The kids each wrote Santa a letter then we took it to the mall where they have a special mailbox for letters to Santa. I was also pretty proud that with very little help from me, both girls signed their own name on their letter.
We visited Santa for our annual Santa picture. Since the summer when they saw a Strawberry Shortcake episode with a candy cane on it, they've been telling me they want a candy cane for Christmas. So when they sat on Santa's lap and he asked them what they wanted, they both said a candy cane, to which he pulled out candy canes for each of them right then. They then asked for a trampoline and he said he would see what he could do. As we were leaving Siena turned to me and said 'Mom, Santa forgot to give us a trampoline!' It was so funny. I think since he gave them their candy canes right then, she thought he would just pull out a trampoline as well. No one cried sitting on Santa's lap, well Jaron did a little when the girls got up and he was by himself but didn't do too bad.
Jaron is obsessed with sugar, he eats way more then the girls ever did at this age. If he sees his sisters eating candy, then he feels he gets to as well. We had advent calendars and each day as soon as his eyes spotted his, he started begging for his chocolate 'peeeees' as he would say. He's too cute to resist.
We made and decorated Gingerbread men. The girls had been begging me to do this as well from the same Strawberry Shortcake show. It was fun and they loved all the sprinkles and candy they got to eat. We then took a few and delivered them to Jennifer's house with a little round of caroling 'Jingle Bells and Santa Claus is coming to town' which were the only 2 songs they knew at this point.
We made our annual trip to Temple Square and this year we planned it on a not so busy night and actually got to see the Christus which we had never done before with the kids. Last year the line was over an hour long. They loved the manger scene as well.
We watched Small One, family tradition, and Aria was obsessed with Donkey's the rest of the month. We have a little nativity scene at our house that I allow the kids to play with (as opposed to my nice one that they don't touch) and it was fun to see them play with them all, arrange them and talk about them throughout the month. The first presents that showed up under the tree was also a huge hit. They were really good about not opening them but I did catch Jaron carrying his around a few times and then he came over and said 'peees' Funny boy.
With the warm weather we even made it to Gardner Village to see the Elves on display. Brigitte, Holland and Tagg joined us and Bostyn and her mom from dance class.
Our Elf from the north pole, Sparky, showed up this year. He stayed up high each day and all the kids, especially Jaron loved finding him each morning to see where he ended up. You should've heard Jaron's squeals each morning when he spotted him, it was so funny.
We talked about the true meaning of Christmas a lot so the girls at least understood why we celebrate Christmas and they at least now know that Christmas is when we celebrate Jesus' birthday.
Even though we did a lot, there were also a lot of nights we just stayed home listening to Christmas music, doing little crafts and playing. To me it was the perfect combination of enjoying and being together but not being overly busy. Fun, fun month.
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