Christmas at Disneyland!

We surprised the kids and took them to Disneyland over Christmas Break.  It was hard to get everything packed and ready without telling them.  It had also been 10 years since we had been there so they weren't as excited as we hoped when we told them.  K said she'd rather go see Grandpa.  Once they got there though, they had a BLAST!  N's favorite ride was California Screamin' (Yes, that's my 7 year old for ya!  The day after Christmas we drove to L.A.  It took twice a long as we anticipated because of traffic and road construction).  There we went shopping at the American Girl Store while the big boys saw The Hobbit.  Now K tells me every day that we should get in the car and drive to Disneyland again.  :)

Telling them and arriving

 

 The Rides

 

 

 The Characters

 

 The Princesses

 

The Food!



The Shopping

Holiday To-Do List

First of all I want to congratulate my son on his photography entry (see previous post.)  He won an award and went to District.  Hooray!  OK, now check out this blog, now back to my blog.  :)
http://eighteen25.blogspot.com/2011/12/holiday-to-do-list.html  Just gotta find me a frame and pick up my prints at Costco.  In the meantime, here's what I plan to put on it.  Enjoy!

Our Holiday To-Do List:
-Festival of Trees (Always the very beginning of December - they have all sorts of tree, wreath and amazing Gingerbread House displays, a Kids Korner, yummy treats and crafts to buy all to support Primary Children's Hospital.  If you've never been, put it on your calendar for next year)

-Decorate the Christmas Tree (check!)

-Watch Polar Express and drink hot chocolate (check!)
-Make personalized ornaments (almost checked!)
-See Temple Square Lights
-Make fudge
-Visit Santa
-Make Wish Lists to send to Santa
-Enjoy eggnog ice cream
-Read Christmas books (next year I plan on wrapping them and opening one a night - at least that's what I told myself last year)
-Sing Christmas hymns
-Donate food to the food drive
-Wrap presents
-Decorate Gingerbread House
-Deliver Neighbor Gifts
-Mail Christmas Cards
-Build a snowman
-Go skiing & sledding
-Watch "It's a Wonderful Life"
-Read the story of Christ's birth
-Make Christmas Jell-O
-Ward Christmas Party
-See the new Christmas movie (why does popcorn taste better in the theatre?)
-Make fresh homemade snow cones
-Christmas Morning French Toast Breakfast Casserole
-Stake Christmas Fireside
-Learn to play a Christmas song
-Make caramel popcorn
-Ice skating downtown
-Gardner Village’s Elf Scavenger Hunt
-Play games until midnight to welcome the New Year!

What are some of YOUR favorite Christmas traditions?

Christmas Books

I've been wanting to do this for some time. Each year the kids get a book for Christmas but this year we are reading one book a night for story time. Hopefully next year I'll remember to wrap them up like presents and then we can pick one from under the tree each night.

Here's a list of some of our favorite Christmas books:

1. A Night Without Darkness: A Nephite Christmas Story by Madsen (I still cry whenever I read this)

2. An Animal's Christmas Eve by Wiersum

3. Morris' Disappearing Bag by Wells

4. Snowmen at Night by Buehner

5. My First Story of the First Christmas by Buck

6. Who Is Coming to Our House? by Slate

7. Why Christmas Trees Aren't Perfect by Schneider

8. The Gift of the Magi by Henry

9. The Polar Express by VanAllsburg (we watch the DVD and have hot cocoa)

10. A Christmas Dress for Ellen by Monson

11. The Christmas Miracle of Jonathon Toomey by Qojciechowski

12. The Littlest Angel by Tazewell

13. We Were There by Bunting

14. The Crippled Lamb by Lucado

15. This is the Stable by Cotten

16. How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Suess

17. The Berenstain Bears Save Christmas by Berenstain

18. Christmas Oranges by Bethers

19. One Wintry Night by Graham

20. The Three Gifts by Orr

21. This Is the Season Beloved of the Year by Dewey (love the artwork!)

22. If You Take a Mouse to the Movies by Numeroff (this feels like my life right now, LOL)

23. Grandfather's Christmas Tree by Strand

24. The Night Before Christmas by Moore. We play a game with wrapped dollar toys - whenever the word THE is said, you rotate the gift around. Then before bed we read Luke 2 from the Bible and then sing a couple of Christmas hymns acapella with only the Christmas tree lights on.

This year for myself I've read Evan's latest, "Promise Me" and I really enjoyed Freeman's "A Christ-Centered Christmas". Last year my favorite was "The Nativity" by Gaskill and a little booklet called "The Christmas Scene" by Maxwell.

What's YOUR favorite book to read at Christmas time?

The most wonderful time of the year

I love the way fresh fallen snow sparkles in the morning light - truly mesmerizing.

I love watching my kids rush to play out in the snow for 10 minutes then come inside begging for hot cocoa only to go back out again just so they can come back in another 10 minutes for MORE hot cocoa.

I love going to Festival of Trees and know I'm supporting a good cause. I was exhausted near the end but the kids seemed to have fun. N went in the bubble machine 6 times!



I love finding the perfect Christmas gift for someone and imagining their faces as they open it Christmas morning.

I love seeing my neighbors and visiting with them as we deliver neighbor gifts - we never did that in Arizona. Is that just a Utah thing? If so, I'm not leaving.

I love seeing the lights at Temple Square and listening to amateur singers perform beautiful songs that touch my heart and remind me of the true meaning of Christmas. (My brother Scott came with us.)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas! The night before we played "Twas the Night Before Christmas" and they got new Christmas PJs. (N's ears don't normally stick out like that, I just thought he would look cute as an elf.) We made a new recipe of whole wheat chocolate chip cookies (thanks for the recipe Sarah R.!) but Santa only got 3 by the time I could stop the kids from eating them all. I was so good Christmas morning and only took a few pictures. I've had to force myself to cut down on my picture taking since it takes forever for me to filter thru 100+ pictures for a 2 page scrapbook layout for one event... Anyway, I digress...

This year, for the first time, we ALL stayed up till midnight to celebrate the New Year. It helped that we had Panda Express to enjoy along with the following movies: Space Chimps, Wall-E and Iron Man. By the time we finished the movies, it was midnight and we watched the ball drop on TV. J was disappointed - "They don't break the ball?" Guess he thought they would THROW the 5 million dollar ball to the ground. That would be more exciting... The kids had fun watching the fireworks from the window since it was a chilly 18 degrees outside.