Our nightly Christmas routine is still a treasured and sacred time for me. We don't miss it very many nights but when we do, I am so sad. We always catch up but the boys like it as much as Mark and me. ACE likes to be in the middle of the living room keeping us company but I am glad she will grow up never remembering a time without our story, video about the Savior, recap of service to add hay to the manger, and advent calendar. I loved adding the #lighttheworld ideas to our discussion of how we were serving and loving others.
And having it be this one's first Christmas made everything that much more magical
We made neighbor treats early on in the month...we had a LOT of people on our list. And for a couple of nights we made deliveries. I love baking and being in my kitchen and the boys love handing things out to people and say hi to our neighbors so it worked out for everyone. We felt very blessed (and full) with all the love and treats we received this year.
We decided to try a few new things this year and it did not disappoint. One Saturday we were up in Salt Lake at a friend's daughter's baptism so we decided to head into downtown and go see the Gingerbread house at the Grand America. It was so great to see the window displays, guess the country, then end with a cookie by the impressive Gingerbread house.
Since Mark and I are going to London in March we had to take a picture in front of this display
Another new one for us was the Christmas in Color in Provo. Wow! That was so fun. ACE sat on my lap in the front seat and just loved dancing to the music and all the lights. The boys talked about that for a while afterwards.
We were able to take part in our ward sponsoring a refugee family this Christmas. The Young Women presidency and leaders were in charge of presenting it, gathering the gifts and delivering them. I put together a giant box wrapped like a Christmas present with sticky notes of what was needed on it to present at the ward Christmas breakfast. Then for the next two weeks the gifts piled in. We chose a couple of things and it was fun going shopping as a family to get what was needed. Getting together as a presidency to check off each gift and see that we had everything was so neat. The YW president's living room was packed to the brim with gifts. It did my heart good. Sadly, my kids were sick the day they delivered them so I did not get to go but all the reports back were positive and grateful.
One of Shortstop's last days of school I decided to take the two littles and go to storytime at the Orem library. It was wonderful! We sang songs, played games and listened to Christmas stories. Both kids sat attentively and loved it all. Then they handed out cookies at the end! What a surprise and a delight for Fullback.
She is so pretty!
We had to sacrifice morning nap to do this outing but it was worth it
One night we decided to do some pre made gingerbread cookie kits and have a hot cocoa bar. The boys loved having their own piping bag and bowl of treats to decorate. Mark pulled out all the stops for the hot cocoa bar complete with toppings, whipped cream and four flavors of cocoa. I decided since we were already doing crafts to get two crafts I wanted to complete out of the way. A few years ago I made Mistletoes with my boys' feet prints and I wanted something with ACE's foot on it. Then the thumbprint light string was too cute not to try. I love how they turned out!
Now to figure out where to put them each Christmas!
After one say of great snowfall, the boys were begging to go out and play. We bundled them up and decided to let ACE try out some snow. We found a way too small for her snowsuit and shoved her inside. She loved laying in the snow and got a kick out of being outside with her brothers. Then she tried to roll over in her skin tight outfit and got a face full of snow...that ended her first time but I would say it was a success.
And then like crazy people they wanted Otter Pops after playing in the snow!
A day or two before Christmas when Shortstop was out of school we had a full craft day. Michael's had all their Christmas crafts on 80% off so I bought a TON and spent very little. We painted, glued, ironed, sewed, stuck and colored ornaments and figurines all day long. They wanted to hang them on the tree but I remembered I had a mini pre lit tree from when Mark and I were first married. We pulled that out and let them go at it. They loved having their own tree. I made a star from tongue depressors and bells and put that on top. I think we found another new tradition. Our main tree is very kid friendly but it has hallmark ornaments galore so it is pretty full. Having a little one for their crafts was so fun!
I mean really...I love this craft but it was a tad big for our other Christmas tree.
