Christmas 2010

Our plan was to leave for St. George on Wednesday the 22nd to spend Christmas with my family this year; however on Tuesday I went to the doctor not feeling well and left realizing that going to St. George would not be happening after the diagnosis of the flu and being told I was contagious up to 7 days - yay! I have never had the flu nor do I want it again because it was awful. I did not want anyone else, especially Vivienne, to get it so after Chad was off work on Tuesday he became Mr. Mom and I spent the next week in bed away from everyone. I didn't want to miss Christmas Eve or Christmas morning in bed so I tried to stay far from the kids and wore my new accessory - the blue mask!! Regardless of being sick, Christmas turned out to be lazy and fun. The kids enjoyed all their presents and being able to watch lots of movies! It was a great blessing to be together as a family.

Chad prepared our Christmas Eve feast courtesy of Costco - croissant sandwiches, pizza bites, mozzerarella sticks and egg rolls.

Christmas Eve jammies - oh so cute and cuddly!

Yes I did look like this for over a week... it was worth it since no one else got sick!

Pillow pets from grandma & grandpa varney have been the favorites!

Isabelle loved the barbies, mermaidia movie, books and jewelry she received from santa. She also got a remote control strawberry shortcake car but we quickly found out that it scared her so it was returned with an excitement to pick out something new. She enjoyed modeling the princess figurines she received as you can tell in the pictures. She has played non-stop with all her toys!

Ty was super excited about his Madden NFL game for the Wii - glad we got this picture of him opening it! He also received some books, the mousetrap game, toy story 3, a star wars remote control vehicle and super soft socks that he wears constantly. He was in heaven playing the Wii most of Christmas day and was even more excited the times he beat chad while playing against him! He was very sad not to go see grandma & grandpa and his cousins but he was a trooper and made the best of it!

Vivienne was daddy's little buddy for a week. He fed her, played with her, held her, bathed her, rocked her and just loved her to pieces! I think he enjoyed taking care of her even though he said on more than one occasion "it's hard taking care of everything" - dads always need a good reminder of what stay at home moms do all day! Ty and Isabelle loved helping her open her presents and she just loved drinking her bottles, sleeping and getting lots of attention!

Some of our Christmas best

Our Christmas Season was full and fun!

• Decorated our Gingerbread house with lots of icing and candy. Every year the kids love to put icing on their noses and daddy's nose and take a picture - I don't know how it started but they have to do it.

• Doorstep Service - The kids love to leave things on neighbors doorsteps, knock and run. So this year we decided to give some needy families one of our favorite holiday traditions - a Gingerbread House kit. We hope the families enjoyed this activity as much as we do! Ty and Isabelle had a blast doing it.

• Pizza & Polar Express Night - The kids found their tickets in our advent calendar and couldn't wait for the night to begin. I made yummy pizza and Ty was our conductor and took our tickets. We watched the Polar Express while eating gooey, brownie ice cream sundaes. One of our favorite nights together!
  *Can't remember what she was pouting about but it was too cute not to post it!*

• Visiting Santa and his reindeer - Chad took the kids to see Santa's reindeer and eat an ice cream cone while I stayed home with Vivienne since it was a cold night. Later in the month I was able to take the kids to see Santa at my niece's school while visiting family in St. George. Isabelle was not welcoming the idea of sitting on Santa's lap but once there she couldn't get everything she wanted out fast enough so that hopefully Christmas morning she would find those gifts under the tree. Isabelle asked for a dollhouse and Ty asked for Madden NFL game for the Wii.
  
  

• Decorating the Tree - Every year the kids love doing this and this year was no exception especially for Isabelle. She redecorated our tree probably about 50 times. Many interesting things were added, taken away, re-added, broken, missing... good thing our tree is kid friendly so she could enjoy this part all month long!
  
  

• Hot chocolate - Oh how we love drinking yummy hot chocolate (minus Chad - not his favorite). Our new favorite find were these delicious "Dark Chocolate Minty Mallows" from Trader Joe's. Not anything to rave about on their own but put one on top of your mixed hot chocolate and microwave for a few seconds and the marshmallow melts into yummy minty goodness that you get to enjoy with every sip!! We will definitely be buying these next year! For anyone who lives closer than we do to a Trader Joe's I got the last one in the store this year and the clerk said they sold out of these faster than any item during Christmas - hopefully next year we will have better luck!
  
  

• Service - If you tell the kids it's a chore they won't do it but if you tell them it's service they get so excited to help out someone else. One morning they tagged along with Dad to help shovel lots of snow for all the neighbors. Even though it was cold they enjoyed shoveling and really felt good that they had helped out their friends and afterwards they went sledding!
  
  

• Making christmas goodies -The plan was to make christmas sugar cookies but due to a busy day we made christmas shaped rice krispy treats instead and surprisingly the kids loved it! Sprinkles left on the floor that got stuck to your feet - you know the ones you just can't seem to sweep up were worth the fun and smiles we enjoyed together!
  
  

• Opening a book under the tree - We have done this for a few years and they love it! I wrap up some of our favorite christmas books from seasons past and some new ones I get each year and put them under the tree. A slip of paper placed in the advent calendar tells them this is their fun thing to do for the day and they can't wait to choose one. This is simple yet super fun!

• Elf on the Shelf - This was our first year to welcome a Christmas elf into our house for the holiday season. We read the book to explain how he would visit during the day, fly home to the north pole at night to report on the good or bad things he saw and then return to a "new" place in the morning. The kids were very excited each morning to find out where he was hiding and we soon found out that Zippy our elf was very creative in his hiding places each day...

• Taylor family party - Ty and Isabelle were very excited to play with their cousins and perform their talents. Ty played "Deck the Halls" and "Jolly Old Saint Nicholas" on the piano and did a wonderful job. Isabelle was prepared with an adorable christmas song she learned at Preschool but she was super shy and did NOT want to sing - good thing we heard the song throughout the month at home. We ate yummy finger foods, enjoyed a fun question and answer christmas game and then enjoyed a program put on by Chad's parents. Chad's parents shared a little bit about each grandchild - their talents, experiences, funny stories, etc. This was one of my favorite parts of the night! It was fun to hear about how amazing each of these special cousins are and what great talents they have. One thing they shared about Ty was his infamous baseball heckling during a game when he was 5 - if you missed it or want a good laugh again click here. One thing about Isabelle are the fun one-on-one moments they have enjoyed with her. When the program was finished we opened presents - a big thanks for all the wonderful gifts we received. What a wonderful night spent with family!