12 Days of Christmas

This year, Robbie and I decided to do the 12 days of Christmas with our boys. We thought of an activity that we could do each day until Christmas. A lot of activities were things that we were going to do anyway, so we thought that we would make it fun and special. I made 12 red and green boxes on my cricut machine and put numbers on them. Each day, the boys took turns finding the number and opening the box. Inside was a little paper with a rhyme on it..."On the first day of Christmas, my parents' went/did/made with me..." Here are pictures of a few things we did. We also did things like read Christmas books, watch Christmas movies, and make cards (complete with paint…that was a lesson learned for me) It was so fun. We opened box #1 a few days before it was December 13. This kicked off our holiday season.

Day 1: Temple Square and the Dinosaur Museum

We opened the box on Friday morning. There was screaming and jumping and clapping when they learned that our activity was our annual trip to Salt Lake to see the lights. Carson listed why he liked Salt Lake a few days before...they have a square like we do...they have big buildings...they have "that motel with that BIG pool and hot tub"...they have lots of traffic...and duh, "David Archuletta lives there". He's been paying too much attention to his Grandma Marsha. We headed first to Toys R Us. They got to look and play with toys for a very long time. Then it was in to the Marriott for swimming. The most exciting thing was on Saturday, we took the boys to the dinosaur museum. We were there for 5 hours. The only reason they didn't cry when we left is because we told them that we were going to see the lights and go swimming.

The lights were fun. It was pretty warm, amazingly. But, Carson was a pill. He was so grumpy, but magically, the grumpies were gone when it was time to put on his swimming suit.

Sunday, we had my cousin come and stay with the kids at the hotel while we went to the broadcast of Music and the Spoken Word with Natalie Cole as the special guest. It was the perfect way to kick of the Christmas season. WOW. Thanks to my friend, Karrie, for the tickets.

Day 5: Doc's Pizza and the Rupert Square

Our cute little Rupert square is totally decked out at Christmas, complete with Nativity and Santa's house. Little one's can go on Saturday afternoons to visit Santa. They also have Christmas music playing. It feels like you are walking the streets in 1960. It is one of my favorite things about Rupert. On the fifth day of Christmas, we took the kids to have dinner on the square at what Nate calls "Doc's Pizza Hut" and then we walked around the square and looked at the lights.

Day 8: Grandma Great's House

On the eight day of Christmas, we visited my Grandma Johnson...the best and cutest 88 year old ever. She has a massive village and we went to visit her and see it. The boys were SO SO SO excited to see her. She has a special way with little ones. It was priceless to see them love her village and sign her registry...CARSON...written in a big preschool way.

Day 9: Cookies for Santa

Call, me crazy...just look at the pictures. It took 3 washes to get the flour out of their clothes. Plus, I think I am still cleaning flour off the floor! The pictures explain everything. We also had a special visitor on this day. Erica, my cousin, and our favorite babysitter and friend came to visit. She's been working at Disney World, so we hadn't seen her for a very long time. It was so nice to have her help. We love her and are glad to have her close again!

Day 11: A trip to Grandpa Bob's

This probably brought the most excitement of all. To say that the kids love their grandparents is a HUGE understatement. They were more excited about this than all the other days combined.

Day 12: A Christmas Eve Party

Anything with the word "party" in it is so exciting for my kids. But, to have all the family there on Christmas Eve made it extra special. We had 7 out of the 8 kids there. It was wild.

We had a feast: prime rib, garlic mashed potatoes, rolls, Sarah's salad, apple/snickers/real yummy whipped cream salad (if that can be a salad), cheese ball, salsas galore, and raspberry ice cream dessert. YUM!!!

We dressed the kids up and had my dad read the Christmas story. It was fun. We had a little problem...2 girls wanted to be Mary. Victoria ended up as Mary, and Taylor ended up as the Angel...She was not too thrilled...

Marsha is the best party hostess. She had a fun game for the kids. She had a whole bunch of presents wrapped and then the kids drew numbers. Then they chose a present. After the kids were done, the adults did this too, but we got to steal them from each other. The HOT items were giant glass mugs and a glass bowl. All presents were from the dollar store, but they were awesome.

Then we traded gifts. I had Brandon. I was so excited to give him his present. When we moved to Omaha, I was cleaning out our car and found the notes from the talk that my mom gave when Brandon went on his mission. I framed the notes and a picture of him and her outside the MTC. She was looking at him smiling the biggest grin. When he opened it, let's just say there were tear...Brandon, my dad, Heather...I love that.

Then we opened jammies...boring after the other fun presents...like the trampoline the kids got from Grandma and Grandpa. After that, it was time to head for Rupert. We got home around 10:30. We got the presents out, made our breakfast for Christmas, and went to be around 1.

A special Christmas "thank you" to my friend Karrie... On Wednesday morning, I realized that Robbie's presents were at her house. Robbie had taken the car with the car seats to work that day, and so I had no way to go get them. At 9am, I called her to see if she would drop them by our house while we were gone. She said that she'd bring them right over. I also told her that I was busy wrapping and that I had ZERO presents wrapped. I was planning a Christmas Eve all nighter. Well, Kerrie brought the presents and said, "Carson and Nate, get your shoes on. You are coming to my house to play." She kept them for 3 hours. It was a Christmas Miracle. I got everything done in that time. That is what good friends do. I don't know what I would do without such good friends!

Next post...Christmas Day...it won't be this long, I promise!