Party Time!

On Saturday afternoon, the kids hosted their second annual Ornament Exchange. {Our first one was held a couple of years ago, while we still lived in St. Louis.}  And for the record books, I would say it was a smashing success -- even if 2 out of 3 children were still feverishly finishing up ornaments the morning of!  They'd all still do it again in a heartbeat.  :)

 Ethan's disco balls -- cut up CDs hot-glued to glass bulbs.  I helped him finish on Saturday and burned myself about a hundred times.  :(

 Grace's snowmen

Sophie's ribbon Christmas trees

I was a little worried at first about the number of kids coming -- WAY more than we had last time around, where we essentially invited just a couple of family friends with their kids -- but it was totally fine.  Next time around, I think we could even invite more.  :)  I didn't want any moms to have additional projects to work on at this crazy time of year, so I tried to keep the invite list to kids who were old enough to be able to make stuff on their own without too much help.  Ethan, Grace, and Sophie fall into that category, so we invited the kids from their Primary classes who they thought would be interested in making ornaments, then when Jane had a meltdown about wanting to make some, too, we let her join in the fray to boot.  She did such a great job making her ornaments all on her own, however, that I think for next year's party, we'll just invite the whole Primary!  :)  And perhaps school friends, too!  Hahaha.  The more, the merrier, right?? 

 {The Breakfast with Santa at the Junior High happened earlier in the day -- hence the reindeer crown that remained on Jane's head for the next several hours.}

 {A girl after my own heart -- she had just gotten a new book on her nook and couldn't put it down, even while eating her cookies and drinking her cocoa.  :)  }

 {The crutches were quite a party pleaser.}

The whole party was VERY low-key and low stress which made everything funner for ME.  I was happy to at least get the house cleaned up, which has made it easier to KEEP cleaned up for my party tomorrow.  We ran to the store an hour or so before the party to get party bags, cookies, and the fixings for a hot cocoa bar, and made it home just in time to get everything set up.  As the kids arrived, we had them set down their ornaments in the Dining Room, and then head to the kitchen for refreshments and mingling, first.   Once everyone was there and finished eating, I made everyone head out to the front step with their ornament, so that I could get a group shot of the whole bunch.  :)  Then we gathered in a circle in the Family Room, where I was SUPER impressed with how attentive and polite the whole bunch was as we went around one by one to give everyone a chance to show off their ornament and explain how they made it.  Seriously, so impressed!  They were great!!

 {Ethan put on an impromptu magic show while waiting for the exchange, and had a VERY captive audience.  Hahaha.  :)  }

 {Seriously -- everyone was gathered around and watching.}

 {He was in heaven.}

 Take 1!

 Take 5!

Take 12 -- The Silly One!  

{And you can see what Ethan's thoughts on "silly poses" are, written all over his face.  Hahahahaha.}

Once the explanations were done, I had them lay their ornaments neatly in front of them to facilitate as organized an exchange as possible.  I wasn't quite sure how well this part would work out -- there were more kids invited than ornaments made (if that makes sense) -- but it ended up not being a problem at all.  Each kid brought 12 handmade ornaments {some brought a few more, some a little less}, and after having Scott do some quick mental math for me, we told the kids they could each pick 10 ornaments to take home with them.  Ethan handed out the gift bags, and everyone went to town choosing from the spread of ornaments in front of them.  You would think that it would have been super chaotic and rife with fairness issues and hurt feelings, but it wasn't!  It really was a perfect, little kid ornament exchange.  After writing everyone's names on their bags, they were off to play in the backyard until the rest of the parents arrived.  All in all, it was a blast, and my kids can't wait to do it again next year!  :)