Life and Times of The Johnston family: Christmas Lights and A Christmas Party!

This past week was a typical getting closer to Christmas week. We spent the week doing fun Christmas crafts, reading Christmas books and singing Christmas carols. Monday evening Elizabeth went to her theater class, Wednesday was the kids Bravo classes. Friday while Devin was having "quiet time"(he hasn't been actually napping lately) Elizabeth and I went up and helped my mom get some things ready for the Christmas party the next day and after dinner we fired up the hot chocolate machine, put the kids in their pajamas, loaded up in the car and went to Layton Park to drive through the cool light display, which the kids loved....Devin didn't want it to end! Saturday was the big Christmas party with my Grandma and Grandpa Walker. In the morning we helped where we were needed until it was showtime about one. The party was a huge success if I do say so myself! My mom had a great plan and it worked out seamlessly! We started with a ham and cheesy potato(both of which Tony cooked) dinner with sides and desserts brought by family. The "super awesome" kids table was a hit as well! We had a delicious meal and some good visiting too! Then we cleared away the tables and made room to do a flashlight Nativity. Each child had a flashlight with a part from the story ie Devin had the manger and Elizabeth had the Star of Bethlehem, then Grandpa dick read the Christmas story from the Bible and when the kids heard their part in the story they shone it onto a white sheet. After the story was told and all the lights were shining on the sheet we just HAD to sing,(the moment and spirit was so strong) so we all sang "Away in a Manger". It really put everyone in the true spirit of Christmas! Which was needed as present time came next! The kids got down right spoiled rotten this year! Getting gifts from their Great Aunts Susan and Ellen, they got a gift from my parents and their great grandparents as well! Seriously they made a haul! Then we cleared that all up, and the kids went with my dad and played with Nano Bot Hex bug toy things, which they had an absolute BLAST with! All the kids were really into it! Which made it much easier for the adults to do the fun "Steal the present"(or a version thereof) game my mom saw on Pinterest. In this version my mom and I went to the Dollar Store and bought enough little "things" for each person to have two "gifts" but among them all were two "things" that had twenty dollar bills in them....just to make it interesting! ;) And it worked! I helped wrap the gifts so I knew where the money was, so I didn't play I took pictures, but it was just as fun to watch everyone getting into it! In the end Tony and Jake(who opted to risk playing the adult game instead of taking the $10 kids gift....worked out for him!!) ended up with the 20 bucks. After that we just visited until people were ready to go. Jen and Daniel hung around for while and we got chat with her and the kids got to play. They have since had a lot of fun with their new fun toys and books. Sunday was a hard day for Elizabeth, with her Anxiety I think the "drop" after excitement is just as hard on her cause she was an emotional wreck! I got her calmed down before we went and took her to primary and she did fine in sharing/singing time but once they were in the classroom she completely fell apart, so they had to bring her to us. Tony went out with her first, then he switched with me and I took her to the mother's room where she eventually calmed down after sitting in a little chair staring at the wall for ten or so minutes, then I just held her and rocked her until church was over. Devin did great in nursery though! We came home had lunch while they watched the Veggi Tales movie about St. Nicholas. Then we went upstairs and met with out home teachers. Devin was super wired during the visit. But Elizabeth was actually good....apparently they take turns. ;) After that both kids went to their rooms for some quiet time and Tony took a nap....so at least someone slept! ;) Dinner was leftovers from the party which was just as delicious the second time! And for family movie night we watched Santa Paws. And that was our week!

The kids decorating their little Christmas tree, after it was all decorated we sang Oh Christmas Tree as was Elizabeth's "great idea!"

One of the many Christmas crafts, I haven't been very good about taking pictures of them. :/

Elizabeth's hot Chocolate WITH little marshmallows! And looking at the lights!

All ready for the Christmas Party!

I know this picture is out of focus but I love my grandpa's smile...he sure loves the little ones(and the big ones too!) And I just had to capture this sweet moment with my grandma and baby Sophia.

The feast!

This family sure loves cheesy potatoes!

The flashlight Nativity

Time for gifts. These first couple were from my Aunt Susan.

Devin with his penguin pillow pet and Elizabeth with her Unicorn.

Devin telling Nana all the letters in his name!

Elizabeth got a Magic Treehouse book about the Titanic and Devin was thrilled with his Super Friends book(cause it has Batman!!) These were from my Aunt Ellen