Christmas Highlights

I am finally sitting down to write a little bit about our Christmas time. We had a small early Christmas as a family before we left for our trip to Truckee. William was so excited for Christmas this year. We had a chocolate advent calendar that he got to open every day and he would always tell me "Mom, Christmas is a long time". I would agree with him that Christmas is a whole month long. The big thing that he kept asking for was a watch. We would sing Santa Claus is coming to town and even Zachary could "sing" along with a pretty good melody. They both understood that they had to be sooo good if they wanted Santa to bring them what they wanted. William did find a CARS watch in his stocking the night of our family Christmas. He was SO happy and excited! I also noticed that he takes after me in the present opening department :) He would rip his gifts open so fast and then hardly look at them and be on to the next. It made me chuckle.

Zachary really enjoyed ripping the paper off his gifts this year which was so cute to watch. He also got really mad when all the ripping was done because he still wanted to rip more, not because he cared to much about what was inside. Christmas is so fun with little kids.

We went to Truckee for 5 nights to be with Billy's family this year. It was so cold, but there was no snow. Billy actually went golfing the day after Christmas rather than skiing, which I'm sure made him a little sad. It was a good trip. The boys made a ginger bread train one night, William got to watch a lot of trains driving on the hill over and across Donner Lake, we skipped rocks on the ice of the lake and hung out inside a lot. Zachary's highlight was the fact that there was a big black lab in the house. He would hug, kiss & lay on that dog as much as the dog would let him. (which was a lot because she is now 8 years old and lots more mellow than in years past) One night he would only let the dog "hold" him while he drank his bottle of milk. To funny.

I also made Christmas baskets this year for all the girls I visit teach (5) plus one for the Bishop and his family. It was fun to do and even more fun to deliver them. I just love the extra giving during the Christmas season.

We got lots of Christmas cards this year which was really nice, I still have yet to take them off the door- they have been so fun to look at everyday.

We were excited to get home to warm & sunny Santa Barbara after our trip to the Sierras and it has been such a warm and beautiful winter so far. We did not mind coming home to the 77 degrees and even an 85 degree weekend!

Now onto 2012!