A Not-So-Silent Night

It was our turn to host the Mason family Christmas party this year and we thought we'd try something new & have a Christmas Minute-To-Win-It competition.  It was  so fun!

The see-how-many-marshmallows-you-can-get-through-the-wreath-and-into-the-bucket-in-a-minute game.

The Can-you-stack-the-cups-with-one-hand-in-a-minute game.

So intense.

The How-many-ornaments-can-you-balance-on-a-yardstick-and-papertowel tube-without-it-falling-over-in-a-minute game.

The Can-you-get-the-red-pompom-on-a-string-up-on-your-vaseline-covered-nose-in-a-minute game.

So much harder than you would think, by the way.  And Mason totally rocked it.  Look at how into it everyone was!

I think competitiveness runs in this family.

My precious, slobbery Christmas baby.

The Nut-stacker game.  Get it?

The How-many-ornaments-can-we-hang-on-the-string-without-using-our-hands-in-a-minute game.

And probably my favorite......the Can-you-get-the-cookie-from-your-forehead-into-your-mouth-without-using-your-hands-in-a-minute game.

So dang funny.

And then the Try-to-open-the-present-with-ski-gloves-on-before-doubles-are-rolled.  Then your turn's over & the next person puts the gloves on & tries to get it open.  Around the circle.  But inside one box is a smaller present to open & so on & whoever gets down to the final gift on their turn gets to keep it.

The games were so much fun, and then we tried to end things on a more spiritual note with some beautiful Christmas music from some of our more musically talented family members (which would not be me).

Max said it was the best Christmas party ever.

But then he was the one who won the cash in the gift-opening game.

Then, one of our favorite families in our neighborhood, the Arnetts, invited everyone over for cookies & cocoa & then they heard that Santa might stop by........

......and sure enough!   He did!!!

We thought for sure that Caroline would take one look at Santa & start screaming her head off, since she's in that I-don't-like-strangers phase.  But she didn't.  She saw that candy cane & didn't care about anything else!

Thank you Arnetts, for the super-fun shindig! 

And especially thank you that I don't have to take any kids to the mall Santa!

We're so lucky to have such great friends & neighbors & family to spend the holidays with.