Eli's Christmas Party at School

This past Wednesday Eli had his Christmas party at school. It was another reason for me to be thankful that our schools have different holiday schedules because normally I would have had to take off work in order to be there. Eli's teacher Mrs. Paige had the kids rotate around in their center groups during the party, so it wouldn't be chaos trying to get 15 kids to do the same exact things at the same exact time. I helped out with the food table and then rotated around with Eli so I could take pictures of him doing all the different activities. 

At the food table, they had cupcakes, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, reindeer cookies I made (Pinterest inspired), Cheez-Its, and a banana. Eli immediately went for the sweets. He gets it honestly :)

After the kids had finished their first activity, they had a special guest visit their classroom...Santa Claus!! All of the kids were so excited and couldn't wait to sit in his lap and get their picture taken with him. 

I didn't really know how Eli would react to Santa because we haven't really discussed going to visit him this year that much. Anytime I brought it up, Eli would tell me he didn't want to go see him. I didn't feel the need to push the envelope any further. I figured if he wanted to go see Santa he'd say so, and I left it at that. In fact, one night when I brought it up to him, I said, "Don't you want to go see Santa and tell him what you want for Christmas?" To which Eli replied, "No, I just tell Elfis and he go tell Santa." What else could I say to that? Haha :)

Back to Santa visiting the classroom...when it was Eli's turn, he ran up to Santa and practically jumped into his lap. He was so excited about seeing him! Santa asked him what he wanted for Christmas and Eli rattled off his list of three things that he wanted from Santa- a violin, a Mack from Cars, and a new Mater. The only thing Santa understood was a new Mater, but we know Elfis has made sure that he knows about the other two gifts as well. 

(If you don't know about the reasoning behind the three gifts from Santa, here's a brief synopsis. Santa only brings 3 gifts because baby Jesus received three gifts from the three wise men. On Christmas morning, and any other time, you have the opportunity to tell the story of Jesus' birth and his three gifts. You get to explain to your children how Jesus is the best gift of all! My friend, Nicki, introduced our family to this, and I think our pediatrician we once shared introduced it to her. It's a wonderful thing to do with your kids!)

When Eli got down from Santa's lap, he proudly said, "I sat in Santa's lap. He nice, Momma!" Sweet boy! I love his precious little heart. 

After each child had a chance to sit in Santa's lap, Mrs. Jody, Paige's assistant, attempted to get a picture of all the kids and Santa. That was hard to do!

Then it was time to do the next two centers. Next up was decorating a sugar cone to look like a Christmas tree. As you can see, it took lots of concentration :)

He took a quick break so we could get a picture together. Have I mentioned lately how thankful I am that our schools have different schedules so I can do things like this with him? If not, then let me say it again...I'm so thankful I got to be a room mom this day :)

Eli with his completed ice cream cone. Now time to chow down!

The last center his group went to was the craft center. Mrs. Paige had them each make an angel with their picture. I loved watching Eli interact with the kids in his center group. He's the youngest one in his group, but Mrs. Paige said he's doing great with them and is keeping up very well. I'm one proud Momma :)

Holding up the wings for a closer inspection

Time to put some glue on the wings

No angel is complete without some glitter

My solemn looking angel

(He must have been ready for nap time when they snapped this picture.)

Eli's completed angel

Before we left, Eli gave hugs to Mrs. Jody and Mrs. Paige. We pray and thank God every night for both of them. They love my little boy so much, and it's very apparent that he loves them too.

Merry Christmas to Mrs. Paige, Mrs. Jody, and to all of Eli's friends at school!