Christmas Around the World

First off, I wanted to ask my blog readers from Britain for some help. Tom (5th grade) was tasked with doing a project about Christmas around the world. His country he was assigned was Britain. It's a visual presentation, and it's a grade for Art, Social Studies, AND Reading.

So, here's the points that he needs to cover, relating to Christmas. Some are pretty easy to figure out, but others I thought that y'all could help him with!

*the continent it is located on
*name of celebration
*how this country says "Merry Christmas"
*what is Santa's name in this language
*why this holiday is celebrated
*their gift-giving procedure
*any other interesting facts

Also, he gets extra credit if he memorizes a song from the country and sings it for the class.

SO, anyone from Britain who wants to help, and sends some info and pictures (through email), if possible, can earn a FREE WordArt pack.

My email is bnbharty@gmail.com, and I"ll pass the info on to Tom :) THANKS, you guys!!! His project is DUE on the 15th, so the sooner the better *wink, wink*

AND, as I was messing around with Captain Americas phone tonight, I found a few pictures from the zoo that never got uploaded to Facebook! So here they are :)








Morning, girls! Hope everyone had a great day yesterday! Mine started at 6:30am, checking emails, and then I couldn't go back to sleep. I wanted to, but my brain was working too fast, and I couldn't get it to shut off. Sigh.

I finally went out to get the kids ready and on the bus, and was SO gonna go back to sleep, when Jim woke up. So I hung with Jim and Jake for a while in the morning, then hopped in the shower. I figured that if I didn't accomplish another thing today, as long as I got a shower and looked cute, all would be well. hehe. I was stressing about a few things, and was trying to "let it all go" by thinking about other things and doing the things that would make me happy :)

Showering and being pretty makes me happy - LOL!

I put on my exercise clothes, and got ready for yoga at 11am. At 9:30am, Jake and Jim and I headed out for the Dollar Tree for Bread, and Howdys for a soda. I put Jake in charge of the refillable cups, and he took a quick pic of my new workout clothes :)
He chatted with his Aunt Sue (my mom's sister) all the way to town. And once we got to Howdy's, he said that he left the cups at home. Grrr. So I decided that the kids didn't get sodas, since it was gonna be double the cost now. But they did have free popcorn with purchase. So I got myself a DDP and popcorns for both boys.

And we headed to Dollar Tree. And I made them leave their popcorn in the truck, but I totally brought in my soda. hehe.
I bumped into Emeline's Achievement day leader from church in the Dollar Tree, and we chatted for a bit. She's a very nice lady :)

I grabbed the few things that I needed, and we headed home. Here's me in the truck.

Singing to "Santa Claus is Coming to Town"

JimJake

We headed home, and still had about 20 minutes before the bus. I got everything ready for yoga, made sure Jim was ready and lunch was packed, and he and I headed for the bus, Jake going back to school.

Erin and Maggie and I had fun chatting at the bus stop, then Kari came to pick me up, the bus left, and she and I headed to Yoga. It was a VERY good class. A lot of stretching, which I really needed. My arms were sore after swimming yesterday. And my legs too.... hehe.

After yoga, Kari dropped me off at home, and Jake and I had lunch and watched Fringe. Captain Americadidn't get to come home at lunch, so he and I spent lunch together.

No baking for me today. I did work on my store a little bit, organizing my new releases and such. And I felt my migraine starting to come back. Sigh.

I took a decongestant, hoping that it would help. Yeah, it didn't. So I finally took my migraine pill and ibprofrin and tylenol. And went to lay down when the kids got home from school. They'd canceled AQ, so everyone was home at 3:30pm.

I tried to lay down, but it wasn't really working. I did stay in the dark room for about an hour, though. I chatted with my mother in law on the phone for a while, and looked on line for a bit.

At around 5:30pm, I was feeling a bit better, and came out and directed chores to be done. My drugs were making me a little out of it, yet agitated at the same time. So directing 5 rowdy kids to do their chores was NOT the best time...

I had Eme make French toast, and it's now 6:11pm. We have to leave here at 6:45pm to get to church by 7pm. I have Tithing settlement AND a temple recommend interview tonight at 8pm. Captain America's supposed to be there, but I haven't heard from him all day. So I'm not sure if he's gonna make it in time or now. Either way, I'm getting my interview done :)

I hope I feel a lot better in the next 30 minutes.

OK, I'm back! I bet you didn't even know that I'd gone - hehe :) It's now 9:42pm, and I'm sitting in bed, blogging :) Maybe I'll watch Monday's episode of Lie To Me after I'm done... That sounds like fun :)

Anyway, I DID feel better, about 6:20pm. When Captain America walked in the door! Hallelujah! That meant that he was gonna come with us tonight, and that I didn't have to drive! hehe. Just seeing him INSTANTLY made me feel happy :) He kinda has that effect on me these days...

Anyhow, we both put on Dressy clothes, got the kids ready for their Wednesday night church activities, and warm coats, and headed out the door. We dropped Eme and Jake and Tom off at the church at 7pm, and Captain America and Joe and Jim and I headed to Taco Cabana for me to get some dinner. Everyone else had eaten, but I was stressing my headache, and didn't get around to eating. And I KNEW that I needed something :) See, I'm being VERY good :)

Captain America and I both got a Cabana bowl (taco salad, customizable), and the little boys got a big Nachos to share (since they'd already eaten dinner). They enjoyed it SO much - hehe. My salad was pretty good. It's no El Taco Tote or Carlos and Mickeys, but it'll do in a pinch...

Here's a few pics from our "dinner".







Look how long my hair is getting! Oh yeah, and this Taco Cabana has Diet Dr Pepper - ha!

I thought this was a CRAZY Joe face - LOL!

We still had some time to kill before our 8pm meeting for Tithing settlement, so we headed over to Howdy's for ..... gas! No soda, since we'd gotten them at Taco Cabana. hehe. Here's me, trying to warm up, by drinking ice cold DDP in the truck. Go figure on that one... hehe!
And then we went to the Car Wash! Yeah, the little boys had SO much fun watching and ducking (hehe) as we went through it. I don't know if they'd ever been in a car wash that they could remember before - ha!




And then we headed to the church, and got there RIGHT at 8pm. But the bishop was running a few minutes behind on meetings, so we were plenty early - hehe. The little boys went and played, and Captain America and I chatted with some other people in the ward. It was very nice :)

Then, about 20 minutes later, it was our turn. We did Tithing Settlement, where it's our chance to talk to the bishop about whether or not we pay a full tithing. We believe that we are commandmended to pay Heavenly Father 10% of our income. So Tithing Settlement is just a chance to sit down with local leaders and "declare" whether one pays a "full tithe" or not.

After Tithing Settlement, Captain America and I had our Temple Recommend interviews. Temple recommend interviews consist of a member of the bishopric meeting with an individual, and going over a set of questions that help a person reflect on the level of commitment they have to following gospel commandments. We have Temple Recommend interviews every 2 years. Once you have a temple recommend, you can go to the temple.

Captain America went first, and I chatted with Eme's Achievement day leader. We'd brought zucchini bread, and they just LOVED it. She wanted the recipe - hehe.

Next, it was my turn. It made me SO happy to be able to answer each of the questions about the conduct in my life, and to be able to report that I was doing good and living up to the standards of my church. It made me very happy indeed :)

Now, we just need to get with a member from the Stake Presidency, and get our 2nd interview, and we'll have our recommends renewed. Then we can go to the temple :)


We gathered up the kids, and headed out for home. It's always such a whirwind on Wednesday nights. Home, bedtime routine. Jake fell over something coming into the house, and when 185 lbs falls, it's not good. He had bloody knees, and a bruised shoulder. I sent him to soak in a bath, then come and get ointment and bandaids, and ice his shoulder. Poor big kid!

Captain America has to be to work tomorrow at 6:40am. Yeah, I'm SO glad that they changed PT to afternoons, so that he could be home with me in the mornings, to help with the kids..... wait, he's not.... silly army. I know they mean well...... sigh.

Click on the links below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!

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Layout by Sharon - isn't it COOL, all the different Santas???!!!