December Activities

 

Here it is May and I am posting about December!  I will eventually get my blog caught up!  I am cramming all of our fun December activities into one post. 

Bass Pro Shops- Winter Wonderland

We always try to do some fun Christmas activities to get the kids in the spirit of Christmas each year.  Chris has taken the kids to the Bass Pro Shops Winter Wonderland before but this was the first year I had been and I thought it was really fun.  They had a Merry-go-round with reindeer on it that was really cute.  All the activities are free too! 

They had archery, shooting ranges, slot cars and trains.  The kids had fun playing each of the games.  It was pretty busy when we arrived so we didn’t get to meet Santa but they still had a great time. Look at Maddie’s “Katniss” stance!

Look at that concentration!

With all the craziness, Libby was sadly confined to her stroller most of the time. She was happy looking at all the fun decorations and lights. 

 

Disneyland

During the month of December I love to make a trip to Disneyland to see all the beautiful Christmas décor.  This year it was just me and the little ones on a mystery shop while the big kids were at school.  Sawyer was thrilled to win a stuffed Goofy at one of the game booths we went to.  We had a great time as usual and of course hit our favorite ride: Toy Story’s Midway Mania. 

 

Christmas Ornaments

Following my family’s tradition, each year for Christmas my children receive an ornament to decorate the tree.  When they are grown they get to take their ornaments with them to put on their own family’s tree.  This year I gave each of the kids their first initial. 

 

Living Nativity

This is the second year that our Stake has put on a Living Nativity.  My Dad is heavily involved with it and has brought a piece of his childhood in Canada here to our stake.  When my Dad was living in Calgary with his parents who were serving as mission presidents, they put on a huge living Nativity every year.  When we lived in Duarte for many years my Dad would put it on in the small grass area behind our chapel.  Since he had moved away the event has died down and they no longer do it.  The last two years he has really helped it become a big production here at our Stake Center.  Many people are involved and they got an excellent turn out this year.  He hopes it’s success continues! 

My kids enjoy seeing the live animals and being outside in the night air imagining what it would have felt to be there on that first Christmas night.  Libby was very excited to go up and see the Baby Jesus after the program. 

Christmas with an almost 2-year-old

Christmas is always an adventure with a toddler around.  For most of the month the bottom half of my tree had lots of missing ornaments.  We lost a few ornaments to casualties with Libby and I quickly discovered that I wouldn’t be putting any gifts under the tree until Christmas morning.  Instead of wrapping everything on Christmas eve, I wrapped them all early and put them above the entertainment center.  I was so proud of myself, I had all my shopping done and gifts wrapped an entire week before Christmas!

 

Ward Christmas Party

The ward Christmas party is always lots of fun!  The bishopric cooks a delicious meal and it always amazes me how wonderful it is!  There are NO women in the kitchen, even for clean up.  The food tastes wonderful and they love doing it!   This year they made breakfast for dinner, which I thought sounded kind of strange but it was really delicious!  They went all out and had the works.   One of the highlights of the party is when Santa comes.  My Dad has been doing it for our ward for the last few years and he does such an awesome job. I think he should get his own Santa suit. 

Here is Libby waiting for Santa to arrive.  Once he arrived she wanted nothing to do with him, she was scared to DEATH!  We made sure she didn’t find out it was Grampy.  After that night she wouldn’t even go near the fake Santa we have in our house. 

The other kids enjoyed sitting on Grampy’s Santa’s Lap. 

Jones Family Christmas Party

This year my parents were going to Texas for Christmas, and Chris and Amanda were going to Seattle.  We wanted to all get together to celebrate and exchange gifts so we planned a party.  We had a great time and my mom  gave us pictures that she had drawn of the youngest child in each family.  It turned out so lovely!  I didn’t take a lot of pictures but we had a great time.

Sawyer was excited to get this wii game!

Christmas isn’t complete without singing Jingle Bells, Coleman accompanied us with the bells!

The morning of our scheduled party 3 of my 4 kids all had stomach flu!  My family ended up postponing the party a few days thinking we’d be in the clear.  Well apparently we weren’t and Wes, Kristy, and both of their kids ALL got it and were sick all Christmas Eve and DAY!  I felt awful!  They didn’t go to San Diego to be with her family because they were so miserable.  So they spent Christmas sick and all alone.  So Sad!