Many apologies

So you don't think that Aiden and I just stopped our frenzied activities before Christmas, I must explain.  I found it was better to focus on the activities and having a blast rather than blogging.  But we did every single thing on the list.  WHEW it was fun.  Here are some pics from the days:

Whew.  Mom looks really super tired and weary.  

Aiden got the crappy flu one day and threw up everywhere.  So, our activity was to stay close at home and watch Merry Madagascar.  In our jammies.

We also made those super swell ornaments made of foam one night.  He loved it.  Best $1 ever spent

We also went to see Zoolights.  It was cold, but not as cold as last year.  The big cats were also super active, so that was fun.  Aiden, of course, saw the train and just loved it.  It is the first set of lights in the zoo and he just wanted to stay there.  Mean mom made him go explore.

Cold Monkey on the carousel

Another day, we went back to the train at Newgate Mall.  He seems to just want to do this activity every night, so we ended up doing it twice in December.  He was thrilled.

Oh yes.  We went shopping one night for our activity and Aiden needed a haircut in a bad way.  This picture was just too amazing to leave out of the blog.

Our annual "Faux Festival of Trees" - actually Aiden doesn't have the patience to go to the real festival, so we go to Tai Pan Trading and look at the cool trees there.  It is better for a 2-year old.

He wrote a letter to Santa.  He actually did help me write it.  It looks like I have palsy in my hand, but it was because a toddler "helped".  

So, with this and a thousand other fun activities, our 25 Days of Christmas comes to an end.  I would like to believe that we will keep this tradition going year after year because it really is so fun to focus on the magic of Christmas for a whole month.  I remember when I was a child, Christmas seemed to last forever and the magic was amazing.  I realize now that it is because my mother made the whole season fun.  I wanna do that same thing with Monkey.  Two years down.  About a million to go... I hope.

Days 11 and 12... okay, and 13

Day 11 was a fun evening - for me more than for Aiden.  I am the ward choir accompanist and we had a stake fireside where all the ward choirs sang two numbers.  Such beautiful music.  We really did amazingly well.  We have a choir to be super proud of.  Aiden didn't love it so much, but we did watch Mickey's Christmas Carol when we got home.

Skip ahead - Day 13, we played in the snow and Mom went a super-swell Relief Society party tonight while Aiden played hysterically with a bunch of boys in the Nursery room.  Mom had a nice dinner with ADULTS!  Nice change, but missed my Monkey.  Then we came home and sang Christmas carols under the Christmas tree and took goofy pictures... like this one.

But yesterday, we did a really fun activity - GINGERBREAD HOUSE!!!  So, last year, Aiden couldnt' get over the idea that we were wasting precious, precious frosting on a house made of precious, precious cookies. This year, I thought we could be a little more mature about it.  So he was.  I put the gingerbread house out on the table and turned my back to open the frosting.  I turn back to see he is basically teeth-deep in the roof and we haven't even opened the candy yet.

But Aiden is nothing if not stealthy.  So, I showed him how to put the gumdrops on.  He put is first one on, realized that there was frosting on his fingers, so he liked them off.  Then, he realized that he could just pretend to put candies on the roof and then he could stick his fingers in the frosting and lick them.

Awesome kid.

Aiden's side of the house

Mom's side of the house.

Day 10 - Family Christmas Party

The Annual Family Christmas Party - where over 50 people gather and enjoy the heck out of each other.  Dang, I love my family.  They are so fun to be with.  8 siblings, over 40 grandkids (with a few missing due to missions...) and food, games, and pure chaotic bliss.

We started off with brunch.  Egg casserole, french toast, biscuits and gravy, and fresh fruit.  I made the syrups - caramel, chocolate, and coconut.  Yeah, they were that good.  Rays were in charge this year and it was so fun.

We played this game with cereal boxes where every person has a different type of cereal (there are 52 of us, mind you...) the music goes and you pass to the left as quickly as you can, then to the right, then to the left.  At the end, whoever had the "special boxes" won a really fun prize.  It was hilarious and everyone got to play.  We ended up with 2 boxes of Trix cereal - a real treat at our house.

Then the nativity.  Stay tuned.  I will have a video up soon.  This year, Aiden's cousin, Marshall, that's two weeks older was supposed to be Joseph, but there was a "running up and down the halls saying no way, no way, no way..." incident, so Aiden got to be Joseph. (Side note,  Marshall got to be the centurion with cool battle gear...)  He did really great.

I have to clarify this picture.  Every year it is tradition that one of the older cousins (in this case, Michael), gets to be the "jackass" that Mary rides into Bethlehem.  This year, Mary was played by Gracie and her daddy brought her into the city to be taxed.  Awesome daddy skills, Mikey.

My cute Joseph.

Look at this total nerd.  We are all singing "Little Town of Bethlehem" and was just standing there all cute like.

Zoom into this picture.  Really... go ahead.  This is what I see...  Joseph: "Mary, whyou disrespecting me? I don't need no baby mama drama..."  Mary:  Eye roll "Whatever."  Uncle Mike:  I will just sit here and pretend I am not totally embarrassed to be the jackass this year...

So, as soon as the wisemen bring the gold to Baby Jesus, Aiden is ALL OVER IT.  Into the gold, the frankincense, and the myrrh.  Basically bathing in riches.  Somewhere in this scene, he tries to escape from the manger scene through the back entrance.  I am raising a thug.  

All in all a pretty memorable scene.  Gracie is such a classy gal.  What a beautiful Mary, eh? 

After the nativity, we entered into the gift exchange.  The adults all do a small gift to each other.  This year we did homemade bread and apple butter and a story. Chris did gingerbread house kits for each other... that sort of thing.  My family is so generous.  I really do love them all dearly.

We also have a tradition that we have a gift exchange with the non-married grandkids.  This year, Emily had Aiden.  She chose well.  Aiden got...

A super swell firetruck.  He loves it so much.  SO much!

Thanks to Cousin Emmy-Sue.  She knows us well...

Aiden sat and read the instructions. Nerd.

Check out the tongue.

What a wonderful time we had.  We were pooped.  So, we came home and had a nap.  (both of us... for 3 hours...)

Then we did our activity for tonight.  We watched Polar Express.  I didn't think Aiden would really enjoy it, but it has a train!  What was I thinking?!  He sat and watched the whole thing.  Surprise, surprise.  Frankly, I think the kids in that show look like Children of the Corn, but hey... once a year I can tolerate it...

Day 8 and 9

So, Thursday, Day 8, we did really typical Christmas stuff- went with Breanna to eat Mac and Cheese and then went shopping for Christmas presents.  Our Christmas has been done for a while, but we found a few odds and ends that you never really plan for.    Aiden loves, loves, loves Breanna and so it was a lot of fun.

Oh, and Aiden got a haircut.  No different, just cleaned up. He was awesome and very quiet during the haircut.

BUT!  Day 9.  So, Mom spent the day working from home and baking.  After a long day of this, we shared a cheeseburger and a drink of water from McDonalds.  Then off to Ogden (Again).  We were scheduled to do the Ogden Village Light thing earlier in the week but... DANG...  Too cold.  So, we went on Friday night.  Much warmer and so fun.

You may notice that the same post from last year and this year.. well, Aiden is wearing the same coat.  He hasn't grown much this year and still fits it.  In fact, it is big enough that he may even use it next year.  

He will say, Cheese, but never look at the camera.

So, this year they added a little train that goes around the whole block.  Basically, the teenage kid driving it goes fast enough that you barely get a chance to see anything, but it was a TRAIN...  So, we rode it and LOVED it.  The lights this year were even better than last.  It was still cold, but manageable.  We couldn't stay long because of the cold, but long enough to have a blast!

Oh, yeah...  Mom's sexy winter hat.  Listen, it was so stinkin' cold.  I had to break out the knit hat.  Not pretty, but nice and warm.  

Here is the train.  See?  Pure joy.

If you look closely, the sign says "Push button to start train..."  This was the Union Station house.  AND Aiden loved it.  He just sat there at the window and watched the trains.  

Enjoying the cold with pink noses and cheeks.  If you look closely at this pic, you will see his poor chapped lips.  Sigh.  We had to "share" Mom's chapstick after tonight.  

Day 7 -Catch up

SANTA

Yes, on the 7th Day of Christmas, we went to see Santa!  Actually, Uncle Chris and Shiree were with us, but Santa was the main attraction.  Awesome.  

Last year, see here, Santa was not his favorite person.  But this year as we walked by at Newgate Mall, Santa was there and waved at Aiden.  There was no line, so Aiden ran, ran,to Santa and sat on his lap.  He said he wanted a Choo-choo.  Santa was awesome.  No help needed from Mom.  

Side note, since we were in Ogden, we had to eat dinner at Lee's Mongolian BBQ... again.  Tasty stuff.

Day 6 of Christmas

On the Sixth Day of Christmas - we had an awesome night!  Last night we went for pancakes at Ihop in the coldest, winteriest night you have ever known.  We had a Christmas Miracle.  Aiden ate dinner.  Really ate and ate a huge pancake, 2 bowls of yogurt, 2 cups of milk and half of Mom's hashbrowns.  Lovely.  We really had a wonderful meal.  Then we went home to watch a Christmas Movie- Thomas the Thank Engine and the Merry Winter Wish.  Ok, gag for all of us grown-ups, but so, so, so fun for a 2-year old Mister.  He loved it - as evidenced by his cheesy little grin in those super-dee-duper cute footie jammies.

Check these out...

This 25 days of Christmas is a super fun tradition.  This is our second year, but for SURE will not be the last.  For some reason, it is not stressful like I thought it would be.  It is just super fun.

Spoiler alert:  tonight, we did the BEST activity yet.   Pictures to come tomorrow...

Days 4 & 5

On the 4th Day of Christmas, Mom needed a little spiritual filling - so our activity for the night was to watch the annual First Presidency Devotional.  It was absolutely delightful and was just what I needed to start feeling the Christmas Spirit.

For those of you who haven't watched it or have no idea what I am talking about, find it HERE. 

I absolutely loved the new Bible videos and can't wait to watch each of them.  They are so inspired and you really can feel the Spirit when you watch them.

We have also been doing a new Christmas tradition where we read a Christmas story every night.  This year, we decided to really focus on Christ, so our Christmas books are very Christ-centered.  They are wrapped up and tucked under the big Christmas tree.  Every night, he chooses one to unwrap and we read the story by tree-light.  It is really magical and reminds me of the times we spent as children with lights off and the tree aglow.

Monday night, well Monday night was HILARIOUS.  The advent calendar told us to go and see the lights in Ogden.  But the thermometer told us that it was about 11 degrees with a breeze.  No way.  Good thing Mom keeps many Plan B activities handy.  So, we made sugar cookies.  He didn't care about anything except watching the mixer turn and eating the dough.  It was awesome.  They had too much butter (remember that I am a cook... not a baker) so the "Santa" cookie looked like a blob.  But it tasted amazing and Aiden loved it.

So fun!! Is it just me or is Christmas 10 times more awesome with a child?