a Transformer.

Jacob and his teacher Mrs. Julie...He LOVES being in her class! (And I'm glad he has a teacher who can laugh at my forgetfulness...that's a whole post in itself!)

Matthew's teachers had gotten him an entire Santa bag filled with goodies!! He spent most of his time at school eating! :) This is what happens most of the time when he sees me pull out the camera...

Nope, still not gonna look...

Friday night our church choir went Christmas caroling. This is something we used to do all the time, but our little family hasn't been able to participate in the last few years. I wanted to make it a point to let Jacob go this year as I knew he would love it...and that Matthew would hate it just as much. SO...Matthew and I just stayed in the car; he ended up falling asleep after a few stops and I took a book to read and ended up dozing too. It made for a late night and we were worn out when we got home, but I think Jacob really enjoyed it.

Jason had to work all weekend long, so the boys and I decided that we would go do a little Christmas shopping this morning. I am capable of taking both my boys out in public alone, but to actually go "shopping" is something they don't really care for, and something that is actually easier to do while they are in school if at all possible. Well, remember all those snow days this past week??? Yep, they reeked havoc on my little schedule I made up...and yes, I made out an entire schedule of things I needed to accomplish each day of this past week...and NONE of them were accomplished! SO...Christmas shopping is WAY behind, and I'm beginning to panic a smidge! Jacob was not keen on going shopping until I told him we were going Christmas shopping for others. He informed me that he had already gotten several of the folks on our list something from Santa's Secret shop at school, so I had to explain that we had to get them something from all of us. He was ready to go, and I must say, I was excited about taking them! :) Of course, once I told Matthew we would get something to eat, I had no trouble in getting him to the car. It was lunch time when we got into BG, so we stopped at Sonic and grabbed a quick bite to eat. I also knew that if I passed one more restaurant that Matthew liked, he was going to get out of the car and walk. ;) We went to Target and marked FOUR people off of our list there! YAY!! Might I say, my children were complete angels! Matthew rode along in his stroller with nary a fuss, and Jacob used his reindeer to guide the buggy through the store behind me. Have I mentioned this child's imagination before?! :) The strap intended to hold children in the cart were his "reins" and he followed along with much enthusiasm while steering Rudolph and Blitzen (or was it Dasher?) around Target, avoiding collisions with other people and the merchandise. I'm telling ya, make it a game for that boy, and he's raring to go. ;) Each time I would mention a gift idea, he was in total agreement, so that's what we got! (I don't know if he thought the recipients would really like the gifts or if he knew that agreeing meant we left sooner!) From the look of the parking lot, I REALLY wanted to avoid Walmart, and I knew there were a few things in the mall I wanted to look for. Jacob cringed at the thought of going to the mall, and told me I would be "allowed" to go there if he could ride the carousel. Sounded like a great compromise to me! Since we got a very close parking space next to the carousel, that was our first stop. After walking almost the entire length of the mall, (since both stores I made purchases in were on opposite ends), we marked TWO more gifts off of our list! I consider that quite a success for less than a couple of hours of shopping...and with two males in tow at that! I had promised the boys we would visit the candy dispensers before leaving, but since Auntie Anne's was so close to the door we came in, we got a treat from there. Jacob loves their regular salted pretzels, and I got Matthew some of the cinnamon sticks. I was perfectly content with a frozen lemonade, and Jacob really enjoyed his too. Matthew was one sugary mess by the time we got home, and I really thought he had inhaled those cinnamon sticks. Upon getting out at the house, I realized he had mostly licked all the cinnamon sugar off of them, and threw the rest in the floor! :)

This afternoon, we made a spur of the moment decision to take a drive up to E-town to see all the Christmas lights at Freeman Lake Park. This is something we have enjoyed doing several years in the past, and Jacob actually asked around Thanksgiving if we could go back. We were afraid if we didn't go ahead and go, we might not be able to before Christmas. I thought since we had already made the hour drive to and from BG, that Jacob might not be up for another hour on the road, but he was busting at the seams to go. Matthew fell asleep on the ride up, but as soon as we pulled into the drive, he woke up and seemed to enjoy looking at the lights. We always turn up the heat, Jason and Jacob roll down their windows, we crank the Christmas music and enjoy! It was so much fun, and definitely worth the drive in our book! On our way home, we saw the same live Nativity as we did last year. It's just right there on the side of the road in front of someones home, but it is absolutely BEAUTIFUL! Here's a few pictures from the park, but my picture of the Nativity didn't turn out.

Jacob thinks this one is funny, and since E-town had quite a bit of ice from the last system that moved through, a lot of the decor still had ice hanging on. This Santa was frozen with icicles hanging off of him!

This is what Jacob looks for every year when we go to the park. I still have no idea what it has to do with Christmas, but he loves it!
It was a day of Christmas FUN for sure!!!