Ward Christmas party

On the first of December we got to start our advent activities. First, Maddy got to open our first gift from my parents that they had sent out earlier with instructions to open on the first.

It's the cutest little Mickey Mouse Christmas countdown.

Then Abi got to open our new book from the first pocket of the advent tree.

It is a really cool Usborne book that has a little Santa that moves around the pages. They loved it!

After that we got ready and then hung around anxiously waiting for it to be time to go to the ward Christmas party. 

We got there at 10:30 and tried to get some pictures of the girls by the tree before it got too crowded... 

Abi's turned out great...

but getting Maddy in the picture... not so much

Maddy latched onto our cute little friend Katelin. She is in Activity days with me and one of the sweetest girls ever.

Then Abi latched onto her as well. You can see in the picture below Abi has hold of her arm and Maddy has hold of her hand.

Soon, we secured a table to wait for "breakfast" to be served. There were TONS of donuts and hot chocolate. Abi played with a few friends while we waited... and the bishop is in the picture too.

Maddy colored... and sang

They also had cookies to decorate.

Our girls ate more donuts than I would have thought humanly possible.

Then Santa walked through the room on his way to the little area they had prepared for him. When Maddy saw him she stood up on her chair and yelled, "Santa! Santa! I want Belle!" (Belle is a little dog from Hallmark that talks with books)

Abi sat on his lap first....

Then it was Maddy's turn.

Maddy sat right down and said, "Santa, I want Belle from Hallmark." 

It was so much fun!