Festive

The magic is upon us, and we are having a wonderfully festive December.

Last Sunday evening we braved 100 mph wind gusts and made our way to an Assisted Living Facility to carol with other families from our ward. (As we drove, street lights were going out right behind us and some of the light poles were bending down far enough that they looked like they could come down on us! We have had crazy winter weather so far, but that's another post.)

There's nothing quite like ringing in the holidays and getting into the spirit of Christmas with songs about our Savior's birth. The kids were all quite small, so on our way out the door we grabbed a few jingles and shakers for them to hold. It was just the thing to keep them occupied while the adults sang. 

David is interacting with one of the residents. Of course they loved the small children! Someone noted that we better count heads as we leave. We're glad everyone was so friendly with each other.

What a wonderful way to spend a Sabbath evening in December! The residents clearly loved it. Almost as much as we did.

We've had many baking days. David's favorite was making gingerbread Davids. We bought a set of gingerbread people, and I showed him the Mommy, Daddy, little boy, and little girl shapes. He quickly took to the little boy, and no one else was allowed to use it. It was officially his gingerbread David.

You want to know a trick I tried out? Roll your cookies in sugar (sprinkled on the table instead of flour) and they won't get tough. You can re-roll them as many  times as you need. Tough cookies come from adding flour with each new roll-out. It was something I experimented with, and it worked like a charm as long as you keep enough sugar on the surface to see and feel it. If it works into the dough, the dough turns stickier. (and if you see this idea showing up on a cooking blog any time soon, just know that you heard of it here first. j/k)

Yesterday we made a special visit to a huge furniture store in town. Not necessarily because we were looking for new furniture. We were really after him:

And David had a very serious conversation with the red man from the north. 

According to this conversation with Santa, David wants an airplane. The kind that you park at the airport. When someone else asked him earlier this week what toy Santa should bring him, David's response was, "I have lots of toys. I don't need any more toys." So instead of toys, he'll just take an airplane, thanks. A big one.

David got to talk to  Santa as long as he wanted, because he was the only child in the store. It's Bailey's annual visit from Santa, and apparently the word doesn't really get out. Of course the fact that we were in and out in about 15 minutes without any lines was one of my favorite parts.

And he discovered for about the 12th time this month that he doesn't like peppermint. Of course all of the candy canes look pretty and enticing--but each time David has to try it out for himself before he admits he doesn't like the peppermint candies.

After our chat with Santa, we headed out to the parking lot and got to go on a sleigh ride. The reindeer were busy, so we settled for a horse. A really really big horse.

 The best part of it all is that we still have some very fun activities ahead of us this week.

What a blessing it is to make so many memories together, and to truly pause and feel the joy this season brings to us and the whole world!

Merry Christmas, everybody!