And now, back to Christmas.

MacKenzie’s class had a party scheduled for the last day of school and invited parents to come and help out.  MacKenzie’s dad had to work that morning, so Avi and I volunteered to come because who doesn’t like a second grade Christmas party?

Okay, I didn’t just volunteer.  I begged.  I can’t help it; I love that MacKenzie something fierce.

Avi and I got to the school right as the party was beginning and what a party it was!  We played bean bag toss, decorated cupcakes and even played Bingo using M&M’s which kept mysteriously disappearing into Avi’s mouth.

Eventually I had to cut Avi’s M&M supply off which didn’t settle well with the little princess.  She said she just wanted to “hide” in the corner but, listen, we all know the truth: baby girl was scouting out M&M’s from across the room.

Each parent brought something for the party so, whilst emailing with MacKenzie’s teacher before the party, I asked if I might go ahead and sign up for the treat bags because, hello, I was born on aisle nine of Hobby Lobby already wanting to create treat bags.  Before they could cut my umbilical cord, I was headed towards the spools of ribbon and it has only gotten worse during the past 25 years.

I found these darling penguin boxes and instantly knew that I had a winner on my hands.  Granted, it took driving to two different towns to actually find enough of the boxes but, listen, sometimes you just have to fight for what is right.  And red and black penguin boxes for the class party?  IT WAS RIGHT.

Right about now I’m wishing I hadn’t edited these photos to look all colorless because, really, what was I thinking?  I could just go back and use the originals but that would mean searching through my photo files and I just bring myself to dive into that abyss this early in the morning.

Let’s talk about these treat boxes, shall we?

I knew the kidlets were going to get plenty of candy from the party, so I decided to go with a “toy” theme instead.  Here we have some Play Dough and a couple of Christmas erasers.

Of course, I also had to throw in some card games as well.  Who doesn’t like Old Maid?

Actually, I’ll tell you doesn’t like Old Maid: girls in their twenties who fear they might end up as old maids playing a game of Old Maid in their nursing home, that’s who.  But I know no such girls that would fit that description.  Absolutely no girls at all.

Now, this was the crowning glory of the treat boxes: mini art sets!  Each of the kidlets either got a mini crayon set or a mini paint set.  Are these not darling? I got them at a fun store in Chattanooga one afternoon when I was on the hunt for penguin treat boxes.

After I filled each box, I fastened the tops, pulled up the little handles (!) and attached a gift tag that I made using plain white gift tags, glitter stickers and ribbon.  In other words, I was up very, very late the night before the class party.

After the party ended, I told the girls that we were going to go celebrate MacKenzie’s first semester of second grade by going to lunch at a surprise place I knew they would love.  You should have heard the shrieking from the backseat when I pulled into none other than Chuck E. Cheese.

After some pizza, we headed out to spend our tokens on various games and rides such as a roller coaster “experience” that left me feeling queasy just from watching.

As our token supply began to get low, I steered the girls towards a certain area of the room because is there any other game more worth your final tokens than Skee Ball?  Listen, I played Skee Ball at Chuck E. Cheese when I was a kid and, if that doesn’t prove that our Skee Ball has stood the test of time, I don’t know what does.

Avi had never played Skee Ball before and was highly disappointed that, no matter how hard she rolled, she couldn’t seem to score any points.  And so, the minute I turned my back to look at something, she took off.

Before you begin judging me for taking the following picture, I would like to clarify that my camera was already in my hand and, as you can see, MacKenzie obviously had the situation under complete control as Avi began running across the lanes to escape being caught.

Before long, I had her back safely in my arms where she belonged.  MacKenzie, seeing the crazed look on Avi’s face, said “Let me take a picture of you before she runs away again.”  As you can see, she was just a wild woman waiting to be turned loose again so she could scamper up the Skee Ball lane and drop her ball into the 50,000 point hole.

And yes, she ended up getting more tickets than MacKenzie or I combined.