We took our Sage girl to see Santa today at Trolley Square. We love Santa from a distance and love to say "ho ho ho", but are not a fan of the jolly man up close. We didn't have the heart to hand her off and snap pictures while she sat in terror screaming, so this is the best we got! Santa did get a "bye, bye" and a kiss blown to him as we walked away with a candy cane in hand. Maybe next year...
The Christmas Season is in full swing! We are making the most of it and loving every moment!
Decorating our Tree- We had our Christmas music playing and pine candle going. It felt and smelt like Christmas. Sage of course is still a little young to put the ornaments on the tree but she was a good little helper handing each ornament to us as we put them up. She enjoyed playing with her nativity set as we decorated.
City Creek Macy's Candy Window Displays- We bundled up and walked around City Creek. The candy displays in Macy's windows are pretty neat. We also went and said hi to Santa. Sage did not like him, but afterwards kept saying "ho ho." We ate dinner at The Cheesecake Factory.
Gardner Village Elf Displays- Our good friends the Averyts joined us. The Elves are kind scary looking. Sage enjoyed looking at them anyways. We got a peppermint frozen hot chocolate which Sage just loved. Mmmmm mmmm. She also got to sit on the horses. The Averyts came over for dinner and we watched the game.
Live Nativity- We bundled up and went to the Draper Live Nativity on Tuesday night. It was cold and there was a huge line. We didn't make it all the way through, but it sure was neat. It was a nice way to start the Christmas season.
Heber Valley Railroad Santa Train- We went on a 45 minute train ride, which played Christmas music and Santa came through. Once again Sage was scared. We are hoping by the time we want her sit with him she will have warmed up to him... We saw deer on our ride, which Sage of course loved!
Christmas Party-Sage's grandma and grandpa Fenton have a party for all the kids at the beginning of the month. We eat yummy food, visit and Jeanne always plans fun games for the kids. They also give the kids a couple early presents- Christmas jammies, a Christmas book and this year they got the Three Wise Men and the shepherds to add to their nativity set that they got last year. They also got adorable hooded towels. Sage got the cutest elephant and Harper got a cute little frog.
Christmas Advent Calendar- We have started our advent calendar. Each day has a little activity to do together. They are simple things like sing Christmas songs by the Christmas Tree or make hot chocolate. We watched a few bible stories of Christ's birth and acted them out with Sage's nativity, gone to the library to check out some Christmas books, stirred hot chocolate with candy canes and also checked out the window displays at the Grand America.
I guess we have been good! Sage received a xylophone, 123 Favorite Kids Songs CD, a fun push toy, links, jammies, a dress, a storytime rhymes book that sings to her, a sippy cup, and Baby Sign Books.She was also spoiled with a piggy that sings when she puts the coins in, bath toys, a singing star stacker (everything sings), a shape sorter picnic basket and My Baby Can Read book/DVD/Flip card set. She also got a few really cute outfits sent to her from the Ruiz Family. From our families Taylor and I received the baby bullet for her which is going to be so useful in making her baby food. It came with the baby steamer, which is also a sterilizer , poaches eggs, and defrosts. It has a ton of storage containers as well. We are super excited about it. We have already made her a weeks worth of food- super easy, cheap and healthy. We also received the Magic Bullet which we are excited to try out. We got a Wii game and a 3 in 1 BYU puzzle. We also got the game Rummikub, Our families are way too generous. Taylor spoiled me with the Silhouette Cameo which I really wanted and was looking forward to for my birthday. If that wasn't enough he got me a book I have been wanting to read, the Andrea Bocelli Christmas CD, Zumba for the Wii, a mouse for my laptop and a sweet picture frame. Sage and I got him a blue ray player, the movie The Help (which he also got me), Scrabble Card Game, jammie bottoms and the Amazing documentary of BYU Basketball from last year with Jimmer. We got eachother the Wii Fit Plus with the Wii Balance Board. We really are so blessed with so much. There are so many things we take for granted. The fact that we have all of our temporal needs met and then some, we are so very blessed.
The True Spirit of Christmas
I think this has been my favorite Christmas. Not because of all the wonderful gifts, but because of all the time we have been able to spend as a family. We went to the Festival of Trees, went downtown to see the lights on Temple Square, decorated our home and have enjoyed the tree lights that have been on all day every day since the first of December, our home has smelled of sparkling pine and homemade cookie- we have made lots and lots of cookies, we have listened to lots of Christmas music (Michael Buble's Christmas Album has been our favorite this year), watched several Christmas movies, drank lots of hot chocolate, Taylor and I went to the Christmas Devotional, had a fun FHE/ White Elephant Party with our neighbors, had a nice evening with Taylor's family where all the cousins got to play together, hear a story, get their Christmas jammies from Grandma and Grandpa. Although not perfect, we tried to read a scripture verse of Christ together every evening and we read a few Christmas books. It really has been the happiest time of the year! It has been nice to reflect on the birth and life of our Savior.
How We Spent the Day
The morning of Christmas Eve Taylor's parents came over and we got to visit with them. We love them and are so grateful for them in our lives. They are so generous and are examples of Christ-like love. They are examples to us in so many ways. We enjoyed the time we were able to spend with them. Afterwards, the three of us packed up and headed to Paradise where we spent Christmas Eve and Christmas with Grandma and Papa. We are so grateful that they live so close now. We love spending the holidays with them and being able to see them in between now. Grandma was a good sport and played games with us and Papa even watched the movie The Help with us. Christmas morning we woke up early. Taylor woke before everyone excited to start the day. I soon learned why he was so excited when he had me go on a scavenger hunt to find my gifts. Sage did pretty good opening her gifts. Of course she was more interested in the paper, but she did pretty good for a 9 month old. Right before church Sage woke up from her nap supper fussy. She would not stop crying, which is not like her. She threw up all over her Christmas dress. She felt much better afterwards and we quickly changed her and went to church. The rest of the day we lounged in our jammies, ate good food and enjoyed our time together.
This is my highchair from when I was a baby. It also winds down and turns into a rocking chair. Her and Scruffy became best buds this past trip.
We tried again. We took Sage down to Trolley Square to Santa. As you can see the second time was just as successful as the first time around, which was not at all. Sage has a lot to learn about this jolly old man.
I insisted Sage had her picture taken with Santa. It is her first Christmas after all and I believe every child needs there picture taken with the chubby, white haired, jolly man. We were going to take her to the mall which charges $25 for the cheapest package and that doesn't even include a digital copy, which is what I really want. We did a little research and found out that the Hinckly Dealership was doing free pictures with Santa, so that is where we went! Although, the Santa was not very authentic looking and Sage was hysterical and is probably traumatized to say the least, it was worth it. She held her breath and screamed the most piercing scream I have ever heard come out of her. As soon as Santa was out of sight she was fine. The jolly man comes during the middle of the night so the children can't see him for reason... Anyways, here you have it... the classic crying with Santa picture!
