Final Kick of Pre-Holiday Cheer

Wednesday Jadyn worked on some rock art with Grandma Kelly and was very proud (as she should be) with how her ladybug turned out:

Later in the day, Joe and Jadyn started baking with fudge and chocolate chip cookies.

Somehow, I got caught in the flour throwing fight:

Later that evening we went for a drive to check out Minerva's Candy Cane Lane in Cathedral City. I am sure most areas have that one or maybe two neighborhoods that go all out with the lights and displays. This is ours and it was worth driving down there and walking down the block and back again to see the beautiful homes all decked out. A few of my favorites:

Friday, it was my turn to bake sugar cookies and decorate them with the kids. Our neighbor Adriana got in on the action:

This is what we ended up with up once all the baking was done.

We packed up some goody buckets and Joe and the kids delivered them to a few of our neighbors, which was quite welcomed. I am so glad we decided to make that extra effort this year. Meanwhile, I made final preparations for the holiday party we were hosting with some friends. The evening was so much fun. The food was delicious, the company delightful and if you ever want to know how to get a great picture of 9 kids, make them pose BEFORE having them do their gift exchange. Easy-peasy!:

The kids and I:


And the ladies, my neighbor Shami, Solinda, me, Teresa and Maria. It's funny that with the exception of my neighbor we all met while doing PTA at Jake's old school before we moved and even though now TWO of us have moved to Yucca a few towns over, this group of ladies have been a constant in my life ever since our initial time together several years ago.

Finally, our pre-holiday cheer would not be complete without a look at what Jelfie has been up to. The kids woke up Friday to a Lego traffic jam compliments of our scout elf:

They woke up Christmas Eve day with him trying to smash our gingerbread house, another fun tradition we started about 3 years ago compliments of LauraC. Jelfie left them a very nice note saying that he had enjoyed his time here, was sorry he would miss the smashing of the gingerbread and looked forward to coming back next year. Joe wasn't too happy that the sneaky elf had gotten into his tools without asking for permission first:

And so with all the pre-holiday activities stuffed into the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve, we readied ourselves for the big holiday.