GET UP AND PLAY: The Holidays 2012- part one

December is usually not our best month. The cold, dark winter months tend to be kind of hard on our family (I'm sure everyone struggles with this to a degree!) It's hard enough just to survive, but when we add in social commitments and the pressure to make everything memorable, tradition-forming, and idyllic, things tend to go off the rails. So this year, I just decided to let all that stuff go. We put up the tree, had a few simple decorations on the mantel, put up exactly one strand of Christmas lights outside (that were still there until Mother's Day, I kid you not), and declined to participate in a lot of stuff. And our December was a lot more peaceful and happy for it.

Our neighbors, the Marriotts, gave us this cute old fashioned advent calendar. Every day had a little chocolate candy underneath it. I used it every morning as a bribe for Charlie to get dressed. :)

I hope one day to have reading Christmas picture books to be one of our fun traditions. This year I didn't push it, but I had them out and we looked through them a bit. I found George perusing a few times on his own.

Not posed, I swear. Just some naked time by the Christmas tree. :)

John and I had a fun date to his company party. There was a great jazz band playing and after dinner, several of his very talented co-workers each got up and sang.

This was one tradition I wanted to make sure happened. The Lower Lights Christmas concert at the Masonic Temple. We went last year and it was so much fun. This year we went with our friends the Soffes, the Jacobsens (repeat from last year), and many of Courtney's family.

John had to join me late from work, but I was so glad he made it.

A get together with some high school friends and their babies...

Another of my favorite things about Christmastime- the cards! This was about halfway through the month.

Cat helped me with my mantel- apparently I have a nutcracker collection

Proof that I do have some festive clothing- on our way to the ward Christmas party

The boys visiting Santa at the ward party- Charlie was jazzed and George was terrified

Earlier in December, Breea and Dave took Charlie to a Christmas tree farm with them to give me a little break. While he was there he saw Santa and got a blue candy cane. Ever since then, whenever we talked about Santa, he said, "He's going to bring me a blue candy cane." (He also almost had his hand bitten by a reindeer but David rescued him in time).

Our friend, Caroline, hosted a fun mom and tot Christmas party at her home. She had a yummy lunch and hired a magician to entertain all the little kids. Charlie was a bit too young to be downstairs with all the kids on his own, so I was the sole mom, laughing at the magician's cheesy jokes that flew right over the kids' heads. It was entertaining, though, and he brought a dove and two rabbits for some of his tricks.

Sophie with the menagerie

The Christmas gold tablecloth and of bunch of cute grandkids and Grandma and Grandpa's

On Christmas Eve morning, we got together with my family and decorated gingerbread houses. Unbeknownst to me, while we were there, Chelsea and Anne were at MY house, cleaning the whole house. It was such a thoughtful and generous gift- I still get teary-eyed when I think about it.