Christmas time! Christmas time! This Christmas season was one of the most fun, but probably one of the most difficult as well. Our little 3 yr old was SO excited for Christmas, but SO emotional at every turn. I did the togetherness advent calendar again this year, but by December 3rd I was fighting the urge to grab the whole thing and dramatically throw it into the trash. I tried and tried to emphasize these would be small activities, nothing too exciting, but even when I was sure she would enjoy the activity I would tell her what the paper said and she'd immediately burst into tears. After talking to her about what her expectations were it seems she basically just wanted toys. Or desserts. So there were definitely ups and downs, but once she would actually do the activity she'd have a lot of fun. I should also remember that with Riley's bedtime and Ben's arrival time "togetherness" activities usually just turn into an extra activity for me to do with Riley.
One of our favorite activities was putting up the Christmas tree. Riley was able to actually help put the ornaments on the tree this year and it was so fun to see her so excited to help. I told myself I would just rearrange the ornaments later, but that never actually happened. Even a little skewampus our tree brought a lot of cheer to the house. Riley would randomly declare, "I LOVE our Christmas tree!" We had a few dance parties around the tree. While dancing around the tree she said, "I'm just filled with joy!"
A little "snow" science experiment.
The closest Ben has come to breast feeding 😆. Nelson was really going for Ben's zipper.
We got to go see the Christmas lights at the temple for the first time. They didn't do any light last year and the year before was just a drive through. Being totally transparent this was one of our activities that had me in a bad mood the whole time. Riley was happy when we were allowing her to run around like a crazy person in the open area, but trying to to her to look at the other lights was just a mess. It had me being very grumpy.
At least our sweet little boy was in good spirits the whole trip.
Our second round of lights was much more enjoyable. This happened late enough in the month that Riley knew a little bit more what to expect the activity advent and didn't have a meltdown every time it wasn't watch a show or make some treats. This was a light show at the zoo, but we were VERY careful to never mention we were at the zoo because I was sure not seeing real animals would make Riley sad. As we were getting ready to go to the event she looked in her room and noticed her blue light (which signals that she's supposed to be in bed) was on. Incredulously she said, "But my light's blue and we are going somewhere?!"
Riley was SO excited to have her first experience on a carousel, but trying to get a picture when it was time to come off was less than successful. She just thought she was going to be allowed to ride until she decided she was done.
A quiet night in December. The best kind of night. Christmas lights and hot chocolate.
Another very fun thing about this Christmas season was getting to be part of a Christmas party at Riley's school! I volunteered to help with treats which Riley loved helping with, then on the day of the party Nelson and I got to go and see Riley sing along with the cute little program they put together.
Something that's always hard to decide whether it's going to happen or not it get out Christmas cards. I went back and forth about it this year because when you factor in the cost of stamps it adds up! I finally decided that it was important to do this year because we actually did have a major update. (And I know for a fact that Uncle Ariel appreciates my material which makes me feel great). So we ordered the cards and the stamps and I was so glad I did! I had printed out labels for the addresses this year which meant the whole process was very Riley friendly. It was just sticking stickers in the right place and if you don't mind them being a little crooked it worked out great! She found so much joy from a task most people dread. She helped stuff each envelope, put on the stamps, and put on the address labels. The only problem was the envelopes all had the right to consent or not consent, but luckily all of them eventually consented to the whole process. She especially loved that the stamps had elves on them and whenever we received a card with the same elf stamp it did not go unnoticed.
Christmas morning was so much fun. We celebrated a few days early because Ben worked nights the 23rd, 24th, and 25th, but I never mind an early celebration. For the second year in a row we had breakfast in Mom and Dad's room before we are allowed to go out and look at presents. I really enjoy this little breakfast full of happy anticipation and want to make it a tradition. It was created out of a need to delay Riley so Britt could be awake for the morning festivities, but I want it to stick around. When Riley was allowed to come out of the room she was overwhelmed with excitement as you can see in the video below. We had such a fun morning and I was really excited for the amount of free play I was going to get out of Riley and her new toys. That ended up not happening right away. For whatever reason these new toys made her MORE likely to ask me to play with her. Some because she did need help with the toy, but most of the toys were just little figurines that she wanted to have my company. That has kind of leveled out now, but I've learned to be careful just assuming a fun toy means I'm off duty. 😅
And now...attempting to get a family Christmas picture!
Having our Christmas morning early made actual Christmas being on a Sunday much less stressful. We were able to get to church on time and enjoy a full hour of a Christmas hymn sing-a-long. Then we stopped by the temple to visit the Giving Machine one last time before it was taken away. Man those machines are a really good idea, especially if you get the kids involved! It's hard to say no to giving to those in need when your child begs for just one more!
Another plus of not worrying about presents this day was getting a little photo shoot in when they were still in their Sunday best.
I love this time of year, even more now that I have sweet little kiddos to be so excited for the fun crafts, treats, lights, songs, and presents.
