Sunday, December 14, 2014

Ugly Sweater Party

Wow, this year has been whizzing by. And now Christmas is next week!  How exciting and unbelievable!

Before I get into the  first ugly sweater party we hosted, here are some other tidbits of what we've been doing the first part of December.  Clark was in charge of lesson for our weekly family home evening and did one on the gifts Christ has given us.  We've done a similar lesson a couple of years ago and we should really do it every December.  Clark wrote down seven gifts that Christ has given us (because there are seven people in our family), each on a single piece of paper.  He then wrapped each one individually.  He wrote things like eternal families, forgiveness and repentance.
Dec 1 2014 (2)

Each person was able to open a present and talk about the gift Christ has given us.
Dec 1 2014 (3)

Dec 1 2014

One night I stayed up way too late wrapping up some online Christmas shopping.  After our family scripture reading in the morning Lee offered to let me go back to bed and he would get the kids off to school.  It was pretty funny when I picked up Shanna and Elden from school.  Shanna's hair was all messy (Lee doesn't think about fixing the girls' hair...probably because of his lack of hair himself) and Elden was wearing shorts.  Elden wanted to wear shorts so Lee just went with it.  They still look very happy!
Dec 2 2014

Every year it seems like the 4th graders have a "dessert-o-rama".  Look at all those treats!  I made homemade mint brownies.  With all of the other treats out, Cal still picked up one of my brownies!
Dec 3 2014 4th grade dessert party

Dec 3 2014 4th grade dessert party (2)

Once a month the library in town has a craft event.  We haven't been to one of the craft events for a long time.  The kids got to design their own cars.  Even Clark joined in on the fun!
Dec 3 2014 (2)

Ho, ho ho, look who showed up at our house?!  I am a grinch and we don't do "Santa" around here.  My kids have known for a very long time about Santa.   The idea of Santa is still fun though and we enjoy movies and songs about Santa. 
Dec 3 2014

Pretty much ever since we moved here we've had books stacked high on a small metal shelf.  We want to do built-in bookshelves by our TV someday, so we never did anything about the black bookshelf.  A couple days before the ugly sweater party the idea came to me to move the big brown bookshelf that was upstairs in the playroom, down into the family room...after I painted it white. A beneficial thing for me with having company and family come is that it motivates me to get projects done.  Right before Thanksgiving I did quite a few little things that I had been putting off for weeks and weeks.

Already looking so much better.
Dec 4 2014 (2)

I tried to get a good shot of all the books, but there were a TON of books on that little shelf! It was great sorting them and donating some.  It feels so good to organize stuff!
Dec 4 2014 (3)

Oh and Lee had to come up with an ugly Christmas sweater.  He found an "ugly" sweater and used glue, glitter and sequins to Christmas-ize it. I found my ugly sweater a couple months back at Goodwill.
Dec 4 2014

Okay, another random photo.  I've been teasing Clark and Cal about getting them a pink or purple fluffy bunny for Christmas.  I thought it was funny when Elden came home with this.  "I want a purple fluffy bunny for Christmas."  Kids do listen to what I say!  I asked him about getting a purple fluffy bunny for Christmas and turns out he actually wants one, ha ha.
Dec 5 2014 (2)

I finished the bookshelf the day of the party.  It looks so much better!  Why didn't we think of this a year ago?!
Dec 5 2014

Time for the ugly sweater party!  I set up a little place for taking pictures, complete with props and a background.  I wanted to get pictures of all the guests with some props on, but that didn't happen.  Maybe next year? I thought my idea of getting old glasses from Lee's office was a great one. 
Dec 5 2014 Ugly Sweater Christmas Party (14)

Wrapping paper made a nice background....and double bonus it concealed our wood-paneled laundry room! (The door is a glass storm door.)
Dec 5 2014 Ugly Sweater Christmas Party (15)

I did a hot chocolate bar and my friends brought yummy treats and snacks.  I forgot to set out marshmallows and caramel sauce! 
Dec 5 2014 Ugly Sweater Christmas Party (16)

The kids were upstairs the whole time of the party.  We paid each of them to "babysit" themselves.  It would out great!  We did a trial run a few weeks before the party and that was a good move too.  We worked out some kinks before the actual night of the party.  They were so incredibly quiet.  They had treats and popcorn in the playroom while watching movies.  The only time I heard someone is when he/she opened the door to use the bathroom upstairs.  We told the kids close to 11pm that they could come down.  Only two of them were awake...this cute guy was one of them.
Dec 5 2014 Ugly Sweater Christmas Party (17)

Here are some of the pictures.  I love them!  It was pretty funny taking the pictures.
Dec 5 2014 Ugly Sweater Christmas Party

Dec 5 2014 Ugly Sweater Christmas Party (2)

Dec 5 2014 Ugly Sweater Christmas Party (3)

Dec 5 2014 Ugly Sweater Christmas Party (4)

Dec 5 2014 Ugly Sweater Christmas Party (5)

Dec 5 2014 Ugly Sweater Christmas Party (7)

Dec 5 2014 Ugly Sweater Christmas Party (6)

We did a get a group photo! 
Dec 5 2014 Ugly Sweater Christmas Party (8)

Dec 5 2014 Ugly Sweater Christmas Party (9)

After lots of fun visiting and eating we played Catch Phrase (thank you Jenna for the awesome games!) and did a white elephant gift exchange.  That was pretty funny. 
Dec 5 2014 Ugly Sweater Christmas Party (10)

Like our fire? Hahaha... Lee got his dream white elephant gift...a box full of fruit snacks.  He loves gummy treats.
Dec 5 2014 Ugly Sweater Christmas Party (11)

There were some really funny gifts too.  Brittany, did you ever get your gifts from Christian and Rachel?
Dec 5 2014 Ugly Sweater Christmas Party (13)

After an exciting game of Roar (you have to play it to know what it is, I guess like any game!) and more visiting, that wrapped up the party.  We had such a great time.  Our friends made it so fun.  We plan on doing another one next year, making this a yearly tradition! Merry Christmas everyone!

3 comments:

Melissa S. said...

I'm the same way....it isn't until I have guests coming that I finish something I've wanted to anyway! It turned out great.
And so did your party it seems!!!!! So fun. Lee's sweater is so ugly and I remember my brothers wearing those things!!! The guy in the fitted blue reindeer sweater was my favorite though. Hilarious.
Our kids ALWAYS babysit themselves. Infact, Bronson IS our babysitter and it's lovely. It's a whole new world opened for us. haha

Emilee said...

I don't really like the whole Santa thing either. But my husband does. So we don't emphasize it and as soon as a kid questions it, I'm going to fill them in on the real Santa. VeggieTales has a show about the real St. Nicholas and giving to others that I really like watching with my kids.

I love reading your blog not just for getting updates on your life, but getting ideas for when my kids are older. Paying them to babysit themselves is an awesome idea!

Lena said...

The ugly sweater party looks so fun! We'll have to try that sometime.