Christmas Run-up

We told Seth to dress warmly for our visit to a live Nativity. 

This is what we got:

Warm? Slightly.

Awesome? Definitely.

As it turns out, there was quite a wait for the wagons that would drive us around the Nativity scenes.

To spare the poor little church the destruction my crazy kids were bound to inflict on it, 

we headed out into the cold to wait:

(Just so you know, I actually took this picture twice. And this was still the best one.)

Seth ran and ran and ran and ran until the wagon showed up: 

Four-year-old boys should never be made to wait at Christmastime.

Then, finally, it was our turn!

We would have probably enjoyed the whole experience a little more if we enjoyed contemporary Christian rock a little more, but it was still a nice experience (plus they had an actual camel!). Seth asked a lot of questions (loudly) as we drove through the various scenes. We will definitely go back next year.

Back to our list of Christmas Advent activities--we made and decorated ornaments:

Seth painting his ornaments

(yes, I know it's sideways. I'm too lazy to fix it.)

Catherine painted her ornaments...

...but mostly she painted her tray:

That evening was our ward Christmas party, where Seth was excited to tell Santa what he wanted: 

Seth's list:

1. a new bed 

2. a stuffed animal that's a ghost

3. a car

Much to my surprise, Catherine got on his lap, too:

Catherine's list (after some prompting from Seth):

1. a meow-meow

Santa listened carefully, handed them candy canes, and them set them loose in the church to eat as much junk food as they could get their sticky little hands on (and believe me, there was PLENTY).