12 Things I love about Christmas #5

The 5th thing I love about Christmas is baking treats..... I love to make cookies and gingerbread house etc at Christmas I love all the treats neighbors, friends and students give. Obviously I love sugar so..... This is one thing I wish I did have more time for.... I used to bake with Maddie & Hayden a lot more then I do now......This picture above is Maddie & Livie making orange crisp, it is My Great Grandmas recipe and her cookie press.

Here is Canyon frosting Sugar cookies. He loves to help bake things.....I love the time with little people!! Tom however is the master at caramel.... if you have not tried his homeade caramel sauce you'll have to get him to make you some. He was the caramel maker for Leatherby's in High School and he still knows there recipe!! Its good stuff!!

12 Things I love about Christmas #4

The 4th Thing I love about Christmas are Christmas books, I love all the stories of giving and sacrifice etc.... I'm a sucker. This year I just read the Christmas Sweater by Glenn Beck it was very good. I recommend it....(yes Doug can read, or Tiffany) I love the vintage looking Santa pictures in some of the books, I love Little House on the Prairie so when Mr. Edwards plays Santa well....... My favorites however are the "Three Trees" and the "I Believe in Santa Claus".....All of these books also represent gifts given to me by good friends and or family. Some of them I have had for over 20 years!!

The 12 things I love about Christmas #3

This is our first tree from story below.... I couldn't find the picture with it strapped to the car oh well... Check out how long we lasted stringing the popcorn!

The 3rd thing I love about Christmas is the Christmas Tree, I love the smell, I love going to pick out a tree, I love decorating them, and I love when you come down the stairs (or around the hall when you were a kid) and it is dark except for the lights on the tree. Doesn't it just have that like magical feeling. A few Christmas tree memories are #1 I remember when I was about 8 and we started getting flocked trees we had blue lights and blue and silver ornaments I thought that tree meant we were rich.... duh and really blue who loves blue lights anyway!!
I also remember going every year with all the kids and my dad to get the tree I think my mom was always home working/sewing, maybe she just hated the cold. We would always get a really tall tree becaus we had vaulted ceilings... one year the lady tried to get my dad to trade his cowboy hat for the tree we wanted he just laughed and I thought why not, he really only wore the hat (that must have been pretty expensive) to get the tree each year and maybe one or two other times. I really don't know why that sticks out to me, but still each year when we go I think of that....
I also remember Tom and my first Christmas together and going to pick a tree, we got a pretty big tree I can still picture it strapped to my little black escort. We went home and made some ornaments and tried to string popcorn, it took a little longer than we thought so we only had one little strand that did not cover very much..
Anyway I love a Christmas Tree sometimes I wish we had it up all year, but then it would lose its magic "right"

2nd Thing I love about Christmas

The 2nd thing I love about Christmas is... I feel bad listing this as second like it should be first, but I did not do this in a priority order just what I was thinking about for the day... anyway I love the Nativity sets and pictures etc portraying that special night, I go on a search every year to find "The real meaning of Christmas" wrapping paper etc.... sometimes it is hard to find this kind of paper but it is out there. Also Christmas cards, I have to have them say "Merry Christmas" I don't believe in being politically correct and saying "Happy Holidays" to include everyone if someone said Happy Hanuka to me I would not be the least bit offended if that is what they celebrate. I believe in Christ and in his birth and I will celebrate Christmas and should not be worried about who that will offend!! 80% of this country is Christian so why we have to tip toe around the rest bugs me! I have been to school and read with the kids all about Kwanzaa which is great I believe in teaching my children all about what others believe... what bugged me about it is that they cannot talk about the birth of our Savior they can not call their parties "Christmas" Parties because it might offend someone. That really bothers me!


Anyway I love this picture in fact I keep it up all year because I love it so much!! I love setting up my nativity set with my kids and talking about why we really celebrate Christmas, I love putting out a manger for the kids to put hay in (ours broke and so we have not done it for awhile sad...) I actually like when I find ornaments that aren't cheesy that have the Nativity.

So the 2nd thing on my list is I love the celebration of Jesus' birth.

12 Things I love about Christmas

The First thing I love about Christmas..
I love my Santa Collection, I love different Santa's and being that I have a December birthday, I collect them without having to ever buy them! These all were given to me by different people... that all mean a lot to me. From left to right.
#1 From my good friend Dori
#2 From my good friend Shireen
#3 Is my very first one, Tom gave it to me for my 22nd birthday along with the key to my car so it was kind of a birthday/breaking up gift weird huh...
#4 Tom's mom gave it to me
#5 Is my cowboy Santa he is my favorite, Tom gave him to me on our first Christmas.... this was the first day I realized he is the best gift giver!!! I felt really bad, I thought I had this great Christmas for him and I hardly had anything compared to what he had gotten me, and how creative his gifts are too. Funny I did not realize this before we got married in fact I remember at one point wondering if he was "cheap".. He really just didn't want to start out our marriage in any kind of debt and with the way I shopped before we were married that was an impossible task!! I am way better now and I never shop.
#6 My cute sister Autumn gave me....
#7 My favorite of all Young Women leaders the one I owe a lot of my testimony and love for church to, the one who actually set Tom and I up gave this "moon" Santa to me as you can tell he has been broken before by a ghost person because no one knows who did it!!
Well this is kind of a boring post, but each of the 12 days of Christmas I will post something I love about Christmas, maybe one of them will be interesting!@!

Decorating the Tree

On Monday we finally decorated our tree and at least got the stockings hung I have yet to put the rest of the decorations up......

I am so excited to finally have a completed fireplace to hang our stockings!! My Dad made this fireplace for us he does such a great job. Last year at this time we were just finishing our basement and didn't get it painted before Santa came so....This is the first.


Every year we pick an ornament for that year and write the year on it, if it is the first Christmas for someone that gets written on it as well. Here we are trying to get a picture of the kids all holding their "First Year" ornament. As you can see it was not an easy task. This one is not the greatest... Hayden has his usual Napoleon face, Olivia is trying to do some kissy pose to him to bug him, Maddie's eyes are closed, but check out Canyon! It's like he is holding up his first caught fish.... if you click on the picture you will see he has orange marker on his legs, he is just wearing the t-shirt he made at Olivia's birthday party, his little face and body just crack me up in this picture!!

Here is another classic for our family, check out the utter look of disgust Hayden gives his sisters when they want to cheese it up.... Canyon is getting the come on already I'm done with this stance!

This is about the best we can do so here they are with their ornaments...

Canyon was far more interested in the train then putting up ornaments (or going to school the next day). We need to get batteries but he still thinks a train this big is spectacular!

Me & Olivia putting the pieces back in the advent calendar, just a few days late! I love the different count downs to Christmas. It all started in elementary school with the chain "right"

Like I said each year we choose an ornament, sometimes 2 well a few years ago Tom decided to try the art of wittling... Here is his first attempt I thought he did a great job! He is always good at artsy stuff. So this was our ornament for that year 2005. I keep trying to get him to do big ones now that he has an idea of how to do it but..... To have time right

Maddie putting up the angel. Her and Olivia fight almost every year about who gets this job. When I was a kid it was mine I don't know why no one else fought me for it, maybe it was the fact that I stood on my dad's shoulders while he stood on a bar stool to get it up there? I think it started out that way and then was just tradition by the time my younger sisters got older. Needless to say we have to take turns at our house!

Here is Olivia trying to make sure her "First ornament is higher than Maddies!

Hayden was all about it he probably put up most the ornaments.

Me & Maddie thought this shot was hilarious!!! "Merry Christm ass" We thought. Tom didn't find it really funny! We did!

We got our tree this year at this house just a few blocks over, they were selling them in their front yard, and let me tell you this is the freshest tree we have ever gotten!!

Good times I so love this time of year!

Christmas Play list...

Last night I was adding my Christmas play list of songs on to this blog and they all just have so many memories for me so I love to pull my blog up and just listen to the songs through out my house.... I will run you down memory lane with me as to why I picked each of these songs (well most of them Tom put some on their as he changed my background which I will be changing)....



#1 "I Farted on Santa's Lap" (Tom added this one but...) the first time we heard this song, Tom played it for us it was on the way to my dance recital last Christmas, I usually get so overwhelmingly stressed out on these days and especially on the drive to the actual event but Tom was laughing so hard at this song he was literally crying like he had Chinese eyes with tears streaming down his face kind of laughing he doesn't do that very often, but when he does everyone around has to laugh with him........ This is a must have new Christmas favorite, the reason he was laughing so hard he said was he could picture the librarian looking lady seriously playing the piano for the elementary kids that are singing this song in a serious parents program, he would then do the piano imitations and laugh some more.



#2 Winters Night.... This is my drive in the car at Christmas time and pretend like I can sing like Sarah Mc...... (don't know how to spell her last name right now). It is a pretty song and she is an amazing singer, and if you have to know I have a secret wish of being a singer so I like to pretend with this song. It does remind me of our first Christmas at our house in Herriman too that was when I first heard it....

#3 Old City Bar... This is one of my very favorite Christmas songs, you have to listen to the whole story of the song..... It says "if you want to arrange this world you can change it, if you want to know how all you need do is ask".... it is about this old bar and on Christmas eve this little boy goes in and says their is someone who can't get home, and the grumpy old bar owner takes all of his money and gives it to her....... you just have to listen to it, it just makes me cry. I also like it because as a small child I went to my share of Christmas parties at the bar.... that is right at the bar, and it is a good memory all of us kids got those red net stockings filled with candy and an orange. I just imagine those old boozing smoking men that like to come across so gruff, but when you know them, or they are your Grand dad you know that they are just totally loving softies that would give their shirt off their back (p.s. I never knew my grandpa to smoke but I know he did before I was born, and I know he drinks and swears with the best of them). Good song listen to it if you have never heard it.

#4 Have Yourself a Merry little Christmas.... I love this song just because it says "through the years we all will be together" I don't know why but I love that line, and always have I just picture all my little grandmas sitting down for Christmas dinner together with my family both my kids and Tom and my siblings and parents. I also just love when my family is all together reading the Christmas story together with my Dad reading.... and all his funny pauses, I love that it takes him so long for the special effects and that totally magical feeling that is in my parents living room on a Christmas eve night!!

#5 Mele Kalikimaka..... I love this song because it is in one of my favorite Christmas movies.... Christmas Vacation... and that is exactly what it reminds me of. My family use to get together to watch that movie every year just so we could all listen to my mom laugh at it.... We need to start doing that again guys....

#6 Stille Nacht (Silent Night,) you gotta love Mannheim Steamroller right.... one of my favorites, it is just a beautiful song, and when I was little we had this little Christmas decoration it was some type of angel or doll thing and it played silent night so it reminds me of when I was really little.

#7Bring a Torch Jeanette Isabella... This is just such a pretty song I actually like it a lot better by Mannheim but couldn't find that version. I just love the sound of this song and it reminds me of my friend Jules, I think it was her favorite song back when we were teeny boppers just out of high school, I used to imagine living in this adorable decorated house baking Christmas goodies with that wonderful cinnamony house spray smell and this song playing in the background and that would be the life crazy I know but......

#8 Walking in a Winter Wonderland... who doesn't love this song? I remember getting this little tape recorder for Christmas in the 5th grade one of those rectangular black and silver ones. One of my all time favorite gifts I would record songs off the radio, and this was the first song I recorded and I played it all day singing along... wondering about that "person brown" I thought it said a person brown and imagined a black person to marry later in town..... who really is Parson Brown anyway. I also danced to this song when I was a kid and can still remember some of the moves.....

#9 Need a Little Christmas..... I like this one because really don't we need a little Christmas right this very minute? And this year it really hasn't snowed a single flurry but Santa dear I am NOt in a hurry.... Duh I just like this song and it is a traditional Tiffany Dance Co song we dance to almost every year!!

#10 Oh Come all Ye Faithful & The First Noel, are my favorite church hymns for Christmas they just have that Nostalgic feel to them. These two songs just remind me of the real meaning of Christmas and what it is really all about!!

#11 Baby Its Cold outside.... this reminds me of two of my favorite things, Maddie because she just loves this song, and elf my other all time favorite Christmas movie. I could watch this movie over and over and still laugh each time at the same parts!!

Well that is my walk through my favorite Christmas songs.... any I left out are because Tom just threw them on here. I do love almost all Christmas songs but.... anyway what are some of your favorite Christmas songs and why..... (if you actually read through this probably miserably long blog which I write for posterity... j/k sort of)