We had a WONDERFUL Christmas this year! We did so many things as a family and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. Here is a breakdown of our month of December Christmas festivities:
December 2, 2011: Festival of Trees
This is our first year going to the Festival of Trees. It was really neat but REALLY crowded! We decided to go this year because one of the family’s whose children I tend had a tree that they decorated for this festival. It was beautiful.
This is a picture of Jared and Milee on our walk to the Festival of Trees. It was sooooo cold!
Here is a picture of the tree. Gorgeous!
They went with a carousel theme and it turned out sooo well!
They also had nativities, wreaths, quilts, and other handmade Christmas things. There was entertainment, food, and games and crafts for the kids as well. We had a good time even though we had to hurry due to Jared having to work that night.
These are some of the things that Ella made:
Antlers with gems and a dragonfly. She also got a wand but we didn’t get a picture of it :(
And here is something Ella did:
They had this really cool bubble activity where you could stand on a stool in a pool of soapy water and have this hoop raised creating a bubble tube! The idea was to pop the tube while you were standing in it. Kinda cool!
The awesome thing about the Festival of Trees is that everything is donated and then auctioned off. All proceeds go to Primary Children’s Hospital. :)
December 3, 2011: Holiday Festival
The Holiday Festival was really fun! I think we will go again next year. The unfortunate thing about it was that it was only ONE night so that really limited when we could go. It was held at the Utah Olympic Oval which was kinda cool. Admission was $1 for adults and children over 2 years old with a canned good. We gave enough canned goods for all of the people in our family, and they gave us entrance for just $2! Everything inside was free except for the food!
They had this awesome jumping area with bouncy houses and obstacle courses. Ella LOVED it!
They also had some games. Ella liked this one and was pretty good at it:
Ella was also able to get her face painted. She chose a penguin:
The girls also got to make some ornaments. Ella made a snowman in a stocking and Milee “made” a Santa. I didn’t get photos of them before they were put away with the Christmas stuff unfortunately :(
Getting our picture taken with Santa was kind of neat! Jared and Milee waited in line while Ella and I made her ornament. I was just going to pass Ella under the rope but instead the man let me hop in the picture as well! It was really nice!
We ended the night with a ride on a tractor trailer. It was was a fun time had by all! So worth the $2!
December 10, 2011: Jared’s Work Christmas Party
This was a date day AND night for Jared and I. We had so much fun together! We got to check out the model homes in our development (being built by the new developers) and then we went and did Sealings at the Temple. Afterwards we went to Jared’s work party at The Rail. It was super nice! They had a delicious buffet with salad, potatoes, yummy sweet potatoes, meat, rolls, and cheesecake, bread pudding, egg nog cake, etc for dessert. The best part of this party was the entertainment. Jason Hewlett performed for us and he was AWESOME! Here is a preview of one of his performances found on youtube. He, unfortunately, is a corporate performer so we can’t go see him again unless they have him perform again. I would so pay money to see him!
He is a impressionist performer. LOVED IT!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENwmxThIfkI *
*Follow this link and watch his promo!
Sadly, we didn’t get ANY pictures of this night but we sure had a good time together! Auntie Kira watched the girls for us which was sooo nice :)
December 17, 2011: Ward Christmas Party
Our Ward Christmas Party this year was very low key. I helped decorate as the Young Women were in charge (no young women showed up to help decorate…hmmm….) and then we had a dinner of sloppy joes and hotdogs. Interesting choice for a Christmas Dinner but oh well. The kids had fun performing Christmas songs with the Bishop and then doing crafts in the Primary room. They also got to see Santa!
Ella performing with the Bishop and the other kids
Ella and her marshmallow snowman
The Girls and Santa (plus two elves I guess)
December 23: Surprise Grandma and Grandpa Smith visit and Temple Square
We spent the day before Christmas Eve working on Milee and Ebony’s stockings. I’m not sure if I’ve stated previously, but we have home-made stockings. They are really awesome! We’ve made them out of fleece in our favorite color, topped with cream colored fleece. Jared’s is dark red, mine is light purple, Ella’s is light pink, Milee’s is dark purple, and Ebony’s is cream with brown paw prints. Such a fun idea!
Later we decided that we’d go to Zoo lights, however, it was getting later and Ella had woken up coughing with a fever the night before, so we weren’t sure that was such a great idea.
I decided to cook dinner and then we were going to decide. I had just finished talking to my mom on the phone. She claimed that she was at the restaurant with my uncle for his birthday, when what to my wondering ears did appear but a ring of the doorbell…
I answered the door and nobody was there. I walked out onto the porch and out jumps my dad and mom from the side of the house. They were hiding in the bushes! That’s hilarious in itself :) We were so excited that they had decided to come and spend Christmas with us! Unfortunately, my sister wasn’t able to be there :(.
Grandpa and Ella playing on the ipad before dinner
We ate dinner and then decided that it probably would be better to go to Temple Square instead of Zoo lights. By the end of seeing the lights Ella was not feeling good at all, so it was a good thing that we didn’t go to the zoo.
We parked in a parking lot and took the free TRAX to Temple Square.
Waiting for TRAX
There was Santa and his elf there for photo taking. They then sent us away with fake money with religious writing on it. Interesting…
They insisted on us kissing under this “mistletoe” 
December 24: Christmas Eve
I awoke early to make a yummy breakfast of apple crisp for the family and upon just finishing the preparations, Grandpa Smith came upstairs and announced that he was treating us to breakfast! I quickly put the crisp in the fridge for the next morning and off we went.
We ended up eating at IHOP. It was yummy. Ella had a run in with some fatty bacon and ended up gagging so much to the point that the waiter came running with some napkins just in case! We really enjoyed our waiter. He went above and beyond to make us happy! He even heated up Milee’s rice cereal for me! It’s times like this that I don’t mind giving the waiter a high tip than usual. I wish customer service was like this everywhere. When we received our check, our waiter accidentally gave us another lady’s, who was sitting all by herself on Christmas Eve, check as well. He immediately realized his mistake but instead of allowing him to take it to her my mom told him she’d pay for the lady as well. When the waiter told the lady this, she immediately teared up and thanked us over and over. I loved that the little things can make such a huge difference. We didn’t know this lady’s circumstances but it sure looked like she appreciated the small gesture.
After breakfast, Jared, Grandpa, Ella, and Milee went off to Target for a few things while Grandma and I went to Kmart and Walmart for some last minute Christmas items. We actually ended up spending over an hour in the parking lot at Kmart just talking. It was really nice actually. I learned this day that last minute shopping for Christmas items is NOT the thing to do. Good thing my family doesn’t like candy too much cause it was GONE!
After shopping we went to dinner at the Olive Garden. It was sooooo good! I had a new dish that was just delicious! Grandma and I got some gift cards from our daycare parents and used these to pay for the meal. SO nice!
After dinner we went and saw the Christmas lights just around the church area and then came home and decorated cookies for Santa.
Then it was off to bed for the kids while Mommy and Daddy waited up for Santa to come!
December 25: Christmas!
Christmas morning started just like any Christmas morning since Ella was born…her sleeping in until 9-9:30! I went downstairs and put the apple crisp in the oven and then we waited and waited and waited for Ella to wake up. Milee slept in too! Stinkers!
When the girls FINALLY woke up, we had them sit on the stairs for some pictures before they could go and see what Santa brought them.
Then it was time to see what Santa brought!!!
*There was a video taken but for some reason it will not upload from Jared’s iphone :(
Ella went out to see what she got. Santa hid her big present, the only thing she asked for, a JEEP! She was so excited and surprisingly was not upset when she didn’t think that she got one.
These are so impressive to me! Ella wrapped these presents and then wrote Milee on the first one and Mom and Ella on the second one. She did one for Dad too but we forgot to take a picture of that one :(
We had to hurry and get ready for church after opening presents. The girls looked sooooo pretty in their matching dresses!
Although we don’t usually do this kind of thing on Sunday, with Grandma and Grandpa here we made an exception and let the girls try out their new jeep! Fun!
Ella was making Milee laugh sooo hard!
We had a super yummy Thanksgiving like Christmas dinner with Turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, Jared’s favorite salad, rolls, etc. YUM!
Grandma and Grandpa had to leave the next morning to go home, unfortunately, but we sure had a great time while they were here!
Here’s a picture of each of the girls and what they got for Christmas this year.
Ella got a lot of preschool games, an easel, and some fun books amongst other things.
Milee got a cute little kitchen, her build-a-bear Milee Monkey, and her journal as well as some other things.
And here is the girls playing in their cardboard house that Grammy and Grandpa Winston got them as well as the kitchen that Milee got from Grandma and Grandpa Smith.
