Happy Now--December 2018

With Thanksgiving falling earlier in the month of November, our official "Christmastime" did not feel as rushed as in years past...and we relished it.  Here are 10 Happy Now moments from the month of December 2018.

1.  December 1 (Decorating the Christmas Tree/Putting Lights on the House/December 1 Dinner)--December 1, 2018 was a busy day at our home.  We dove right into Christmas decorating with the purchase of our Christmas tree and putting lights on our house.  Darren braved climbing on the roof of both stories of our home to put up the lights, and within a matter of hours our halls looked decked for the season.  I think it filled us all with anticipation for the festive plans we had in the weeks ahead.  We ended the night with our traditional December 1 dinner which included the introduction of our "giving manger", advent calendar, and new ornaments and Christmas pajamas from Nana and Papa.

Darren had a couple of special helpers while he put the lights on the house:

 All of the decorating wore Claire out.  She fell asleep like this while watching "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer":

The girls were proud of their new ornaments, tree, and Christmas pajamas!

2.  Twins' PreSchool Christmas Program--The twins' PreSchool Christmas Program "Santa's Workshop" was one of the sweetest (and most impressive) things I have seen in a long time.  I am still amazed the school could get that many 3 and 4 year olds to do anything resembling an organized program, but they did!  It was also fun for me to watch how the twins responded to being on stage.  I wondered if they would get stage fright or start to act "goofy" with all of the attention.  Instead, they did neither of those things.  They followed directions and sang well and showed a sweet amount of enthusiasm.  It was wonderful!

Before heading to the program (with Claire showing off the Rudolph on her shirt):

Playing outside the library where the program was held:

 Scenes from the program (taken from video):

3.  Ward Christmas Party--Darren took the girls to our Ward Christmas party early one Saturday morning at a nearby neighborhood park.  The girls had a pancake breakfast, played "football" with some boys in the ward, and got an early visit with Santa (Claire opted out of having her picture taken with Santa despite her excitement at seeing him).

4.  Skateboarding with Dad--All three girls developed a new hobby in the month of December--skateboarding!  This was all initiated by Darren, and I am so glad the girls have a Dad that introduces them to fun and challenging new things.  I was impressed with the girls' balance and how natural they looked.  They are a joy to watch.

 The following pictures were taken from videos and, therefore, are not the best quality, but they were too cute not to include:

5.  Santa Party--We hosted our 2nd annual Santa Party with neighbors on Friday, December 14.  This was a tradition started by my parents when I was young.  I LOVED them as a girl and have had fun seeing my girls enjoy them as well.  All three of the girls helped me decorate "Rudolph" water bottles before the party and were brave enough to sit on Santa's lap when it came time to give out gifts.  The girls received Disney dolls with matching rings from Santa (Jane got Pocahontas, Claire got Cinderella, and Paige got Merida).  Upon opening her gift, Paige made the confused comment that she didn't remember asking Santa for a Merida doll.  I had to smile when she reasoned that this was a different Santa from the one she had seen at the Ward Christmas party and, therefore, he must have gotten confused.  I reassured her Santa knew what she wanted and that there would be more gifts coming Christmas morning.  She seemed satisfied, and my heart grew another size.

 This was as close as Claire would get to Santa ... until he brought her present out of his bag.

 The whole group:

The girls with their dolls:

 We are blessed to have so many wonderful people in our lives.  These are some of the girls' favorites (our babysitter, Gabi, and her mom, Iarley, and our next-door neighbor, Emma):

Gabi and Claire:

6.  Polar Express Day at PreSchool--One of the things I love about the twins'  preschool is the effort that is made to do unnecessary but fun things for the kids.  An example of this is the Polar Express Day the girls had on their last day of school before Christmas break.  They were allowed to wear pajamas, sat in a cardboard train made by the school, and had chocolate milk and cookies.  When school was over, they greeted me with big smiles and waving their "train tickets" in the air.

7.  Gymnastics Performance--On the last day of gymnastics before the holiday break, I was surprised to find the coaches had organized a performance for the parents.  The twins have come such a long way in their coordination and it was fun to see them master the balance beam and "seat-drops" and "open and close" jumps on the trampoline.

Paige and Jane posing with their gymnastics group:

8.  Chris, Christy (and Nugget), Nana, and Papa Arrive--With all of the fun "Happy Now" moments I have listed up to this point in December, by far that most happy moment was when Nana, Papa, Chris, and Christy (pregnant with Nugget) arrived to our home.  No amount of decorations, parties, or programs could make it feel as much like Christmas as having these people I love so much in my home for the holidays.

The whole group (minus Papa taking the photo) upon their arrival:

 The day after Christmas making donations at the LDS Giving Machine in downtown Gilbert:

At the movie theater seeing Mary Poppins Returns:

9.  Christmas Games--My family was here from December 23 to December 27, and we planned a few games while they were here.  The night of December 23, we walked around our neighborhood, each armed with a bag of candy, and delivered the bags of sweets to the homes we thought had the best Christmas light displays.  On Christmas Eve we had snowman bagels for breakfast, a performance of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" with fun props provided by Nana, and a few winter-themed Minute to Win It games in the afternoon.  I am grateful for such fun-loving (and easy-going) family.

10.  Christmas--Then came the big day!  The girls were all pretty good about taking turns opening presents and were grateful and gracious with the presents they received.  It was a wonderful morning and day worthy of the month-long anticipation!

New vests:

 Making cupcakes with their personalized aprons and stirring spoons:

Christmas morning scene as I explain that their last present is in garage (PonyCycles from Aunt Sue)!

 I have realized over the past couple of years that Christmas as a Mom is, in fact, more fun than Christmas as a kid.  Not only am I on the "inside" of all the planning and preparation, but the excitement shown by Paige, Jane, and Claire allows me to feel the childlike wonder of the season, as well.  It truly is the best of both worlds and "the most wonderful time of the year."

Happy Now-Dec. 11

1. December 1st Tradition:  I'm starting off my Happy Now 10 this week with a happy moment that actually belonged in last week's post.  As I was getting into bed after writing my post last week, I realized that I had left out one of the happiest moments of the week.  I couldn't just leave it out, so I'm leading off with it tonight.  Ever since I can remember, my family has had a holiday tradition of celebrating Dec. 1st in order to kick off the Christmas season.  Growing up, we would have a nice dinner and my brother and I would receive Christmas pajamas and an advent calendar.  While Darren and I couldn't be gathered around the table with my family this December 1st, we were still able to celebrate thanks to my parents who sent us pajamas in the mail and e-mailed us a beautiful Jacquie Lawson London Advent calendar for our computer.  I love this tradition and am so glad that we have been able to keep it up despite the distance that separates our family members.

2.  Darren's help with trees: I mentioned last week that I was making a set of paper trees for a decoration exchange I had been invited to attend.  The trees ended up taking much longer than I expected, but I was fortunate enough to have Darren to help cut circles and come up with creative solutions.  When the trees were too top heavy to stand up in the thread spools as the directions said they would, I was about ready to throw in the towel.  Darren saved the day (and the trees), however, by suggesting we glue the spools to an extra square of green card stock and then anchor the trees with some extra Christmas saltwater taffy we had.  Here's how they turned out:

3.  Decoration Exchange:  Sara did an amazing job of organizing the decoration exchange and preparing a lovely setting and delicious food in her apartment for the event yesterday.  As much work as I had put into my decorations, I still felt like they looked like popsicle stick ornaments compared to the other crafts that had been prepared.  I would not blame the other girls for depositing my paper trees in the nearest trash receptacle, but I am grateful for the crafts I got from them that I can, and currently do, use.  Here is what I received:

From left to right: felt Christmas tree wreath, snowflake ornament, "Silent Night" musical note ornament, Santa belt ornament, homemade carmel apple dip and an apple, "Let It Snow" painted mug, flower coat pin

Our "family room" with our new wreath and tree ornaments

I wore the flower pin on my coat to church today.

4.  Christmas Pillowcases:  Darren and I have been meaning to put these festive pillowcases on our pillows since we returned home from Thanksgiving.  This week we finally added them!  We received the pillowcases for our wedding last year and I love how it brings a little Christmas into our bedroom.

5.  Dinner with Whitney and Kelly:  My parents knew Whitney's parents before we were born.  Whitney and I have grown up together and then moved to Utah together as she started college at the University of Utah and I went to BYU.  She has been a great friend.  Darren, my mom, and I were able to attend her wedding to Kelly in Salt Lake last August.  Last night we got together with the Whites for dinner and had a great time catching up with these two.  I'm so glad to know that this friendship will continue to grow as we meet together as couples and future families.

6.  Warm(ish) Winter Weather:  A few weeks ago I mentioned being grateful for a thin layer of snow outside.  Now, any sunny, relatively warm day can make me immediately smile.  Today it was 45 degrees outside when we left for church.  That's not exactly balmy, but it's definitely warmer than it has been.  Did I mention that we will be spending our Christmas holiday in CA where it stays in the 60s during the winter?  Can't wait!

7.  Christmas shopping:  I LOVE Christmas shopping.  I love trying to find the right gift for loved ones and anticipating their reaction on Christmas morning.  Yesterday, Darren and I had a fun time walking around the mall and finding little gifts for some family members.

8.  Visiting Barnes and Noble:  Darren and I go into the Orem Barnes and Noble any time we are in the area.  We rarely buy anything, but there's just something about bookstores that we both love.  Maybe it's the smell of the books or being surrounded by other people (kids and adults) who find joy in reading.  We have even talked about how fun it would be to own our own bookstore a la The Shop Around the Corner from "You've Got Mail."  I may even have a name picked out for our little bookstore and a sketch with what the inside would look like. :)

9.  Chats with Parents:  I've had some great chats with my parents over the phone recently.  I feel like I've hit the jackpot when I can have both of my parents on the line at the same time.  We've shared quite a few laughs and have had some inspiring talks about the future this week.  Thank you, Mr. Graham Bell!

10.  Family History:  This week, Darren created an account on ancestry.com and was able to trace part of his lineage back to the 1300s.  So cool!  I wanted to have a share in the fun so I jumped on and started doing some research on my family tree.  I only read names and dates, but I immediately started to wonder about the personalities and lives associated with those names.  Genealogy is such an exciting work, and I am looking forward to learning more about my heritage on-line and through conversations with family members.