FHE, Trees, and Elves

There really is a reason why Christmas is my favorite time of year.  Though it can get busy and stressful, there are just so many opportunities for fun and service- especially with young kids.  On Monday, we had our annual Christmas FHE lesson/treasure hunt.  The whole kit was given to us as a gift by our dear friends, the Jensens, and every year the kids love it.  Our activity that night was Hershey kisses memory game.  One of the easiest, most kid friendly pinterest finds ever.

At the end of the lesson, everyone writes down something that they can "give Jesus" that Christmas season.  I saw the paper that we used the first year we did this in 2008, and thought it was really funny that this year's and that year's was the same for me: be more patient.  I think the only difference was in 2008, I needed to be more patient with my husband and in 2012, I need to be more patient with my kids- some day I'll learn! :)

This week we also finally got our Christmas tree!  A couple of weeks ago I finally broke down and told Erik we could get an artificial one (he was so excited).  Well after dragging the kids to every store in Winchester that sells artificial trees, we finally decided on one that was on the Costco website. At first it said it was sold out, but then the next day it said it was available.  We quickly purchased it, only to get an email three days later saying they were returning our money because it had indeed sold out and they weren't getting anymore.  Bummer!
So back at square one, we decided we may as well get a real one at Costco and buy the artificial one next year (I guess in October before they sell out?).  Erik who is super busy at work, managing two facilities instead of just one, really didn't have time for any of it.  So for the first time in my life, I cut down the tree from the top of our van (he did meet us at Costco for lunch one day and helped me tie it to the top), carried into the house, trimmed the branches, stuck it in the tree stand, strung it with lights, decorated, and vacuumed and vacuumed and vacuumed.  I really started to appreciate all of the work that Erik did every year (he usually did everything up until the decorating part when me and the kids would take over).  I should mention that both boys were pretty big helpers in this whole process.

Anyway, after we were all done with the tree we left out one shoe for the night.  One of Santa's elves was going to come, and if he approved of our hard work decorating, he was going to leave some treats in our shoe.  And wouldn't you know it, but that elf approved!


It was a lot of fun to see the excitement on Jackson's, Wyatt's, and Anna's faces the next morning.  It was also a lot of fun eating several Dove dark chocolates- that elf really know what to bring :)

Comments

erin said…
your comment about the dove chocolates and that elf really knowing what to bring made me laugh out loud
December 11, 2012 at 4:19 PM
kathryn said…
Good job Jenny! that's a lot of work!
December 15, 2012 at 7:33 AM
Molly said…
totally impressed with your tree work! reminds me of last Christmas that nick's ankle was broken and I wasn't loving doing all the things nick usually did (tree, getting out boxes etc), but I have to say, he still managed to hobble a little and help, I can't imagine truly doing every bit alone!!
February 19, 2013 at 3:26 PM
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