Christmas Parties and Decorations

Friday night we had our Hometeam Christmas party and then Sunday we had our church media team Christmas party. We had a great time at both. At our Hometeam Christmas party, each child "gave" another one a gift. Well needless to say, the kids just absolutely loved it! Button was given a horse flashlight (squeeze the tail and it's mouth opens to shine light and it neighs at the same time!) that she just absolutely loves! Squirt was given a PEZ race car (he hasn't had the candy yet) and some walkie talkies. BIG HIT!! And he wants to talk to his friend R with his set! : )
For the adults, each couple brought a gift and then we did the white elephant thing. It was fun for us as well.
Of course, there was a ton of food and some scrumptious desserts, and lots of visiting. A fun time was had by all. : )
Then on Sunday, we dropped the kids off in their assigned rooms and headed to our party where we had catered Chiloso (yum!) and some of the most out of this world cakes that were homemade by one of the media staff members (she bakes in her spare time - imagine!). Then we had a "trivia" game of things that go on with the media team each year and they gave out some great gifts by drawing names. We didn't win anything, but we really enjoyed ourselves.
The last bit of our busy weekend - decorating! Yes, we got the tree up in time to enjoy it this year! : ) The kids loved helping us decorate and then taking certain ornaments off the tree, only to put them right back on. My MIL gave me a light-up village, so we are displaying that on the bar and the nativity scene is on the mantel. The kids just love it all. And of course, they're so excited by it all that every time we pass a house with outside lights on it they yell, "Christmas Lights!" So fun to watch them.
And the last great thing is that at church Squirt made a picture of Baby Jesus in the manger that he is so proud of and Button knows what it is as well, so I am reassured that they know that Christmas isn't all about the getting. Somewhere in all that excitement, they know that Christmas is about Baby Jesus. : )