Christmas Parties

Christmas parties are also a fun part of the Christmas season.

This year I was the head room mom for both Colby and Logan's class.  Because of this, I got to plan both of their class Christmas parties.  I had a lot of help from the other room moms so the parties were great.  Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of those class parties because Russell and I were too busy helping the kids make their craft.  We decided to have the kids make harmonicas out of large Popsicle sticks and rubber bands.  We learned about this fun craft in the Cub Scout Wolf book.  As we were helping Colby pass off his belt loops, he had to learn about wind and this craft was one of the requirements.  When we made them at home for Scouts, we absolutely loved it and knew we wanted to share this with the other kids.  So we made harmonicas so that the kids could make and play Christmas music over the break.  

When the kids made their harmonicas, it got so noisy!  The kids loved their instruments and wanted to play them the rest of the time.  It was so great!  It made Russell's and my day.  I don't know that the teacher and the other parent helpers liked it but we thought it was so funny!  We may never be asked to help again but it was worth it.  Colby said that after the party his teacher made everyone put their harmonicas in their backpacks... Sorry Mrs. DeCoursey...  Logan's teacher thought the harmonicas were so cool.  She actually sat down with us and had us teach her how to make them.  After the party, she did tell the kids they had to put them away because they were headed to an assembly and she didn't think Mrs. Williamson (the principal) would appreciated their music.  

After the boys' parties, Russell and I went over to Emily's class to see her party.  In her class they were having candy sleigh races.  They had built little sleighs out of candy canes, candy bars, and other candies.  Then they raced them down a slope similar to a pinewood derby.  It was pretty cool to watch.  Russell and I decided that when we are in charge of the Morwood Christmas party, we were going to do this.  

When the kids got out of school, we headed straight to St. George for some more fun.

On Saturday night, we went to Grandma Morwood's Christmas party with all of my dad's side of the family.  It is always fun to get together with extended family and cousins we don't see a lot.  After dinner of soup, all of the grandkids, well great-grandkids now, put on the Nativity story.  Every year Emily hopes she will be picked as Mary and this year she was!  She was a great Mary.  Charlotte and Logan were angels.  Colby didn't want to be in it because he is too cool.  It was a good little play.  Charlotte waved to everyone while she was on stage.  She loves getting attention.

Then it was time for Santa!  The first thing Santa did when we walked in the room was go straight over to Grandma Morwood.  He gave her a hug and talked to her for a bit.  It was so cool to watch and all of us grabbed our phones and started taking pictures.  This just goes to show you that you are never too old for a visit from Santa, even if you are 101!

The visit from Santa is always the highlight of the night because he always brings each kid a present.  Our kids could not wait for their turn.

Each of the kids were so excited when they heard their names called.  I thought Logan was going to take Santa out when he got his present.  He sprinted up to Santa's chair and leaped onto his lap.  He was a little too excited!  Logan loved the Lego's he received. When Colby's name was read, he very coolly walked up to Santa and sat down.  You could tell though that he was trying to hold his excitement in.  He also loved his Lego's and started building immediately.  Emily was all smiles as she sat on Santa's lap.  She received a Bop It! game and has played it nonstop every since getting it.  Her high score is 62 which is pretty impressive.  Finally, Charlotte was the funniest.  When she heard her name, she ran right up to get her present.  When she sat on Santa's lap she said, "I'm Charlotte and I'm here for my present!"  We all laughed at her and Santa gave her the present.  Hers was a little Nerf gun.  She was excited about this because now she had a gun like Colby.

The next day on Sunday, we had the Terry Morwood Christmas party.  Clay and his family were in charge of it this year and they did a great job.

We all had a good time playing Bingo, and a bunch of Minute to Win It games.  The games were really funny to watch especially when the little kids would really get into it.

We blew bells across the table, stacked marshmallow snowmen, stacked towers with candy canes, and put all of the reindeer in order without using our hands.  We all had a blast laughing, being competitive, and just enjoying being together.  

At the end, we played one last game called CLR.  In this game we all started out with $3.  Then we would go around and roll the CLR dice to see if we got to keep the money, pass it to our left or right, or lose it to the center.  Whoever was the last person with money won all of the money in the center. It was a gamble playing this game but it was still fun.  The game lasted quite a while because of the big group.  We kept cheering whenever we got more money and booing every time we lost some.  Jess's boys were doing really well and we thought they were going to win.  Finally, in the end, Klint won the center.  He won $111!  We were all jealous.  

After the game we headed home.  It was late, around 8 pm, so we knew it would be a late drive home.  Sometimes those are good though because the kids sleep the whole way home.  We finally got home at around one or two in the morning.  We were so tired but it was a fun trip to St. George.