Most of the month my kids will be found sleeping in santa hats. It's too cute not take pictures of.
We had our ward Christmas breakfast. It was Hawaiian themed and the primary sang Jingle Bells and Christmas Bells. This was the only time we saw Santa and sat on his lap this year.
VaLois came into town and not sure why but we didn't get any pictures. The kids love having her here and it's always a fun time to get to see her.
Siena's primary teacher challenged them to write a note for Jesus telling him what they are giving him for Christmas. Siena took this very seriously and this note sat in our tree all of December. I loved seeing it and she often looked at it and told her she can't wait to tell me what it said. Christmas morning she read the note and talked about how she wants to be better, treat her siblings and others better and not hit as much. It was cute and sincere and I loved that she just did this on her own and I could tell it meant a lot to her.
We had our traditional trip to Temple square to see the lights but we also decided to go the same night as the sing a long at the Vivint Arena. It was fun to be there and seeing the lights are a highlight of the month each year.
Ridgeline Christmas singing program never disappoints. The girls sang a song from The Polar Express and Jaron sang Mele Kalikimaka, Hawaiian Christmas song.
I got to help with Jaron's 1st grade Christmas class party. I helped with decorating a ice cream cone to make it into a Christmas tree. It was a fun day and to be a part of the celebrations.
All 3 kids had their very first piano and violin recital. It was at Lucy's house, Siena and Jaron's piano teachers but since they are her only students, we asked if Aria could join in. They each played 2 songs. Siena played Silent Night and It's a Small World and Jaron played Good King Wenceslas and We Wish you a Merry Christmas. Aria played We Wish you a Merry Christmas and Allegro from her Suzuki book. All 3 did such a good job and I enjoy hearing them play...when I'm not fighting them to practice!
The Sunday before Christmas we signed up with the rest of my family to go feed the homeless downtown. We signed up to bring and serve cake. When we got there it was very crazy because there were for sure way more people serving then there were homeless people. The kids got discouraged because they would come through a line and the people before us would give them cake and we didn't get much of a chance. But we stuck around and pretty soon it cleared out a bit and we had fun serving cake and trying to give as many pieces of cake away as we could. It ended up being a fun night.
We set up Grandpa South's train tracks a couple days before Christmas. This year Shane got out the big trains and the kids loved playing with them and making tunnels for them.
The kids got to sleep by the tree 2 nights before Christmas. This is our 2nd year and I can see this being a tradition for a while. They love it.
The kids spent one entire day preparing a stuffed animal show for us. They love doing stuff like this. I had to film the whole thing and it was cute to see them all getting along so well when they do little shows like this for us.
We also had our traditional decorating sugar cookies. We made some at home and then took them to Grandma and Grandpa's for Christmas eve. Christmas Eve was spent at my parents. It was just us and my parents this year. We decided to have Carne Asada tacos and they were so good. I didn't think the kids would act out the nativity but they did and it was cute. They also got to open their Christmas even presents which was pajamas this year.
Christmas morning is always fun. The girls got these HUGE stuffed animals that they of course love. Aria got some unicorn books that she has read over and over again. Siena got some sewing projects to work on and Jaron got more Hot Wheels tracks, cars and his beloved Football gloves that he sleeps with every night.
Christy and her family came to town so we all decided to meet up at Classic rollerskating one day. It was so fun, even all the adults got in on roller skating.
We also had an adult dinner and bowling night courtesy of my parents. We went to Brick Oven for dinner then headed over to Fat Cats for 2 games of bowling. It was so fun to get out with just the adults and have a night out of fun. Thanks Mom and Dad for a fun night!
We got an email that Funtopia was going to be closing for good. The kids were so sad so we hurried and signed up for one last hour of fun there. Lucky for us their big slide was finally open again and working so they got some turns going on that and all made it to the top before letting go and sliding down.
