Church Christmas Party

This years church Christmas party was different from previous years. In previous years (at least all the 4 years we have been in this ward) the gym would be set up for dinner with table and chairs and the table nicely decorated. We would always eat the same thing ham, canned green beans, rolls, and potato casserole. The ward provided all the food except they had sign up sheets for the potato casserole. Then for dessert it was a potluck dessert each family would bring a dessert. Then they would have the primary children sing a song or 2 and they would have a few performers (singing, piano playing, violins etc). Then Santa would come out and the kids would line up to sit on Santa's lap.

This year the gym was divided in half. The kids 3-12 in one half of the gym, the 18 months-3 year olds in the nursery room, and the adults in the other half of the gym. The youth 12-18 year olds were divided up between the adult, kids, and nursery rooms. In the kids room they had lot and lots of pizza hut pizza and some games going on. They also practiced 2 Christmas songs so they could perform it for the adults later. The nursery had pizza and toys. The adult room was dimly lit and decorated nicely. We started out with appetizers. The elders quorum was in charge of that and since Jon was just called in the elders quorum presidency he volunteered to be in charge. He had $100 to purchase all the appetizers for all of the adults and I think they were planning on 150 adults. Jon did a great job and had enough variety that would please anyone. Then we had ham (from honey backed ham there was a little extra $$ left in there budget), rice (not sure what kind it was but it wasn't just plain rice) peas, corn, and rolls. It was all yummy. The high priests were in charge of the desserts and I think they had a sign up sheet for that because there was a wide variety of homemade desserts. It was a very nice dinner and very quiet. You wouldn't think that big heavy divider that splits the cultural hall in half would do much for sound but we couldn't hear thing coming from the kids side. I went down there once and it was very loud and lots of commotion. When we were done with dessert they opened the curtain up and the children sang there songs and we sang a couple songs together and then Santa came out and we waited in a long line to have the kids sit with him. Santa gave them a candy cane a plastic mug and hot chocolate mix. I had a really great evening. I would vote for that every year. The only people who kind of got ripped off was the youth. They were either helping serve the adults or playing and watching the kids. But most of them had fun with it.

Brenton with Santa

Payton with Santa

Kennedy with Santa

Talmage with Santa

Hayden didn't want to see Santa. I don't think he was too scared because he wasn't scared at Disney with Donald a few weeks later. I think he got sick of waiting in a big long line. Connor could care less about Santa.

5th annual goodie plates

For the past 5 years my sister, mom (she skipped out on 2 of the years), and I would get together in early December and put together some goodie plates for our neighbors, visiting teaching sisters, and hubbies home teaching families. This way we only have to make 2 things and voila we get 6 things. I made oreo balls (double stuffed oreos, cream cheese rolled in a ball and dunked in milk chocolate Yummy!!) and peanut butter buckeyes (chocolate and peanut butter candy tastes similar to Reece's). Christa made brownie bites (brownies mix put in the small muffin tins and then when cooked add a Reece's pb cup miniature in the center (she also put mini twix, Hershey bar, kitkat, milky way what ever miniature candy you have or like) I personally like the Reece's the best) and candy cane Jo Jo's (from Trader Joe looks like an oreo with candy cane bits in the cream filling very festive) then she dunked half of the jo jo in milk chocolate. Walmart also sold Candy Cane Oreos but the center didn't have bits of candy cane it was creamy like regular Oreos with peppermint oil but also very tasty. My mom made sweet peanut treats (there is milk chocolate, a creamy center and peanuts). My dad had lots of little fancy boxes of fancy cashews, chocolate covered almonds, and pistachios. So we added a little box of nuts to the plates. We just bought festive paper plates put the goodies on some had more than others depending on the size of the family and then took clear cellophane and wrapped the plate up and tied a nice bow. Of course a picture of the plates would be perfect right about now but I didn't bring my camera. I know I should be like those people who always keep there camera in their purse or car, but am too scared that something bad will happen to it and don't want to spend the $$ replacing it. We realized when we were done all of our goodies had some sort of chocolate in it (except for those who got the fancy cashews or pistachios). I hope they all like chocolate and are not diabetic.

Scary Stuff

The first week in December my sister, Cheri, found out she had melanoma skin cancer. She went to a Dermatologist because she had 2 moles and she finally had health insurance and thought why not. The Dermatologist I guess looks over your entire body and they took a biopsy of 3 suspicious moles on my sister. There was one on her back that she didn't even know about. Then they told her if they called back in 2 weeks or less there was a problem. Well of course they called back the last day of the 2 weeks. The mole on her back the one she didn't go in for was the one that was in stage 3 cancer. I guess stage 4 is the worse kind of cancer that means it has spread to other parts of the body. I of course didn't have really any idea what melanoma skin cancer was so I googled it and found out everything. I guess that kind of skin cancer is the deadliest of all the skin cancers. It is also the most uncommon kind. I also found out that her children, parents, and siblings are 50% more likely to get it. That scared me enough to search my body over for any unusual moles.
She was scheduled a few days later Monday Dec. 8th to go back and get all the cancer removed. It was just in there Dr.s office. I guess they just numb the heck out of the area and dig away and then stitch it up. Anyway, lucky for us Fast Sunday was the day before so all the family had a special fast for her. I am happy to say she is now cancer free. I tell you it really makes you think about everything and start thinking about what ifs. I am happy she went to the Drs when she did and had health insurance at that time because she would have never gone if she didn't.

Happy New Year!
Now let me rewind a month and talk about Jon's business Christmas party. It was held at our house (which it has been every year since we have been doing this 5 years now) on Friday December 5. We do dinner followed by an employee bonus auction. This years menu started off with appetizers. We had Spinach artichoke dip, shrimp, cashews, and some dove chocolates and truffles. For dinner we had prime rib roast, mashed potatoes and gravy, rolls, spinach salad, pomegranate salad, and squash casserole. For dessert we had pumpkin pie squares, and chocolate cake. Out of all that food I made the mashed potatoes (although Mike, Jon's partner, peeled them), spinach salad (which has avocado and strawberries in it Yummy!!), pomegranate salad (was a big hit I ended up copying the recipe to 3 people), squash casserole, Paula Deens pumpkin squares, and 2 chocolate cakes (with added pudding, chocolate chips, and sour cream into the cake mix to make it extra rich and yummy). I made all of the food the day before except for the spinach salad and mashed potatoes. That way I could focus on cleaning the house while the kids were in school. I shipped the kids off to my parents house for the evening.
The only thing that went wrong with the dinner is that the butcher shop we got the meat from gave us terrible cooking instructions so the meat wasn't quite done when we wanted it to be. Luckily Thomas, the chef, (Jon's brother) was there to help with ideas on how to cook the meat faster. So dinner was only postponed by less than 30 minutes.
After dinner, we had the annual bonus auction. Jon and Mike go out weeks before the party and buy different things that can be auctioned off. Then on the day of the party the employees get an envelope of paper money. The amount they get depends on how long they have been with the company. Along with the envelope of money they get a list of all the things to be auctioned off. And then the bidding begins starting with the item with the most value. This year the top item was a 32" LCD 1080 pi TV. Below are a list of all the auction items.

5th annual auction items
32" lcd tv 1080p

Blue Ray DVD player w/Iron Man movie and hdmi cord

2 Paid vacation days (16 hours at hourly rate)

iPod touch multimedia handheld device

$200 Cash

GPS navigator (never be lost again)

1 day paid vacation (8 hours at hourly rate)

Cash ($100)

Digital picture Frame

Cash ($75)

Chocolate decadence basket.

Movie night basket (Indiana Jones/Hancock)

Portable Stereo (jobsite music!)

Home Depot ($50)

Cash ($50)

Target card ($50)

Restaurant card (Longhorn $50).

Wal-Mart gift card ($50)

Best Buy gift card. ($50)

REI Gift card ($50)

Massager.

AMC Movie Theater ($25)

McDonalds ($25)

Chronicles of Riddick Trilogy

pizza Hut ($20)

Cash ($20)

Artwork

Wendy's ($15)

Subway ($15)

Burger King ($15)

Since I am an employee I get to participate in all the fun. I don't get as much money as a full time employee since I only work about 1 hour a day (except for tax time). I have been there for 4 years so I still get quite a bit of money.
Here are the items I won Wendy's gift card, Mc Donald's gift card, Pizza Hut gift card, Best Buy gift card, Home Depot gift card, Long Horn Steak gift card, GPS Navigator, and the i Pod Touch. Also with some of the auction items they had a bonus item you could pick from. I won 3 of them (and there were only 6 so I won half) a $25 gift card to Target, popcorn tin, and Hershey kisses in a ceramic Hershey kiss. I wanted the digital picture frame but someone else really wanted it so I made them pay a lot for it. I won a GPS last year and gave it to Jon for Christmas so this year I wanted one to give to my parents for Christmas. I know them and no matter how awesome we say something is they wont go out and buy it for themselves or if they do it will take a long time. It took forever for them to get caller Id, and a DVD player. My sister Christa and I one fathers day paid for my dad to had Tivo for a year (they already had the satellite box with Tivo they just never activated it). Now he is hooked and loves it.
After the auction we all ate dessert and then I headed out to pick up the kiddos (about 9:30 pm). It was a fun evening.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

November 30th we put away the Thanksgiving decorations and started decorating our house for Christmas. Usually, I like to wait until at least December and start decorating that first week. The reason we did it earlier is because Jon's company Christmas party is on Friday December 5 at our house. We got all the decorations up and the tree up that Sunday. For family home evening activity we decorated the tree. The kids love looking at and putting up their ornaments.

Talmage by our tall tree

This is my favorite part of our Christmas decorations. All the stocking hung on the fireplace. I love looking at and having a fireplace full of stockings.

Thanksgiving #2

On Saturday, 2 days after Thanksgiving, we had another Thanksgiving feast at our house with Jon's family. This time I had to make a few more things since there are only 3 families. I made green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, sweet potato pudding, and a chocolate silk pie (family favorite can't ya tell). I didn't take any pictures probably since I had to get the house in order and was way tired from staying up till after 1 am. My brain was mush. Everything was delicious but I was getting a little sick of Thanksgiving food by the 3rd day of eating it and knowing there would be more leftovers after this meal (not complaining about fixing dinners though just heat and eat). Jon's parents didn't stay too long. After the mom and dad in-law left we played a few games and just hung out and talked. If we get together with both sides of the family for Thanksgiving, I vote for delivered pizza or Chinese rather than another Turkey meal.

Black Friday

This is the first time I have ever shopped on Black Friday (I am not including the one time I went to Toys R Us later in the day on Black Friday to buy one thing). Usually, I just stay home and avoid all the crowds and craziness. This year Jon and I went together in the wee hours of the morning. We left the kids all sleeping and told Brenton of our plans the day before. We woke up at 4:45 am threw on some clothes and headed out the door. We got to Super Walmart by 5:00 am when they opened and waited in line to get into the store. All of the super duper deals were in the main wide aisles so all you had to do was walk down the aisles and put your things in your cart. I can't list all the things we got at super prices since most of the things we got are Christmas presents. I can tell you I got some rubber maid storage containers for cheap and a super light weight vacuum so the kids can now vacuum their own rooms and any messes they may make around the house. I am slapping myself for not buying one sooner. They love vacuuming and Talmage even vacuumed almost all of the house one day. I want to say it weighs only 3 lbs but definitely weighs under 5 lbs. and only cost $9.00. Our main vacuum weighs a ton and they can push the vacuum but not pull it back very easily. We also bought Kung Fu Panda DVD for $9.00. and as we were on our last round headed toward the front of the store to buy our purchases we spotted a Kitchen Aid mixer for $130.00 (it only had the mixer mix not the whip or dough hook but will by them separate for not very much money). I have always wanted one. I have been using a cheapy hand mixer actually the one we bought with some of our wedding money over 14 years ago and it is still going strong. I have used it at least 6 times since buying it and am loving it so much. I also bought a couple sweat shirts for the kids ($4 each) and the girls a sweat outfit for only ($4 for the pants and top). The other things I bought are a secret. Then Jon and I headed off to Super Target. They opened at 6 am. We got there a couple minutes before they opened so we waited in line. The great thing is that it was real warm especially for this time of year and being before sun up. It was 58 outside. We bought 3 secret Christmas presents and at portable DVD player for Christa there. Christa went to a couple store that we weren't going to and bought us something at Toys R Us and 4 small size poinsettias at Lowe's. We were at home and unloaded the car by 6:30 am. The kids were still sound asleep so I headed back to bed. When I woke up, Jon went back to bed.

Later that day we went back to my parents house for left over dinner and games. We played a new game and it took us until 1:00 am (Yes that is not a typo). The kids were wasted most of them fell asleep watching a movie.