The Ship Parade

After a fun dinner with great friends, we packed donuts and hot chocolate to the park by the river to watch the annual ship light parade. Here are some of the awesomely lit up ships!

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Favorite Christmas Toy

Playmobil Nativity. But where Baby Jesus' top half went is a Christmas mystery.

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Fancy Molly

Molly was invited to a Fancy Nancy Christmas Party. I thought she looked too beautiful not to share!

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Gingerbread village

So, lest you think it's all been fun and games, there was the gingerbread village mishap...

I found a gingerbread village kit, and thought, how perfect, 5 little houses! No need to fight over one house, right?

Not so much. They ended up being ridiculously small, and impossible to build when you have human sized hands.

Olivia dissolved into tears when hers fell apart.

Ian happily munched on his.

Molly weeped over her disastrous house.

Max ate his. Notice a pattern?

So, I have decided that there is a reason that this tradition has never stuck for us. You don't have to include the stuff that's more stress than fun!

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The Nutcracker

Last Saturday, I took the girls to the Nutcracker. First we went out to lunch at our favorite spot, The
Olive Garden, where the unwrapped this year's nutcracker:

Here is Olivia in front of the pit orchestra.


And here is Molly! It was beautiful and we all loved it as much as ever!


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Christmas Luau

**photo courtesy of Steve**

Our ward Christmas party this year was a Christmas Luau. It was so much fun! The cultural hall was decorated beautifully, the food was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G, and we even had some island entertainment (yes, I hula'd), complete with a surfing Santa! The whole family had a blast. A big thanks to those who slaved away to make this party so much fun.

Gingerbread Pirates

Our favorite Christmas book this year.

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Zoo lights

We headed to Zoo Lights Monday. It was freezing!!!! But not raining. So, we took advantage. The lights were so pretty and fun! And, we were all ready for cookies and hot chocolate afterwards.

The girls loved the bear! It was probably warm!


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Our Tree

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Festival of Trees

I think this is our third year going to the Festival of Trees downtown. It always falls on the first Friday of the month, which the kids have off of school. There is so much to do and see there, we always have such a great time and it really gets us in the mood for Christmas!

There's face painting (this is what Ian got after he was told they couldn't do Yoda):

A Teddy bear hospital. All the kids get a bear which they get to name and doctor up! It's so cute! Bandages, xrays, and face masks! This is the highlight of the event! Here is Ian having his bear's ("Big Boy") heartbeat listened to:



Olivia's bear! ("Caroline")


Max's bear (Fella):


Molly's bear, ("Snowflake").


Mrs. Claus' kitchen. They each got to decorate a cookie.


There is a magnificent trays display!


And then, there are the trees!!!








It is such a fun day! And we loved going with great friends!

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2011 Holiday Kickoff!

So I have a bunch of pipe dreams about how I am going to document all of our fun holiday activities. We pack in a bunch of stuff during December, but blogging about it January 1 is totally overwhelming, so I never get to it. This year I will try to "blog as I go," so we can remember at the end of the frenzy that we really did have fun!

So, since I am anti-Christmas until after my favorite holiday, Thanksgiving, our festivities began the day after Thanksgiving with the annual tree lighting in our little community. Apparently we have the largest live Christmas tree in the nation. Or so the mayor said. I have not checked his research on that. Anywho, here she is in her lit up glory!

After the tree lighting, the mayor points out Santa, in a fire engine, and we all parade after him to the plaza where you can stand in line to see him. Since this is not our first ball game we know that you have to hi-tail it down there unless you want to stand in line all night! We got there pretty quick, stood in line, and chatted extensively with the big guy. Also, we saw this cute bear and lots of other jolly critters handing out cookies and candy canes. I guess this is one time of year where it's ok to talk to and take stuff from strangers..


Ian with the big guy. His list is so fun this year: a castle with horses and knights! I hope the elves can manage that!


Stay tuned for lots more of our fun!
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