It's begining to look a lot like Christmas...

Last night Rich and I stayed up till 1am wrapping presents and making our piles. We had to do a wrapping paper coding system- one type for the presents we were letting the kids open early before we go on our trip (because those items will be very nice to have on the trip). One type for presents from Mom and Dad and Grandparents that we will save for the kids to open after the trip, and one type for the Santa presents that will be waiting for the kids when we get home from the trip. I'm done with everything for Christmas, except for the stockings. My mom is going to have something for the kids out in Utah, but I want to have stockings waiting for the kids when we get home from the trip.

Then this morning I got up at 6:15 am to go and find a white turtleneck for Alex to wear for his school play. He has dress rehearsal today and I had completely forgotten about him needing it until late last night.

That probably could be the theme of this week for me. I'm trying to be organized and make lists of the things that need to be done for Christmas, and for the trip, and just the general school work and house work that needs to be done- but I'm forgetting a lot... and find myself running around at the last minute to get things taken care of.

We did have a great weekend though. Friday I thought was the night of our Ward party, so the kids came home from school, we made our dish we were taking for the potluck, and when Rich got home we loaded up and drove up to the Church building. We got up there and it was completely empty... not a single car in the parking lot. So we kept driving on past and headed back home. I called a friend to ask when the party was and she got a good chuckle out of my mistake- it was the next night. So we dropped off the food at the house and went over to our Family Buffet place- Golden Corral and had dinner there.

Saturday we had the usual busy stuff- shopping, birthday party, etc... then we went to the Ward Party. It was a lot of fun. It was a dinner and dance, and Santa showed up to visit with the kids too!

Sunday was church, and then after church was a bit hectic. That night was our ward Christmas fireside, so I had the cubscouts singing a song at it, and I was in a trio and we both had to do a little short practice after church- and then we had Tithing settlement (it's where we meet with the Bishop as a family and tell him whether or not we were full tithe payers for the last year). After that we raced home and had a quick dinner and then turned around and went back up to the church building for the fireside.

The fireside was great- like it always is. There are various musical numbers and then two slide show presentations (with musical numbers in between) set to music of pictures from our ward. It really does such a wonderful job of creating a sense of Ward Family. Everyone that is in the ward is in the slide show and it's great to see the pictures reminding people of all the fun ward activities we've had throughout the year.

I also had a special time because I was asked to sing in a trio for the fireside. I do NOT have an amazing voice. I have a moderate choral voice- I blend well with others and don't stand out. I don't project well, and my breathing is shallow and I'm sure a voice teacher could give a long list of reasons why I am not a great singer. I LOVE to sing though... really really love to sing, so it was touching to me that I was asked to participate in this trio where each of us had our own part and carried our own part. It's not as if our ward is lacking in people with musical talent- so I really did appreciate that opportunity to do that and will treasure that memory.

So the rest of the week is school/work. Pack meeting tonight, tomorrow night is Alex's school play. Then on Friday and Saturday we pack for the trip and we'll leave Sunday after lunch.