The Kids Christmas

It was a quiet and relaxing Christmas for our family. We stayed in Utah and enjoyed our annual feast of fondue at Craig and Gail's house then we headed home to open gifts from Grandma's and Grandpa's that live in Idaho. We then got into are new Christmas pj's and headed to bed and checked where Santa was on the Internet tracker. He was on the East Coast delivering presents to their cousins. So, the kids were quick to get into bed and fall asleep. The next morning we all woke up and had a wonderful day together and ended with a yummy meal at our house. The kids were so excited to stay in their pj's all day long. We all hope our families that we couldn't be with had a Merry Christmas!

Can you say Sugar rush...

Treats..yum..yum..

I did a different "twist" with my pretzels this year. I found a recipe that had a yummy sauce that you pour over the pretzels and bake them in the microwave, then drizzle chocolate on them. Then, we added sprinkles to some of the pretzels. They turned out very yummy and looked very festive in their treat box. I made several batches of these with the help from my friend Kristy and our kids folded all the treat boxes. What great team work!

Christmas dance

Lights before Christmas

We enjoyed our time looking at the lights in Layton's park. We walked through the park and then took a hayride around the park. So we ended up seeing the lights twice. It was great! Although, Ashlynn has made it very clear that she does not want to go on another hayride because she doesn't want hay on her bum. What a funny girl! Then to add to the night we had cookies and hot chocolate. This could definitely become another one of our families annual Christmas activities.

The Countdown has begun times 5

We have collected a few countdowns for Christmas this year. I think we are safe to say that we definitely will not miss the big day. We just have to remember to change them all because they are all located in different spots throughout the house. Ashlynn and Carter take turns changing them everyday.

This is our family's first countdown that we have had for a few years. The pieces are in the pockets and then they are placed on the tree. This tree will be fully decorated when Christmas gets here.

This is Carter's countdown that he made at school.
The classic glue the cotton ball on Santa's beard.

This is Ashlynn's calendar that she made at school. I love the coloring and number writing. She crosses off each day. She supplies us with these festive calendars each month.

I picked this up at a after Christmas sale for a quarter last year. It was too cute to pass up and it sits nicely as a pillow on the couch in our living room. You move his cookie around his beard.

This is our newest addition to our Christmas countdowns that we just got in the mail. My crafty mom made this for us and the kids love changing the blocks around. This completely confused the kids since this is our only countdown that counts the days backwards. Thanks Mom! It looks nice on our table. Thanks for thinking of us!

He's watching....

We adopted this cute little elf from our adventure at Gardner Village. He is Santa's little helper and reports to Santa each night on what he sees the kids doing each day. He will report the good and the bad. He also came with the cute storybook. He moves into a different location each night after he reports to the big guy at the North pole.



The holiday season has definitely begun. My sister-in-law Gail and I embarked on the Black Friday deals again this year. This is always a tradition for me and I will take who ever is willing and in town to come with me. Gail and I always have good luck together and we have fun breaking our normal scheduled life and living carefree for a few hours with no kids and husbands. This year did not disappoint either. We tried a first this year, we started on Thanksgiving night 9:30p and shopped until 8:00am on Friday. Well, I must clarify we stood in lines for over half the time, but it was all worth it. We had another crazy experience and will do again next year. So, I am ready to enjoy this Holiday season and the exciting things that come with it.