For the past two years now we've been going to our friends the Atwood's house for Christmas Eve. We loved it last year and this year did not disappoint. Our friends always have the best things planned and are the most creative ever. They came up with a bunch of fun Christmas games for everyone, we watched a short movie about the birth of the Savior, and had a special musical nativity program that everyone got to be involved in.
First off, they divided all the kids up and had a competition to see who could make the best snowman out of toilet paper. Porter was one of the snowmen and he did a bang up job. He thought it was so cool that he had all sorts of toilet paper on, that he decided to run around and ruined the costume. But they gave him the craziest snowman award so he was happy.
Also, each kid was assigned a part in the nativity (including the missionaries who were the 3 wisemen- we have a trio in our ward right now so it was fitting) and each family was responsible for a musical number. Porter was a sheep (You'd never know it by the costume we came up with. He looked like a white tiger or something, but he wouldn't take it off, so we just went with it.) and Brighton was an angel. She was really excited because a few of the older girls were angels as well and she got to hang out with them. She had also been practicing the solo that she had for a week. She was going to sing the first verse of Baby in a Manger by herself and then conduct and have everyone sing the following verses. Like I've stated in previous posts, she is quite the shy girl so I was nervous for her to get up there. I walked her up and stood next to her, but she sang the whole thing on her own, then conducted everyone and sat back down. I was just so proud that she had the courage to do it! The nativity made for a great Christmas Eve program and brought the whole spirit of Christmas into our hearts. I am already starting to get nostalgic and one of the major things I will miss here is the good friendships I've created. Since we are far from family, the ward really is our family here and we are so grateful to have such good friends to share holidays and special times in our lives with. Thanks so much to all of you who made our Christmas so exceptional!
Brighton loved the fact that she made her very own stocking and was able to fill it with goodies from her classmates. 
Family Fun is the best magazine ever. We love all the crafts and projects. That's why it was no surprise when Brighton saw these reindeer cupcakes on the cover, she knew we just had to make them. She frosted them all by herself and was a pretty proud girl. And they were actually a delightful little sleigh ride for your christmas taste buds as well!
