Some Snuggie Christmas Post

Yup I am sitting in a pink snuggie just as comfy as can be and I'm ready to do my Christmas post. Well its more of a December update since I didn't pay much attention to record keeping this month... had to leave something out! I love Christmas! I am kind of a nazi though. How do I relax around Christmas when I am trying so hard to keep so many traditions going? Someday I will figure out how to balance my obsessive compulsive tradition craze around the holidays with some relaxing fun. There were a few quiet WONDERFUL moments that helped me remember what Christmas is about.

One of those was the Christmas tree day. It was a little long, going out to get the tree, tying it to the car, bringing it home, trying to put it in the stand for like an hour (don't know what our problem was) but when we finally  had it, and it filled our house with the best aroma and beauty... and then we took out each ornament and remembered when we got it etc... and then opening our ornaments for each other for this year... I remembered why! Why we go to the trouble. Its so fun and exciting for the kids.

Another tradition we do is a service project with our extended family. We all bring soups and bread to share and we either adopt a family or do some big thing... With all of us there are 10 young families and 3 from the older generation. We are really able to put together a loot. It is fun and this is a tradition I will NOT give up. I think its the most important thing we do. My house is a mess after and I'm pretty wiped but it is so fun.

Temple lights was not going to happen this year since Jarom was working a TON right before Christmas and the idea of taking all 3 kids alone just didn't sound so appealing. BUT then we decided to do it for mutual. This was a good opportunity since I knew I would have all kinds of babysitters to help me. Well it decided to rain and rain and rain that night... it was pretty fun though! I felt bad that my kids don't have good coats and everytime I looked at Jack I didn't know whether to laugh or cry because he looked bone freezing and his glasses were all fogged up the whole time. haha poor buddy. I think it was good for them... dirt don't hurt and no rain no gain.

I got to go down to Jack's school and make gingerbread houses with him. He was so cute- he kept telling people, "hey! Thats my mom!" (pointing at me) I was pretty proud :)

 Then came all of the little dance recitals! In December we do class recitals. Lydi is in A LOT of classes. I didn't really realize how many until I tried to attend all of her dance recitals. There were 4 of them! She did so awesome in all of them. She is remembering a lot of routines I tell ya! We also had one in the park but I don't have pictures of that one. They blew snow all over the grass it was pretty fun. Oh yeah and Jack was in the tumbling recital. They were fun :) Taylor became pretty good at coming in at the end, eating the treats and asking to wear a "pretty". She ate so many candy canes this December!

We did manage to squeeze in a short trip to Animas before Christmas. This was really good actually! It helped me be on the ball with a lot of my wrapping and shopping and it got us away from all of the fluff for a couple of days. We laid around, took walks, visited, ate good food,  had a little Christmas AND THEN MY FAVORITE MOMENT. When we got there Lydi said, "awww I wished it would have snow here" I replied, "no Lyd not this year, I don't think we will get any" (Animas isn't a super snowy place but now and again they will get a little) the next morning - BAM! SNOW! I couldn't believe it! And when we went out to play in it, I got a little emotional. The beauty of the snow on the wide open fields, the pure excitement from the kids, the Christmas spirit, it was awesome. (ok ok save the drama for your mama) but definitely my fave of Christmas 2011. Not to mention spending time with our Ellis family... it was a good trip. We got to see Nana and Grandpa on the way home. Seeing them always makes me feel close to my dad again. I still miss him so much! It was good to be around them.

As much as I planned to have EVERYTHING done before Animas so I wouldn't stress when I got home the night before Christmas Eve, it just couldn't be done. So Christmas Eve got a little hairy. But we made it to moms 1 hour late (which I thought was pretty good). The little program was the best ever- so cute. I loved the girls dancing and Drew's little dimples during his lines and Jack being the donkey... it was all so cute. I loved when the sang Silent Night... then we got to tear into some gifts! Thats always fun! Elves left jammies on the doorstep which was ultra exciting!

Once we got home and got Santa's stuff all situated and the kiddos to bed, we spent a LONG time finishing up... 2am. With church looming at 8am... I was glad I WON a Christmas nap during a basketball shoot-out with Jarom while we were in Animas (hee hee).We got up at 7 and enjoyed watching the kids react to their gifts from Santa. We had Slim Fast for breakfast (all of us- not my idea of a Christmas breakfast but I was determined to not miss Sacrament), jumped in our clothes, and jetted off to church. We made it relatively on time too! I loved the break-up of gift opening... we got to go to church in the middle and remind ourselves why Christmas is so special. It was awesome. We got home and forced a quick picture of the kids and then jumped back in our jammies for more present opening! I did manage a little nap and then we went off to Lala and Grandpa Mike's house for dinner.

I think I like Christmas even more as an adult. Its different being on the creating the magic side, different but good. More work but good. I love my family and I am so grateful for every Christmas I get to spend with my husband and 3 kids. I am pretty lucky!