Christmassy Christmasness

The last couple of weeks have been full of preparations for Christmas and celebrations!  First off, my students got to make the business they studied out of a graham cracker house - which we had to try out at home first.  The boys love to try things out :)

We decided we better just get some lights up on the house - well, on the tree anyway.  Lucas loves being outside for any reason, so he was thrilled.

Our light display leaves much to be desired...  it is not impressive at all...  So that's why I just went out and bought a bunch more :).  Only, it's been raining ever since....

 We got to go to a fun play last weekend with our friends - A Snow White Christmas.  I knew a bunch of the kids in it and Ethan got a bit jealous.  Guess he'll be auditioning next year....

 This weekend we had a million and one chores to do in between the two main events....  Saturday was Christmas with my parents and Nana - so fun!  The boys LOVED stuffing stockings and getting to play Santa.  I love that they have inherited our love for giving.  They get just as excited to give gifts as get them.  And if it's clothes?  They much prefer giving to getting....

 It was great to have some time with Nana.  We love her so!  And she knew just what the boys would swoon over - gift cards to Toys R Us.  That is a big hit!

 The favorite gift we made was a set of Happy Hour glasses for my parents.  We took the directions off another project on Pinterest and made it our own!  The boys made all the dots using acrylic paint and qtips and then I stenciled on the HH.  Bake for a half hour in the oven and it's sealed!  They came out really cute!

I loved watching the boys try to figure out the binoculars.  It took them awhile to figure out to look at things far away - not each other's noses....

 Ethan's best gift was wrapping up his report card to show Uma and Upa.  I stole it back of course, but just to see how proud he was of the comments made me one happy mama.

 And then today....  Today was the BIG day!  We had our church Christmas Musical.  I directed, Brian helped with sound, and Ethan and Lucas were absolutely delightful!!!  Ethan started the morning confident.....

 But pretty soon I could tell he was pretty freaked out - as he should have been...  A whole lot of lines and 2 big solos....  (Which he did awesome at!)

 I was mostly nervous about Lucas - my super shy and anxious kid.  He's always wanted to be in plays since Aladdin this summer (Ethan's summer camp play), but I never imagined he'd actually do it.

I was totally wrong.  He was hilarious.  I could hear him belting out the songs and his motions were priceless.  I had to keep from watching him or I'd get confused....It was a very proud moment for me.  One, it was all about the true meaning of Christmas - and I could tell that he truly felt what he was saying.  Two - he did an amazing job playing the sad, slightly pathetic little boy that can't get a part in the play.  He had them crying, laughing, and cheering with him by the end.  Pretty much I just cried.  So proud.
And it was great for me too.  I love those kids (not just mine - all of them) and I loved getting to work with them.
This is our last week of school, and our last week until Brian's whole family shows up for the holiday.  Which means it is a lot of cleaning, prepping, gifting, and excitement!
Have I mentioned I love Christmas?