bits of december, the very happiest month.

Growing up I always heard adults refer to "holiday stress" and how it is so important to "slow down and focus on what matters most."

I always thought...uhm what are you talking about? All there is to stress about is remembering the words to all the Christmas songs and whether or not santa is going to bring you the thing you really want. I never understood where there could possibly be any stress.

But now. Now I understand. I don't think I've been too stressed to enjoy this happy season, but there has just been a lot going on!

I've spent the first half of the month planning and prepping for the army troop christmas party- it was for about 200 people or so. And party throwing has never been my forte. I'm so grateful for friends who had awesome suggestions, and friends who aren't even in my troop who came to help me set up. Okay, friend, singular. My friend Cindy was a lifesaver.  There was just a lot that went into that little party and I'm so grateful that it turned out great. I was SO relieved when it was over though ;)

I had the help of one other lady from another troop to make this back drop for pictures with Santa. I thought it turned out pretty cute, considering how extremely low budget it was ;)

Jane loved the craft station, but mostly just this craft, the only one that involved sweets of course ;)

We also had our ward party. I put together a video slideshow of all the primary kids answering questions about Jesus and his birth. And jane ate enough sweets to last until next christmas. (it was a dessert bar. those are dangerous.) I snapped this pic of Jeff vacuuming the entire chapel because he is just a really good guy. I especially love the pink burp rag sticking out of his back pocket.

I got these outfits for the girls and had them wrapped under the tree...well I caved and opened them early because I just couldn't wait to see them wear them together.

Jane I made lots of crafts and baked lots of treats. We've gone through a few glue sticks and much more than a few sticks of butter for said baking. Thankfully most of the baking I did was to bring to parties or give to friends.

 ^^ my play doh ginger bread man vs. Jane's.

A few more highlights of this month: My visiting teaching partner and I put together a little brunch for the 3 ladies that we visit teach. It was delicious, but the company was the best part and I am SO ANNOYED at myself for only taking a picture of the food, and not the people.

It was my good friend Cindy's birthday on the 12th. She has 4 sweet little girls (the two youngest the same age as my girls) and we watched them while her and her husband went out on a much deserved date! Her two oldest girls and Jane helped me make her a cake while they were gone, and when they got back we ate cake together and had a fun time. My first layered cake. Not pinterest worthy but also not an epic failure. And it tasted great!

^^ Kylie and Marin patiently waiting for cindy to give them a piece :)

GUYS. maybe my greatest accomplishment this month: I made sugar cookies and they didn't suck!!!! Seriously I had a little PTSD from the last time I attempted so I was really worried that would happen again, but I did it! And they were delicious. Which turned out to be not such a good thing....because that means I ate them. It always started with...."Oh i'll just eat the gingerbread man's head and thats it...." 10 minutes later....he somehow was entirely consumed; limb by limb. Remember when I went 6 months without eating hardly any sugar this year? Let's just focus on that.

 Twice this month, I went to the PX for a gift wrapping fund raiser for Jeff's army troop. I was in charge of this as well. We wrapped gifts and received donations.I watched youtube videos the night before on "How to wrap a christmas present". I wish I was joking. The first one I wrapped went horrendously and that moment when I realized the present I had just spent 10 minutes "wrapping" actually didn't have enough wrapping paper to cover the whole box may go down as top 5 embarrassing moments of my life. The lady finally said "Do you just want me to do it?" AHHH! Luckily, that was the only bad one. I got better after that.

 I did it for 6 hours each time and thank goodness the second time, Jeff was able to come get Jane. Try wrapping presents with a toddler hanging on you, a baby crying, and people WHO ARE PAYING YOU are staring at you while you try to wrap their gift. A joke. The second day was better because I had more helpers, and less children :) It actually was really fun!

I wanted Jane to watch one christmas movie, and I chose the Polar Express. We made a train out of chairs and blankets. And used a lid as the steering wheel. Do trains even have steering wheels? Well, as far as her and I know, they do. I made the mistake of telling her santa was in the movie. Turns out he is only in the last 5 minutes, so she asked "where's santa?" about 3 million times before it finally, finally showed him.

Anyways, this month has been crazy, SO busy, stressful at times, fun, but above all, believe it or not, JOYFUL! I already can't wait until next year. December just can't be beat. The 11 other months really don't stand a chance.