December Activities

I don't know why but decorating the tree and getting out the Christmas decorations is one of my favorite things to do.  I think its because there is just so much excitement about the upcoming holiday season and everything that comes along with it. I love to see the excitement and magic that the kids have this time of year.

It is tradition that Kevy is the one that puts the angel on the tree. Maybe its because he usually just likes to sit back and watch everyone put all the other stuff up and then he wants to contribute as well.

 Every year I try and do an activity every night during the Christmas season.  Its just really important to me that my kids have lots of memories of us doing things together as a family. Many years I have failed because of exhaustion on my part, and while I still feel exhausted most of the time, things have gotten a bit easier and this year we were able to do stuff almost every night. We went to see the big tree get lit in downtown Roseville and we actually made it on time to see it happen! It was fun and not as cold as it has been other years.

 It just wouldn't be Christmas time if we didn't have Christmas Dancing.  This year Clara was able to join in with the other kids and it was pretty much the cutest thing I have ever seen. She loved it so much!

 Nellie joined show choir this year and so that meant she had to go early to school for the entire year on Thursday and Friday. She never complained about it. I was so proud of her and she looked so beautiful up there singing her heart out for her Christmas concert.

 I had to throw in this picture of our silly Clara enjoying a cupcake we brought home from Nellie's choir concert.  I think she liked it!

 Roseville does this really cool thing called Neighborhood Santa where they have Santa come trough different neighborhoods on different nights and this year it just happened to come down our street. It was such a fun thing for the kids, they loved it!

 Every year a bunch of families in the ward get together for a family night and walk through a neighborhood that has a bunch of good lights and then have treats afterward. Its a fun tradition that we love to do, but this year they did it a little later and the kids were just so tired so we walked through and then we decided to leave before the treats because Clara was just so done and ready to go to bed. The kids were good sports and we just ate the brownies I made in the car on the way home.

We also went to the Ward Christmas Breakfast.  I decided to finally wear pajamas this year because I never do and all the adults are wearing them as well and wouldn't you know this year most didn't. Hah, just my luck!

Instead of doing gingerbread houses, I figured the kids would rather decorate gingerbread men because they are quite a bit better to eat and we know that is the reason that they are doing it in the first place.  I think they had a great time.

We have started a few new traditions over the year that probably most people think are silly but the kids have absolutely loved. A few years ago we started opening a present the day before Christmas Eve, now known as Christmas Adam, since Adam came before Eve, haha. Well this year we started another tradition that ended up being the kids favorite thing we did this year. The night before Christmas Adam we let the kids open their new Christmas pajamas and then I made them each a little treat bag and we made hot chocolate in paper cups we could take with us and then we drove around town looking at all the cool lights in our jammies.  It was the best time!  For sure a new tradition for us! This was one of our favorite houses, it was really fun!