The past couple of weeks my girls have been coming out of their bedrooms in the morning happily sucking on a Life Savor.
Check out these little advent Christmas trees they made at a Primary activity December 1st. The wood was already cut, painted and had the 24 nails in it, the kids decorated them with glitter and sequins- what a brilliant idea!
My girls absolutely love these!
Here is a photo of my Pink Christmas gift from Holly Larson. I wore it to church on Sunday and everyone loved it.
Thanks Holly!
Also on Sunday our Bishop mentioned that they write down their New Years resolutions and put them in their stockings before packing them away. Ours are already packed far far away, but if yours are not this is a great idea.
A great Christmas. 
Every year at this time I try to think about how to make next Christmas less busy, but I think I have finally realized that all that busy is what makes it so fun. I love the process of making gifts, buying gifts and doing things for others so much, that the actual day of opening gifts almost seems anticlimactic.
Here some of what I enjoyed this Christmas:
Having my Mom here to completely spoil us with great cooking and buying tons of groceries. The night before she came I was so sick I couldn’t cook and we all ate cereal for dinner. I told the girls that Grandma would be here soon and that she would cook them real food. She cooked tons and we ate tons. I think we ate more food and treats last week then one should eat in a year.
Having Eric home for the three days before Christmas. It was so fun to have him home for the whole holiday and not to be traveling.
Taking the kids to houses on Christmas Eve to “ding, dong ditch” as Haley called it. I had several gifts (from last year’s 75% off Target sale) that we delivered to families that we thought would appreciate a little extra something this year. It was fun to watch the girls get into it.
Watching the kids put out the reindeer food on Christmas Eve. They were very serious about how and where to put it on the grass. Lucy brought home this little bag from Preschool that says:
Sprinkle on the lawn at night
the moon will make it sparkle bright
Santa's reindeer fly and roam
This will guide them to your home!
The bag had oatmeal, green glitter and red sugar sprinkles. The girls had so much fun with the idea that we all forgot to leave milk and cookies for Santa. 
Watching the girls open their gifts Christmas morning. Eric made and painted a indo board (balance board that you "surf" over a pipe) for Haley. She loves it, but I am expecting a broken arm or leg soon.
Actually getting to see TWO movies in the THEATER with my husband. I can’t remember the last movie that Eric and I went to together. We have Netflix so we never go out to movies. Since my Mom was here she put the kids to bed and sent us out to the movies. We saw the pursuit of Happyness and The Holiday- both very good movies.
And last but not least, significantly increasing the livable space of our home by removing the Christmas tree and all Christmas clutter. Priceless.
Christmas Eve we have friends over and serve potato bacon soup and tons of desserts. The girls get to open one gift early and it is always matching pajamas. That night when Santa comes to our house he always leaves everyone’s stuffed stocking on the foot of their bed. If you wake up early you can go through your stocking, but you cannot go downstairs until everyone is awake. Growing up Eric always had a new toothbrush and an orange in his stocking. I always had lifesaver book, lip-gloss and jewelry in mine. Santa makes sure all those items are in the girls stockings.
When I was a kid my Dad would have all the Christmas decorations put away by the end of Christmas day. He did this because we often went to Hawaii the day after Christmas until the day after New Years and they did not want to have to clean it up after the vacation. Unfortunately this rubbed off on me. As soon as Christmas is over, I want it al cleaned up but I usually wait until the next day.
