Highlights of December 2012 all out of order.... but there.

We had a great December! We kicked off the season at the Festival of Trees. We met up with our friends the Campbell's and walked through thousands of trees that are decorated and donated to be auctioned off to raise money for Primary Children's Hospital. It is amazing what people put into their decorations. Maren loved all of the girly pink ones. Lyndsie's family donated a tree in memory of her grandpa who loved fishing. It was a fun event.

After the festival Maren and I were invited to the Nutcracker Tea Party with Spencer's family. Grandpa Garlick played Clara's uncle in a short segment to get the kids excited to go see the ballet.The tea party took place at this beautiful place Maren thought was a castle.

A bit out of order, at the festival of trees they also had a display of gingerbread houses that were pretty amazing.

Another highlight and must see if you live in Utah is the lights at Temple Square. Always a great place to be and incredible to see massive trees covered in lights.

Another "highlight" of December was cleaning up after this little girl. Lovely. Don't worry, I got the toys out before I hosed her down.

Another night, we went to Gateway Mall and saw their giant lit up tree change patterns and colors while synced to christmas music. It was pretty well done. Maren was really excited.

Give him a wig and I would be married to Willy Wonka. We went into a vintage toy store called Blickenstaff's.

The tree at Gateway.

Eva has a love for stuffed animals. She was in heaven riding this giant alligator.

Here is our little bum child. She just received a sum of money from a kind-hearted stranger and decided to go on a shopping spree at Blickenstaff's instead of use it on necessities like food and shelter.

Just found a new dollar store other than Dollar Tree. Eva was loving all they had to offer. I couldn't get her to let go of the plunger.

Every Christmas at the Conference Center the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sings with a famous professional. This year they featured Alfie Boe, the voice of Jean Valjean on Broadway.  He was part of the 25th Anniversary cast that comes on PBS periodically. Amazing. Tom Brockaw was also there as an incredible storyteller. A memorable night for sure!

We spent a lot of time with family down in American Fork this year. We created a lot of great memories. It had been so great for the kids to be close by and have that time with family.

We paired up and made gingerbread houses. Maren was paired up with Uncle Joe. He did everything she wanted him to. A perfect partner. This was there finished product. Maren was so proud.

As I am going through all of these pictures seeing all of the things we did I am reminded of all the awesome things you can do in Utah! We were fortunate to get tickets to see the Nutcracker put on by the Utah Regional Ballet. Their company has great dancers and it was a great production. I got to see one of my students from Mountain Ridge Junior High perform as one of the top dancers. Maren loved every minute of it. Hopefully we can start this tradition to go every year wherever we live. 

Again out of order but you can see that Maren is working well with her building partner. I love the expression on her face as she discusses design and decoration.

Christmas Sunday.

Christmas morning!

Minnie!

Christmas Eve Dinner. I made the  traditional Danish Christmas meal. Our Haymond grandparents came which made it all that much more fun for me since Grandma Haymond is half Danish too!

Maren and her 2nd cousin Ella. They hit it right off at the Haymond Christmas party. SO funny.

We had a beautiful white Christmas. After opening gifts we went sledding at a nearby park. Some of us sledded anyway, others attempted crazy stunts.

Learning to knit with Grandma.Very determined.