Christmas Caroling

Last night we did our Christmas Caroling.  The kids and I have spent the last two weeks baking cookies and Christmas treats, to put on our plates.  We had homemade Oreo cookies, peppermint patties, carmels, chocolate dipped carmels,  peanut butter balls dipped in chocolate, sugar cookies, peanut butter blossoms, monster cookies, peanut butter fudgy buttons, chocolate scotcharoos, raspberry brownies, and mint brownies.  We made up 20 plates.  I should have taken a picture of us in the kitchen with all the cookies and plates, and us and the kitchen covered in flour, sugar, frosting, and sprinkles, it was quite the mess.  It still is actually, I have to finish cleaning up this morning, and I'm not looking forward to it.  Anyway we got ready to go, and managed to get all the plates out to the car, with the kids only dropping two (it's a good thing I made extras).  We brought our bells, Santa hats, and Christmas music for the three songs we've been practicing with the bells (away in a manger, jingle bells, and Christmas bells)  It was snowing outside, and had been all day long, so everything was a bit slippery, but we managed to have a good time, with only a few children getting in trouble here and there.  The kids loved playing the bells, and giving away our goodies, and we're always very disappointed when someone wasn't home.  We finally finished about 8:30pm, and since we hadn't had dinner yet, and with a messy kitchen and an exhausted Mommy, we went to the olive garden for dinner.  It was delicious and the kids had fun playing and coloring in the kids menus, and we had a good dinner.  We didn't get home until 10pm, everyone was so tired we practically fell into bed.  Which is why I still have a messy kitchen to clean up this morning, and I'm stalling by writing this blog.  : )  The kids have a half day at school today, and then they're out for Christmas, everyone is excited for Christmas to come.  We love having Travis getting a break from school, he is busy moving things around, and helping us get the house ready for the baby coming in 2 months.