12 Days of Christmas. . .of sorts

December was a month that I feel like happened without me.   I know I experienced it, but it all happened so fast that I can barely remember it.  Here is a small sampling of what occupied our time during that month.

In no particular order and unfortunately I slacked at getting many pictures of these happenings :( 

             The first day of Christmas, the season brought to me:
1 (+1) Fuzzy Quilts to make for Primary Children's Medical Center.  Chandler chose to do a service project for one of the requirements for his Family Life Merit Badge and he wanted to make quilts.  These were a nice project for our family.

2 Back drops for the Ward Christmas Program.  They were totally dispensable and were such an emotional drain for me because doing them was so out of my league, but at least I fulfilled my duty in getting them completed, ugly or not. I'm too embarrassed to post pictures.

3 Sharing Times in December (more details about one of them below)

4 Kids over to play as a service so mommys and daddys could get away for shopping or a temple trip.

5 Items delivered to Cache's apartment for Finals Relief:  (All homemade, except gingerale)  Lasagna, French Bread, Cashew Broccoli, Apple Pie and Gingerale.  My day in the kitchen was all worth it to see those stressed faces light up over real food that they didn't have to prepare themselves!

6 Little make-up items for a purse for Greta. They were similar to ones I made for Tess a few years back that she has loved.

7  Milky Way Snowmen for Primary kids I don't see very much.  I forgot to take pictures, but they looked similar to this: 

8 Felt Kitty paws.  One day in December Tess woke up with the idea to make a felt kitty and she had a sketch in mind (however at this juncture, I can't locate to scan and document here).  My schedule was jammed packed, but I had just read the quote from President Uchtdorf in the conference Ensign that "In family relationships, love is really spelled T-I-M-E."  So I ditched my to do list and spent two days making felt kitties for the girls.  They were fun.  Tessa named hers Fluffy and Greta named her Bunny. (ha!)

9 Cheese logs for my presidency and visiting teaching sisters (and my family).  Recipe will appear on my food blog at some point.

10 Virgin Lamps--for one of my sharing times.  I'll paste the script we used at the end of this post.  I think the kids really enjoyed it and hopefully with my explanations they understood the symbolism and could apply the message.  I made little lamps for each woman to carry.  They weren't quite what I envisioned but they did the job.  I tried a few types of dough and in the end I went with a simple one (just flour, salt and water) even though I knew I wouldn't be super happy with how they dried.  But that wasn't the point of the sharing time so it was just fine! I molded the dough around a working flameless tea light, but when they dried, they didn't work :(. (While a disappointment, that was okay too!)

                               

11 (x0)  Christmas cards.  I was a loser and didn't get Christmas cards done (again. . .didn't get them out last year either.).  They were planned and parts of them printed, but mid December something just had to go.  Sigh. I guess now I have a head start for next year!

12 Price is Right games.  That was our Christmas surprise this year. Plinko. . . Punch Board. . . Shell Game. . . Tic Tac Toe. . . Dice Game. . . Clock game. .  .Hole in One. . .(there were more, but that is all I can think of right now)  They were all based on knowledge of our Family History and five talks from October 2011 Conference.  If the kids didn't win their games, they could use service points they had earned the previous week to buy more chances.  Exhausting but fun day!   See my Christmas post for more details.

In other December news:

We had multiple doctors and dentist appointments, worked on mission papers for Cache, went to a BYU basketball game, went to Preston, Caleb ran a cross country race in California (another post hopefully. . .) and we made and decorated gingerbread men (and lots and lots of other cooking/food adventures!).

                                    
Then of course there were things to keep up with the girls.  Tess keeps me really busy.  For example, one day in December Tessa came to me wanting to 'do something really nice for one of [her] friends'.  When I asked what she had in mind, she said, "Like make their bed or something."  Then she added, "I'll even clean their room if it isn't too messy!"  My friend Lisa was so nice to accommodate her little request.  She made her friend Estee's bed, put some snowflakes on her wall and left her a card and some treats.  Tessa beamed that entire day!  I'm so thankful she has desires to serve others even if it makes demands on my time.

Too much fun for one month!!  (But I'm sleeping much better now it's over!)

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Ten Virgin's script:

V1- I knew this wedding feast was coming and that I needed oil so we could light the way when the bridegroom came but I was so hungry and needed to bake some bread so I told myself that that was more important than going to get more oil. Now I realize I would have rather had gone without food than missing the wedding.

V2- When I realized I was low on oil, I knew I would need to go buy some more. But the shop to purchase some was so far away and since I had worked all day long, I was too tired to travel to get more.

V3- I had enough oil, but when the night came, I decided that I wanted light, so I lit my lamp. I didn't have enough oil to last that long. I was so disappointed I was not allowed into the wedding party. I had been looking forward to it for so long.

V4- It broke my heart to miss the wedding party too, but I was just too busy to go get more oil so I thought I could be very careful and still have enough, but I was unwise in my thinking.

V5- I meant to save oil, but I just never got around to it. I thought that maybe someone would have some extra that I could borrow.

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V6- I am so very poor and didn't have enough money to buy extra oil, so I saved a few drops of oil every day for a month so I could attend the wedding party. Each day it seemed like such a sacrifice, but it was so worth it.

V7- My sister has been very sick and has needed extra care. I have not been able to leave her to buy more oil. So after I would get her settled into bed every night, I did much of my work in the dark so I could save that extra oil so I could attend the wedding. I'm so thankful I did!

V8- I too have been so busy. My family from another city was coming to visit and I had to scrub my home so it would be clean for them and I have been making extra food so they would have plenty to eat. But because I knew this wedding was coming and my family was also coming, I planned a trip to the oil shop clear across town because I knew I needed plenty for wedding. It took a lot of organization to fit it in, but I did it.

V9- My father is very wealthy and has a large store of oil. I knew I could use his oil, but I knew if I worked for the oil for myself, I would appreciate the reward of going into the wedding party much more. I did! It was a wonderful experience and I'm thankful I could be a part of it. I was so privileged to attend.

V10- Last year my childhood friend married and moved across the city. She invited me to visit her for a week. I miss her so much and I wanted to go, but knew if I went, I would not be able to make the journey to the other side of the city for the oil I needed for this wedding party. I was so sad to postpone my visit with her, but I'm so thankful I was wise in my decision to attend the wedding party.