This Christmas season was so much fun. Leah was at the perfect age. Everything was new. I got to teach her about Santa, and Reindeer, and most importantly, the birth of the Savior. Every thing was so exciting to her, and so it became exciting to us all over again!
We did lots of things to bring in the Christmas spirit. Here's goes.
We went with Justin, Leslie, Brianna, and Molly to the light parade. We hung out in Fat Jacks until the last possible minute, then braved the bitter cold. Seriously. So. Cold. But the kids loved it.
We decked the halls. I love getting my house all decorated for Christmas. Brad helps. Sometimes. Ahh...gotta love him. He helps me put the tree up and helps Leah put the star on. Then I put the Christmas music on loud, and get the house all festive.
We have a fun party with the Ford kids. It's hard to get them all together so we take whatever weekend we can get. This year it was right at the start of the month. We dip treats, pretzels, marshmallows, rice crispy treats....you know anything sweet we find we dip in carmel, chocolate and white chocolate.
Then it's gift time. This year, Leah and the girls got the cutest skirts. They had fun running around the house in their swirly skirts.
I had a christmas party with the best cubies (my writing buds, Writers Cubed) ever. We went to Joe Banditos, not exactly festive, but our favorite place. They should name their salsa after us. Then we hung out, played games and traded hilarious white elephant gifts. My friend Jen, brought this, which we all thought was funny because it's an exact scene from one of my books. Ahh. Fate.
We went to the ward Christmas party. Sitting on the floor was fun at first. Then it started to hurt. Leah thought it was so cool to have a picnic indoors in the church.
We had to sing Jingle Bells so Santa could hear us as he was flying around. Leah sang extra loud, hoping that he would stop by if he heard her.
And he did.
She was so excited as we waited in line.
She always get so excited, then won't say much while on Santa's lap. But she did ask him for a Rapunzle Barbie. We saw Santa three times. The second time, she was confused. She said, I already told him what I wanted, why do I have to tell him again?
We took Brad out to Tucanos for a birthday dinner. We only got a picture of Leah, because, well, she's was the cutest one there.
Leah, my Mom and I went to see The Nutcracker. We got all dressed up and went out to dinner. Leah thought she was a princess! My two little cousins, Nastassja and Briella were dancing, so it made it much more fun to watch them.
We had an awesome snow storm. Can you find my house in there? The weight of the snow snapped a bunch of branches off our trees. At least it was the ugly trees. If only I could find a guy with a chainsaw and a tractor to take them down. Sigh.
I went with my Young Women to see a Night in Bethlehem. It really was amazing. We all got herded into a large tent that was all set up to look like Bethlehem. It was crowded, and noisy, with chickens and sheep moving all around. Little booths were set up serving food, and showing some things from old times. Randomly, people would come in playing some part of the nativity story. Eventually, Mary and Joseph came in, looking for a place to stay. The inn keeper sent them to a stable and we all followed. It was very neat to not only watch it being acted out, but feeling immersed in it. I really want to take my family back next year.
We had lots of family Christmas parties and Santa came to visit!
Leah was so excited to get a present from Santa. She held it like that until everyone was done and we could finally open presents.
And, lastly. Christmas Eve. Of course, Christmas Eve day is Birthday time, but after about 7, we all go to my moms, where her counters are laden with way too much food and treats. We all change into our new PJ, then she reads the story of the christmas orange after which we all split a chocolate orange (way cooler than a real one). Then we read the nativity story. I love that we have cute little kids around. It makes the holidays so much more fun. All in all, the month of december was magical and it led up to such a great Christmas day.
