Christmas Buildup

Christmas is sneaking up on us here in the Millet household. But if you ask Peter, he's been waiting forever for it to arrive. Mainly because the kid has been listening to Christmas music since October... We kicked off the month with Travis' annual work party for the kids. The really cool one where Santa flies in on a F-16 (you can just see the tail behind Santa in this picture). You can be sure the boys go wild over this.

 We then did some decorating which included making glitter pine cones (that was a bit of a mess but fun)

and finding the perfect Christmas tree.

The boys were so excited to help decorate -- Benji especially was responsible for large clusters of ornaments along the bottom of the tree... 

 But I think it looks beautiful all finished, especially with this handsome man in front of it.

This year we were able to bring back our gingerbread house party making tradition. And we did it in a BIG way too. About 30 of Travis' co-workers showed up and we had candy everywhere. Peter  and Benji were going crazy but I think everybody had a great time and managed to come up with some impressive creations (with that many engineers of course we had some pretty impressive structures) -- mainly due to this incredible new trick I learned. Burnt sugar, who knew?

 Here's Trav showing off his rocket

 And Pete with his candy house. I'm amazed that any candy actually made it onto his house for all he ate that night.

And just to round things off, here's Trav and I at a friend's ugly sweater Christmas party. Yes, those are our ugly 'sweaters.' I'm boring like that.

Also, I suppose by way of announcement here's a Benji original that came during family prayers the other night. I was helping him pray and prompted him to say "please bless the baby in mommy's belly to grow big and strong" and this is what he came up with: "Pwease bwess the baby in mommy's bellwee dat it will grow big and strong like the baby in daddy's bellwee."

Well. Out of the mouth of babes and all.

Trav may have gone running the next morning.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was a fantastic adventure for our family. We got to see a bit of the Lees but spent most of our time with the Millets in one giant house in Riverton, Utah. 

I tell you it was a constant party -- I mean, look at all those grandkids under one roof!

The boys were in heaven with so many playmates.

And Grandparents to snuggle with.

Papa Golden and LeAnne even paid a visit to the kids dressed as Santa and Mrs. Claus.

 Benji has been asking about Santa ever since.

We did manage to get some group shots. Here are the Millet siblings with Deb.

 plus spouses.

 We had such a fun time (even managing to hit some Black Friday sales with all those built-in babysitters) and ate our hearts out. I think we managed to pretty much wear the boys completely out since this is what they looked like mere minutes after hitting the road home. Totally sacked out.

At least until Benji somehow managed to shove a pretzel stick up his nose and we had to stop to help him blow it out. Hilarious for us, slightly traumatic for him.

Like I said: it was an adventure.