I Know It Is Christmas Time When...

 ...I have no time to write a new blog post.  Sorry this one is so delayed.

...I VOLUNTARILY bake for an entire day.  As you may remember from a previous post, I do not like to bake.  But I make one exception to that feeling about 2 weeks before Christmas.  I usually spend an entire day baking Christmas cookies.  This year I did something I have never done before, I invited a friend to bake with me.  She had a few recipes that she wanted to make and I had few to bake.  We both basically doubled our recipes and then split what we had baked between us.  It was a really fun day of fellowship and I got a very good variety of cookies to give out to our friends and Russ' co-workers.

Before

During

After and this isn't even all of them.  We had a few more that were cooling and 2 other batches that were in the refrigerator.  (Donna-since I know you read this-do you see what kind of cookies I was forced to make for myself since you aren't here to make them for me?  They don't taste nearly as good when I have to make them as when you make them for me.  Miss you.)

  I didn't take any pictures of us baking because we didn't look so good that day.  But we had a great time.

...my days are filled with class Christmas parties.  The moms in Taylor's class planned a fun Christmas party for the kids.   The party took up almost the entire last day of school.
We played games:

Made crafts and snacks:

Had a book exchange and a Christmas movie.  It was a fun day in the middle of an intense year for her.

She looks so pretty and grown up in this picture.

...our evenings are busy with holiday events.  As part of a social studies project, Taylor's class started a business this holiday season.  They sold handmade holiday cards, gift bags and gift boxes.  Her teacher used this opportunity to teach the class wonderful lessons on what is involved in running a business but also made it a fun experience for them.  They all had a position and responsibilities in the business and had to work together to make it a success.  At one of the PTO meetings the class sold their products to the parents for a donation and all the profits went to benefit Toys For Tots.

Taylor's friend was in charge of keeping record of the money.  Taylor was a wonderful sales woman.  She had a great little speech memorized that she would say to the parents as they walked by their table.  The class would not have sold nearly as much as they did without Taylor.

Their table with the products for sale.

A few of the class members and their teacher, Ms. Anthony.  The business was named "Ms. A's Holidaze"

...the shops are filled with last minute shoppers.  Another mom and I took the money the class had made from the business and we went out shopping for toys to donate to Toys For Tots.  It is great fun to spend money when it isn't your own, especially when you know it is going for such a good cause.  The class had raised almost $500.00 so we had quite a bit to spend. (remember it was for donation only and it was going to a good cause, lots of parents gave very generous donations)  Koreans don't celebrate Christmas quite the same as Americans do but they still do buy small gifts to give each other.  The stores here, just like in America, have been getting busier and busier as it gets closer to Christmas.  My friend and I had one day to spend all the class money so that we could turn the toys in to the Marine's who then deliver them to local orphanages.   If you remember from a previous post, I talked about toy alley.  We decided that was the best place for us to head to get the most bang for our buck (or won, since we were buying with Korean money) and to get the biggest selection.  The only problem is it was so full we could barely walk and by the time we had purchased hundreds of dollars worth of toys we had huge and very heavy bags that we were trying to maneuver through busy streets.

Can you see my friend waving at me trapped between the 2 trucks that had just parked in the middle of the street?  She was waiting for me while I paid for our purchases.  She has 3 huge bags at her feet and that red cart is our as well.

I can't even see my friend any more in this picture, she got separated from our cart.  It was so crazy full.  There were people everywhere.

...it is freezing cold outside.  The HIGH for the last 2 days has been in the low 20's.  I like the change of seasons and the different temperatures, but 20's for a high is a bit cold for me.  Especially when most things we do involve walking outside.  One day when we were out I saw this cool ice creation.  The man was just spraying water and it was so cold it was pretty much freezing immediately and this was what it looked like.

...we run the Jingle Bell 5k.  Our friend Chino, who is here for a year without his family, is staying with us for Christmas and he was crazy enough to do the run with us.  The Saturday before Christmas the base put on a Jingle Bell 5k run.  Remember my previous point?  It is freezing outside.  I didn't think very many people would be as crazy as we are to run in the 20 degree weather, but I was wrong.  About 100 people showed up to run the 5k and many of them were dressed in fun costumes.  We ran in Santa hats.

After the run.  It was cold before we started but even colder at the end after we had sweated.  Do you see the snow on the ground behind us?

Russ ran with me, but Chino ran ahead of us and took this picture as we were crossing the finish line.  The cold weather must have made me run faster because I ran a personal best on this day.

Buddy the Elf ran the 5k.  He stayed in character pretty much the entire time.  He was great.

...everything is lit up beautifully.  The base here really goes all out to decorate for the holidays.  They have a tree lighting ceremony when they light everything up.  We took these pictures as we were driving so they are a little bit blurry. 

Check out how they line each of the tree  branches in lights.  They work for weeks before Christmas to get all of this ready.

...we attend the Christmas Eve Candle Light service.  This is probably my favorite service of the year.  I love to sing the Christmas songs and celebrate our Savior's birth.  It always takes me back to when I was a little girl sitting in church for the Christmas eve service with my grandparents, family and all my aunts, uncles and cousins.  I love when the church goes dark and we all light our candles and the entire church is lit up. 

This is a funny picture.  I told the girls to really pay attention so that they don't spill the wax all over themselves or burn the church down.  This is the difference in their attention spans.

Merry Christmas from our family to you.  We hope you have a great holiday season celebrating the birth of our Savior.