I am behind on my blogging ... Big surprise, right? Well, I want to do better. I need to do better. I would like to start by sharing our Christmas festivities this past December. As Haylee gets older, Christmas becomes more and more special and more traditions are created. Here is our Christmas story...
It began with a car ride over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's house. Literally. We headed up to Bear Lake for the weekend to celebrate Christmas with my family. We enjoyed a fancy Christmas dinner at a cozy Bed and Breakfast. We headed back to the cabin and celebrated as if it were Christmas morning. Everyone got into their pajamas and we started the fire and played Christmas music. We sat around the tree and exchanged gifts. I loved watching Haylee open her presents. She was so excited and it was contagious for what was to come on Christmas Day.
I sure love visiting Bear Lake and sharing time with my parents. I really hate leaving. I always get sad on the drive home that we don't live closer.
Our next festivity was the annual Grandma Nell Christmas party with Richard's family. The party was a huge success. Richard's sister and I decided to cater a bit more to the children this time around. Our macaroni and cheese and chicken nuggets with dipping sauces were a huge hit with all of the kids!
The kids enjoyed a coloring table and they colored sheets to compete in a coloring contest.
There was a lady that was swarmed by children the entire night making anything possible out of balloons. Haylee got a flower and a bracelet!
All of the kids adore "Aunt Ti Ti"
Jeni and Kristy
The next week was "Christmas week". It was the final week to prepare for the big day. Haylee and I spent spent two straight days baking. We turned on the Christmas tunes and got to work! We made a double batch of oatmeal, cranberry, white chocolate chip cookies, a batch of snickerdoodles, and a batch of peanut butter cookies with chocolate kisses in the center. Haylee's favorite part was adding the kisses to the cookies. It was a new tradition to include Haylee on the baking this year. She loved helping and being a part of one of my favorite things about the holidays.
Next was the annual Reynolds Christmas party. It's my favorite party at Christmas. The food is the best part! And seeing my family of course! My Aunt Janet makes these homemade rolls with homemade jam that are to die for! I could seriously eat them for dessert and be satisfied. And don't forget about my Grandma's slush and sugar cookies! She brought me a zip lock bag so I could take some of her cookies home and of course I left without them. I was so upset! I tried a new recipe this year for jell-o. I made a strawberry jell-o with a pretzel crust and a whip cream/cream cheese center. It turned out so good!
We held our annual Christmas program with all of the kiddos. The kids use hand puppets to share the story of Jesus' birth and we sing Christmas carols.
My awesome Grandma. She is 83 years young and can out shop me anyday of the week!
Christmas Eve
We headed to Rich's parent's house for Christmas Eve dinner and our gift exchange.
Grandma gave Haylee a new drawing pad. She has been drawing a lot lately and loves to draw spiders, circles, and rainbows.
Everyone headed outside to leave some food for Santa's reindeer.
Santa made an early stop and dropped off the kids' Christmas pajamas. Santa left them waiting on the fireplace while the kids were outside. While the kids opened their jammies, the reindeer had their snack.
We returned home to put the kids to bed so we could get started on the final Christmas morning preperations, but not until we got cookies and milk set out for the man in red. I am almost certain that Haylee was thinking about Santa coming to our house all night to bring presents and eat the cookies and drink the milk she left for him. The first thing she said when she woke up Christmas morning was, "Did Santa eat the cookies? Lets go see."
I stayed up way too late (until 4 am to be exact) Christmas Eve - wrapping, stuffing stockings, assembling toys, and even moving furniture. I wanted everything to be perfect because I knew it would all be worth it. And it was.
Christmas Day 2011
Christmas morning was pure magic. It was so special. Once the entire house was awake and Emma had downed her morning bottle, we made our way downstairs together. It is always exciting to see what Santa left and what he did to make it feel extra special - candles burning, Christmas music playing, and furniture moved to accomidate extra large gifts and present opening around the tree. Haylee was a bit overwhelmed at first and was not sure what to do first. Of course that did not last long. She went to her new doll stroller and bike first. Then she wanted to open presents. Well, she wanted to open ALL of the presents. We made a deal and let her open Emma's presents as well as hers. It was too much fun! Haylee was really excited to see the cookies mostly gone and the milk drank that she left for Santa.
Daddy's gift: a microphone. I think we are regreting this one...
Santa brought Haylee a "Puter". (AKA a computer, an Innotab to be exact)
After we exchanged all of our gifts and the orange rolls were baked and iced, we left our stockings and headed to Grandma's.
We enjoyed breakfast at Grandma Vicki's (and my delicious orange rolls, of course) and exchanged more gifts. Grandma Vicki was naughty and gave Haylee a Baby Alive Doll. Fortunately, Haylee is still unaware that the doll will pee when given a bottle of water. Thank goodness! I really do not need any more diapers to change! Later, we traveled down to Grandma Angel's to have lunch and visit with extended family. Grandpa Bob was so cute and had gift bags for the older grandkids and gifts for all of the little kids too. He got polar bear stuffed animals for all of the girls. The store ran out, so Emma got a lion! He did it all himself! I was so proud of him!
By the end of the day, we were all exhausted. Haylee was excited to get home and play with all of her new treasures. Richard and I were just ready to crash and relax because the next day would start a new week full of Christmas cleanup. Our house really looked as if Christmas exploded and threw up all over our living room! Although it sounded better to just stay in bed for a week to recover instead.
We spend so much time preparing for Christmas and then it is gone in a flash. Christmas really was good to us this year. We were so lucky to spend time together with family and friends. Before we know it, Christmas will be here again and we will do it all over once again!
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