Day 13
The kids went shopping to buy presents for their teachers. We ended up going to Braums to buy gift cards so naturally, we had to sample the goods while we were there!

Day 14
We made a special Christmas treat for Raine’s Christmas party the next day at school. And yes, Carter had one of those cookies in his mouth before I finished taking photos. You can see him saying, “sheeezzzz” while his entire attention is focused on stealing that cookie.

Day 15
We went to see the Christmas lights in Interlochen. Almost every house in this neighborhood is covered with Christmas lights and decorations; people come from near and far to see the displays. It takes hours to drive through the neighborhood on a busy night so we decided to go the night before it officially started. Almost all of the houses had their lights on and we didn’t have to deal with traffic. It was very impressive and the kids really enjoyed seeing all the lights.

Day 16
We made a Christmas craft. The kids painted a Christmas present for Daddy — it didn’t turn out so well, but it was fun. Carter was so proud of himself painting with that big paint brush all by himself.

Day 17
We gave this little tree to the individual we selected from the Ward Angel Tree; we were her service-Santas. We did a couple things for her during the month and had a lot of fun making her holiday a little merrier.

I also want to point out the curtains in this photo. After six years, I finally got curtains for the dining room. I had to kidnap our babysitter from the night before so she would be there to occupy the kids the next morning while I hemmed the curtains — but I got them done! (Don’t worry, we brought her an overnight bag to make her captivity more comfortable…and we got her parent’s permission. But I’ll tell you what, I could get used to this live-in nanny thing. We haven’t been that productive with kids around in a long time! DJ re-mulched the entire front yard and trimmed the bushes. Our house looks great.)

Day 18
We made Christmas fudge.

Day 19
Well . . . this was not a good day. We didn’t get around to doing our planned activity, so I took the kids out for doughnuts the next morning to make up for it.

Day 20
We delivered goodie-bags to some of our friends.

Day 21
Grandma and Grandpa Dewey flew in from Utah and they helped us cut out paper gingerbread men.

Day 22
We made faux-gingerbread houses. (Look at that chocolate-coated smile on Carter’s face. “You want me to stick this candy on that ratty little house? I think it would be better off in my mouth!”)

Raine’s house wasn’t finished until every last piece of candy in the bowl was “glued” onto her house — we had to use a candy cane to brace one wall so it could support all the weight.

The next day we sprinkled the houses with the “snow” that Aunt Sarah sent. It looked very real.

Day 23
The kids painted Christmas ornaments.

Day 24
We acted out the Nativity. One of our actresses got stage fright and wouldn’t wear any costumes, she just wanted to stand next to Grandma.

Here are a couple clips from our nativity. I love how Shepard-Carter hands his “baa” to Mary and then throws his box at Joseph as a wise man.

We also sang Christmas songs — including DJ’s annual performance of “Dominick the Donkey.”