Sorry No Christmas Letter This Year

Ok so Christmas has come and gone and in a few hours so will the year 2008 and I am yet to even begin writting a Christmas letter. I surrender. I can't do it, It has ended up being such a busy month that I guess this year I won't get one out. However we did accomplish our goal to do something fun everynight with the girls until Christmas and it was the best Christmas ever because of it. I didn't blog it all because I have to admit the blogging part of it took to much effort. So here is a list of the thinkgs we did, it was great. I think we will definately do it again next year but maybe not something every night, it was hard.

Sunday December 7th: After Church we (Emy, Averi, Bri and myself) drove around the Neighborhood and took pictures of yard displays so that later that week we could do a scavenger hunt and try to find the same lights at night with Jeremy.

Monday December 8th: Grandma Mimi was in town so we went to the other side of town and drove around neighborhoods look at lights with her, Jake, Kim and Kaylor.

Tuesday December 9th: We took food to the food bank. I wish I would have looked more into it and we could have actually done some volunteer work sorting. Dang it. Maybe next year.

Wednesday December 10th: Dinner with Grandma and Grandpa and Great Grandma and Grandpa for Grandma Connie's Birthday

Thursday December 11th: Live Nativity
Friday December 12th: Watched Home Alone. They laughed their heads off.
Saturday December 13th: Ward Christmas Party, A night in Bethlehem, It was really neat
Sunday December 14th: Finished the other half of the light display scasvenger hunt. It ended up being harder to find them at night than we thought but we had fun
Monday December 15th: Played Christmas Games. J-I-N-G-O is their favorite
Tuesday December 16th: Read the Girls a story about Christmas and the symbols of Christmas
Wednesday December 17th: Watched a Christmas Carol (my favorite Christmas movie well one of them, It's a Wonderful Life. is my favorite
Thursday December 18th: Went to watch Emy's class sing for their Christmas program. Wrapped presents and put them under the tree
Friday December 19th: Baked and decorated Cookies
Saturday December 20th: Byrd Family Christmas Party
Sunday December 21st: Took Goodies around to the girls friends for Christmas
Monday December 22nd: Dinner with the Frampton's at Brick Oven
Tuesday December 23rd: Took the girls to buy their gifts for dad
Wednesday December 24th: Went to see Santa at the mall and rode the Polar Express (thanks Vicki for that Idea) & Christmas eve dinner with Jeremy's family
Thursday December 25th: Christmas Day!!!

Definately nothing huge but each night we focused on something and it was fun. It made the holiday season last longer.

Day 6

This morning we went to the Provo Center Street Christmas Parade. It was cute and a lot of fun. Thank goodness my mom was there to help me with the kids. The girls had a blast.

The Owl gave Emy two tickets to an owls game. She was so excited to show Jeremy when we got home

Just a cute float

The girls waiting for the parade to start. It was a bit chilly

My mom is holding Bri up so she can see the Chipmunk. That was Bri's favorite part

Day 5

Tonight was the easiest activity and by far the most fun. Emy and Averi had their dance recital tonight. Their dance company had been working towards this recital since September so we were excited to finally see them dance and they were excited to see the fruits of their labor. Grandma Mimi (my mom) was also there. The girls were so excited that she came all the way from Mt. Pleasant to see them perform. That made them feel really special. Their dance was done to the song. "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Clause". This was also really fun because they are on the same dance company as their cousin, Asia. It has been so much fun for them to get to dance with Asia. It was dark so the photos aren't the best but something is better than nothing. If I can ever figure out how to put video from my camcorder onto my computer I will post the dance. It's cute and not very long.

Emy is the one in the middle and Averi is behind her to her left

Emy in front and and Averi to her left

Emy with her had on her hip and Averi with both hands on her hips

Emy is the first one on the left and Averi is in front of her kneeling down. Their cousin Asia is the cute blonde with the long pony tail on the right.

Averi on the left and Emy on the right

Day 4

Tonight we were suppose to go to the Provo Tabernacle and watch the Living Nativity. We didn't make it to the Nativity because Kim went into Labor and had their baby. Kaylor was born on December 4th sometime around 10:15. She is so cute. The girls got to go see her instead of the nativity so we will have to see the Living Nativity another night. Congratulations Jake and Kim.

P.S. Averi took this photo with my phone. She was so proud.

Day 3

Tonight the girls had their final rehersal before their dance recital on Friday. So after dance instead of taking the freeway home we drove home on the back roads so they could see the Christmas lights on the houses. One of our favorite things each year is to drive around and look at lights. They would do it every night if they could.

Day 2

Last night the girls had an extra dance rehersal because of their recital on Friday so we did a more relaxing activity tonight. We used Christmas scrapbooking paper to cut out strips of paper to make those chains that you take a link off everyday until Christmas.

Emyly wrote on the back of her's words that she thought of when she thinks of Christmas and each day she will tell us what the word is. Today her word was "camera". Her explanation was that at Christmas time we take lots of pictures.

Averi drew pictures of things that reminded her of Christmas. Her picture today was a train. Last night while we put our chains together we watched the Polar Express and made cookies as well so I imagine that is why she drew a train. Maybe tomorrow she will have cookies drawn.

As for Bri, she just scribbled on everyone else's papers. She had a blast doing it. On the one I made I just did a count down of activities we have planned so the girls can tear one off each day to find out what the activity for that evening will be. So far so good.

Kicking off the Season

Our first night of activities until Christmas was alot of fun. Provo City has a little Christmas Program outside of the Covey Center of the Arts and then has Santa come to turn on the city Christmas lights. The girls loved it. I think Bri had the most fun. She was cheering after every dance routine and laughing and clapping the entire time. It was pretty cool when they turned the lights on. One night down, 24 to go. Hopefully I survive.

This Christmas

We asked the girls what they would like more. Getting more presents for Christmas or doing an activity every night up to Christmas. They surprisingly chose doing the activity. So we are doing something fun every night until Christmas and will be choosing activities like going to the Nutcracker, watching santa turn on the city Christmas lights, parade, etc. It should be really fun and we will keep an update of how things are going. If anyone has ideas let us know.