December/Pre-Christmas Wrap Up

Before we get into telling about the Christmas activities I wanted to give a very brief outline of what we have been up to from Thanksgiving on.  Of course there was the expected Christmas shopping but we also had lots of fun this past month too (minus this last week week when I was super sick with a cold).

A couple days after Thanksgiving, my aunt Janet invited her nieces and nephews over to her new apartment for a Christmas decorating/lasagna party.  John, Megan and I had never been there before and it was nice to help her get her place looking very festive.  Megan really warmed up to the atmosphere rather quickly - once she found the stepstools, that is.

Also right after Thanksgiving was John's parents birthdays.  We celebrated at Famous Dave's and Megan's curiosity earned her a quick tour of the kitchen grill area and a sticker!  We still can't get her to eat much at restaurants because there is so much other stuff going on that's more exciting than food.

I couldn't resist throwing this picture in of Megan and my parents horsing around on their bed!  One of Megan's favorite things to do over there.  All she has to do is make snoring noise and they know where she wants to play.

What is the Christmas season without cookies.  The Lewis/Kauffman ladies once again gathered at John's aunt Kathy's house for the annual cookie exchange.  Megan occupied herself with playing with Kathy's dog, Teddy.  For some reason she didn't call Teddy a dog, but rather "pet" or "bow" (like bow-wow).

Here's the cookie crew!  We all came home with plenty of goodies for the holidays!

Next was a birthday dinner celebration for John's sister Dawn.  We sure have had lots of opportunities to gather together with family this holiday season which is great!  So fun to also see Alexa and Megan play together and for Megan to get more used to seeing and interacting with her aunts and uncles.

John's mother is auditioning to join the show choir Sweet Adelines.  They joined forces with the Commodores to put on a fabulous Christmas concert for a fairly good audience.  They had some nice arrangements of traditional Christmas songs in barbershop harmonies.  A very fun concert and I hope to see them again soon! 

Lastly, John once again returned to his home church for another bells performance.  He played in the church's Lessons and Carols church service last Sunday.  Basically, a church service with readings followed by a hymn or song by one of the choirs.