Christmas Time is Here

I cannot believe that Christmas Eve is tomorrow! I feel like the past year has gone so quickly, and life has changed so much. I think time feels like it goes by the fastest when you look back and see massive amounts of change that have occurred. Seriously Crazy!

We are definitely looking forward to Christmas and all of the festivities. Dan has to work through today (the 23rd), but then his whole company is off until the 4th of January! So that is pretty awesome. It will be the longest break we have had, where neither of us had any type of obligations, in forever. Seriously, it might be the longest since we got married! WAHOOOO!! So excited!

We have tried to do lots of fun Christmas activities with Benjamin. It has been fun, but strange at times. Like sitting on Santa's lap. Obviously Benjamin doesn't care yet, so it feels a little strange letting Benjamin sit on a strangers lap. I think when he is older and more excited to talk to Santa, it will be much more magical! 

Here are some pictures from our holiday adventures!!

We decorated the house! This is the first year where we bought our own lights, so we went all out with icicles, a wrap for the bush, and a strand of colored lights too!

For some reason Clem's was not selling trees this year (it was the saddest part of Thanksgiving break! I was so bummed!!) so we bought a fake tree this year. We found an awesome deal though, and it is a beautiful tree! Sometimes when we are coming in from running errands at night, we set Benjamin in front of the tree and let him look at the lights while we grab bags from the car!

I made Benjamin's stocking. It turned out pretty cute! At least I think so, although its not a traditional looking stocking. I don't know why, but our first year married we were super poor (well I know why we were poor...), so we decided we would make stockings for ourselves out of some old jeans I had. We ended up loving them, and they are fun and unique. So last week I made Benjamin one! I included a cute little red hood on the top (from a sweater from the DI), and I think it looks adorable! And I hope that these are durable enough they last basically forever! I figured I'd just make every child a jean stocking, and it will be a fun family tradition!!

As tradition has it, we took a trip to the Riverwoods to look at all the lights and stop at Blickenstaff's to goof around. It was lots of fun! The lights are beautiful, and it was cool to bring Benjamin with us this year. He liked looking at all the toys, and then he also got to sit on Santa's lap. 

Dan had to go to the Church History Museum in Salt Lake for one of his classes, so we made it a date night and all went together. Afterwards we walked over to Temple Square to look at the lights. It was freezing that day, so Benjamin really got bundled up tight. All you could see was his cute little face poking out!

Later during the week, after we set up the Christmas tree, Benjamin got to open his first present!! They were Christmas jammies, so he could enjoy them all month and also wear them to our ward Christmas party. He had a lot of fun tearing off the wrapping paper.

Benjamin and I in our Christmas jammies

The ornament on the right of this picture is the ornament my mom made me for my first Christmas. The ornament on the left is Benjamin's first Christmas ornament. I found the cute little snowman family while we were in Wisconsin this summer, so I had to buy it for him!!

Benjamin has been such a good boy! He jumps in his jumperoo while I wrap Christmas presents. He might not understand exactly what is going on, but he is sure excited to give this gift to his daddy!!

We feel so blessed this Christmas season and are so excited to spend the holidays with family and friends! Merry Christmas!!