December at Our House

 We had a wonderful December this year.  We didn't spend as much time going to obligatory parties and activities this year.  Dad's change of jobs is great in that respect.  My work party was the evening of our last day of school, but we took off for the valley right after school and missed it.  I'm okay with that!  I also chose to be the keeper of the names instead of participating in the Secret Santa week of gift exchanges this year.  It was liberating!

I didn't take many pictures of Holiday Fun at school.  

We did a week of "Gingerbread Man" stories and activities.  We decorated Gingerbread cookies.

Every year, the kids write letters to Santa Claus.  Then later, Santa Claus brings the letters back to school and reads his reply to the kids.

I tell the kids that it's Mr. Decker dressed up like Santa.  Every year, there's at least one kid who's really afraid until they find out it's Mr. Decker.

I had a run of about three weeks when I lost one kid after another to the flu or the RSV virus.  I only had 13 kids here this day.

We had a Snow Day in December.

I helped Carol and Mark with some of their Christmas decorations.

On our way back to Gallup, we stopped by the cemetery and put Carol's wreaths on my parents' and Irene Jones' graves.

The dad got us Electric Assist bikes for Christmas.

We made Latkes and brisket for our Hanukah celebration. 

It was Christmas Twins Day at Red Rock!

Making the Christmas Fruitcake

Celebrating Festivus!

We bought a meatloaf from Albertson's Deli when it was on sale.  I'm sorry to say that Albertson's meatloaves are way better than mine.

We made a full turkey dinner for Christmas Eve.

This year's Giving Machine!

Brian, Chelsea, David, Peter and Emily came for a couple of days.  Grandad was greeted at the door with a snowball fight when he came home from work!

Brian and Chelsea went to the Snowflake Temple, and the kids stayed with me!

This is a Chocolate Set that Auntie Jo left to me.  Al said that Karl G. Maeser's father, Johann Gottleib Maeser, who was a master china painter in Germany, painted this.  I don't know if  Johann painted it for sure, or not, but it is old, and it did belong to Karl G. Maeser, and his father was, indeed, a master china painter.

Making the New Year's tamales.

We finished our New Year's puzzle.

A Quick Trip Down to the Valley

 We made a quick trip down to the valley just before Christmas.  I had to work on Monday and Tuesday, so on Tuesday evening, we headed down to Phoenix to see Amy, Cody and their boys.

Hanging out with the grandboys!

We watched "Noelle," and part of it took place at Desert Ridge Shopping Center, so we went there for dinner, and to look at the Christmas lights.  It was lots of fun.  This is a big outdoor stage that kids could run and play on while their parents sat and ate.

Posing with the lights!

We got up early and went to the Phoenix Temple

We drove over to Sun City West and visited with Uncle Al for awhile!

Then we went to Mesa to see Dad and Carlene.   We went to see the Christmas lights at the Mesa Temple.

Dad and Carlene are actually looking pretty good.  I just snapped the photos at just the wrong time.

We headed back to Gallup on Friday.  We had to be back to a wedding on Saturday.  It was a short trip, but I'm glad we made it.