our christmas.

the girls, most especially brooklyn, could hardly wait to get their letters off to santa. brooklyn had her list very thought out for months. she also wrote out many rough drafts before she settled on her final list. everything spelled phonetically and i loved it!

kendall was a good girl and had her list down to exactly what mommy 'guided' her in telling santa.

we had no tears again this year and we didn't wait in line! this was our third year visiting santa at farmington station and i don't see us going anywhere else as long as he's going there!

it was especially fun to decorate for Christmas this year being in our new house. i use the term 'new' loosely. new to us. we live in a little old cottage here in bountiful that i absolutely love. more about that later.

instead of just putting out Christmas books in the girls' room, i put out books about snow. our Christmas book collection is huge and it sat out in the family room in a basket. the books about snow were fun for the girls because that's all they wanted to do in the month of december. they wanted to play with the snow, eat it, build snowmen out of it, make snow caves, and all the other things you do with snow. it also brought on a lot of hot cocoa requests. i can't believe, and am a little embarrassed, by how much hot cocoa was consumed.

we put together a bunch of goodie bags for james' co-workers and a few people here in town. we stayed up late doing it together and actually enjoyed ourselves. next year i think we're going to go a little more simple.

almost every night, we'd all gather in the family room to watch a Christmas movie. james and i loved it and it made us giddy when all five of us were snuggled up on the couch watching something that almost always james or myself picked out. but my favorite couch-cuddling-by-the-tree-sesh was during the first presidency broadcast. the girls were good to just sit, listen, and sip on their hot cocoa. i loved having that special spirit in my home and it always brings back memories of being a young girl and going to the church with my family to watch the broadcast.

we also did a lot of driving around looking at lights. we found a fun house in centerville that could entertain the girls forever! we'd park, everyone would hop in the back of the van, snuggle in a blanket, and enjoy the show. the girls might say this was their favorite this year!

i didn't put up half of my usual Christmas decor, because like i mentioned above, little cottage. but brooklyn and kendall loved every little piece of decor and detail. 

hanging five stockings felt surreal. it might have been my favorite thing about Christmas this year.

getting Christmas cards in the mail from friends and family is a very close second!

i'm so glad i put this big print up this year, as it became kendall's favorite song. she still sings it every once in awhile and it just melts my mama heart!

going to temple square was another highlight. we ended up going on a warmer night and the girls were in good spirits. no whining, no crying. they just flat out enjoyed themselves. 

a few days before all of the festivities started, we met dev and kayla at pirate o's to get some Christmas goodies. it was dev's first time and the girls loved having their uncle and aunt (and judson!) there too!

having three kids and trying to carry a camera around proved to be too much for me by the time we headed to coalville for our annual family party on Christmas Eve Eve. i didn't take any pictures there, nor did i take any on Christmas Eve. luckily, james got a few! mostly you should just know, that we had a blast with family and ate way too much delicious food!

we had our annual fancy Christmas Eve dinner at my parents' and i ate way too many of my mom's homemade rolls. we opened matching jammies and the kids did the nativity. hilarious rendition! mostly just chaos, but the kids are already asking to do it next year!

Christmas morning was magical. snow falling all morning, and the girls were so excited about their gifts, and waking up at grandma and grandpa's house. we loved being able to dress in our sunday best and attend sacrament meeting on Christmas day. 

we stayed at my parents' for a couple days after and the girls loved spending time with cousins, aunts & uncles, and their grandparents. my mom had a few activities for them to do, and they loved any chance they got to just be with the adults.

james was a trooper and got a sledding hill going out back for them all to sled down. they were outside for over an hour just having a blast! i know that 'night sledding' will be something they remember when they look back on this Christmas.

this one was for the record books. three girls to bring three times the magic. i loved seeing Christmas through their eyes. i loved teaching them the true meaning and listening to them teach each other and retell the story in their own words. it is always sad to see the season go so quickly but i think we enjoyed every drop.

the most wonderful time of the year!

the best things about december (to me) are: playing christmas music all day long every day. my girls love it! sometimes they beat me to it and have the radio on before i can even think about it. and being able to just sit by the christmas tree, doing nothing, and not feel guilty about it. we've spent a ton of time by the tree, just looking at christmas books, listening to christmas music, and not having a care in the world. the simplicity of it all just makes my heart happy! and that's what this season is all about. happiness. love. joy. 

the other reason i love december and the christmas season is that we throw all cares to the wind and have whatever the heck we want for breakfast. i'm serious. if the girls ask for pancakes with syrup three days in a row, i go with it. i feel like i can be a little more lax and not worry so much about the healthy side of things. they do drink milk, every morning, so i feel like that's a healthy win.

here they are enjoying some pancakes!

we got down to business and got letters off to santa. brooklyn couldn't wait for this and loved the whole process. look at that little lefty!

on wednesday night after kendall went to bed, and james was working on his last paper for his MBA, brooklyn and i cuddled up in my bed to watch a christmas movie and do a little craft. this cute star garland took me a lot longer to do than i thought it would but i really like how it turned out. brooklyn loves having it in her room and loves to go in and look at it. i guess it was worth it!

i had to snap a pic of james working on the paper. this was a big deal! the last thing he had to turn in to be completely done with his MBA. this also took him a lot longer than he thought. totally worth it too though right?!

the next day we anxiously waited for james to come home from his very last class. the girls waited at the window for him and had lots of hugs, kisses, and if we're being honest, bum slaps for him when he walked in the door. we were all happy! he came home with a red velvet cake, ice cream, and egg nog. he was given quite the celebration on his last day and we totally benefited! we are so proud of him and all the hard work he's put in these last two years. we're so excited to have him home tuesday and thursday nights!

after preschool, brooklyn couldn't wait any longer and we got that letter to santa down to the post office immediately. the centerville post office has the cutest mail box set up that's specific for letters headed to the north pole. brooklyn thought it was the coolest thing ever!

friday night was uneventful and just nice and slow. we all really needed it. we ordered food in and just hung out at home. the next day, i got up, made the girls' breakfast, and then got started on a little cleaning to do list i really wanted done before noon. and luckily my mission was accomplished and i rewarded myself with a little christmas shopping trip with chels down to draper. we got several things crossed off our list including a nice little dinner out. jdawgs did not disappoint. the hot dog, drink-apple beer, and chips, were all on point. i could go for some more of that right now.

one of our accomplished christmas shopping items was the swan princess dvd. have you seen this? such a cute movie with fun music and a great lesson. anyway, i've been on the hunt since our vhs version has started to basically die on us. i found the dvd on ksl for $8 and survived a visit to a guy's apartment to get it. brooklyn will be so excited, and kendall will love it as she grows up!

the main reason for our trip was to make our annual stop at pirate o's. never been? you should go. 

they have all sorts of specialty drinks, cheeses, crazy food items, delicious food items, and the whole atmosphere of the store is just fun. we found some new flavors in the soda section and they did not look appealing. bacon soda? no thanks. but they always have a great selection of others. couldn't leave without the cheer wine...

or the picture i take every time with a huge chunk of cheese. 

if you're curious about this place, ask away. i really recommend it around christmas. their specialty items are totally worth the trip!

sunday was one of our last slow mornings as we switch to 9AM church in january. we literally were eating breakfast for an hour. first there was cereal, then muffins, and then eggs. ya know how it goes. then we watched a christmas movie before it was time to get ready for church. it was also kendall's last sunday not going to nursery. i think she's going to love it and i can't wait for her to be able to just play like she wants to anyway. 

we've been doing a lot of crock pot dinners on sundays and we tried a new one that did not disappoint. pork chops, cream of chicken soup, and dry ranch mix. seriously it was good! it made the best gravy for mashed potatoes. so tangy and delicious. with some green beans on the side we really had a delicious meal on our plates. i love a good easy sunday meal.

as we go into this next week, i'm excited for some snow, more christmas music, hopefully a visit to santa, and i'm really hoping to have everything wrapped before the weekend. the girls are eating up every little christmas thing we do or say or decorate with. kendall gets just as excited as brooklyn and it makes me so excited for christmas morning. having kids definitely brings back that magic of christmas that is easily lost in us adults. i'm so grateful for them, for their love of each other, and for their love of our savior. we talk about his birth every day and kendall plays with the baby jesus from our little people nativity every day. it's the sweetest and such a great reminder that he is the reason for this wonderful season!

11 more sleeps til christmas!!!