The Aftermath

After everyone left and all the celebrations were over, we decided to just skip out on December and all do nothing for awhile.  Just kidding!  I love December. 

The first few weeks were relatively calm.  I managed to lounge around more than I care to admit.  I taught these cute little turkeys about turkeys.

I had to make up a day from when Luke was down and out with Hand Foot and Mouth.  I have to admit, these my be my favorite craft I've ever made with the kids.

I actually ended up spending an entire day shopping on the internet on Cyber Monday.  I figured I was stuck at home cleaning and doing laundry so why not go crazy.  Once the credit card was out, I couldn't stop myself.  I may end up being one of those ladies that calls into QVC at midnight in my aging years.

The kids also had their first piano recital.

I am so mad that my phone camera had a malfunction so I missed their adorable performances, but they were spectacular and Dustin even cut a meeting short and flew home early to be able to attend.  I gave them all ornaments for our tree instead of flowers.

We had our annual book club holiday party.  I am so mad that I forgot to take pictures.  It's the high light of the year!  I ended up with a really cute decorative jar filled with ornaments from our white elephant exchange.  We read The Mansion by Henry VanDyke.

Drove like a maniac and burst into the delivery room only to wait another 3 hours for this angel to be born.

I took my Laurels to learn to can (uh, and myself).

Seriously -- look at that moral support.  Canning was probably 800 times easier than I had imagined it in my head.

Finally celebrated my birthday with a multitude of birthday lunches/brunches (4 to be exact). I love my friends.

And made our gingerbread house.  The kids begged and begged to eat it and I finally relented after 2 days because I was so sick of it being on my counter.

 And then the real Christmas fun began!!