Christmas – Page 4

25 Days of Toddler Christmas Recap

December 31, 2014 by Rebecca Whitehead

Throughout the month of December, Jake made fun of my quest to saturate our family in all things Christmas. Fast-forward ten years, and he says he can totally imagine me forcing the whole family to participate in my holiday schemes and creating Chevy Chase Christmas Vacation-level stress for everyone.

Jake (imitating the future me): “You WILL “fa la la la la” whilst putting up Christmas decorations…or ELSE!”

This sign in our house was the catalyst for his sarcasm.

Jokes aside, we actually accomplished more of our Christmas bucket list than I figured we would. We were rained out a few days, were just plain tired on others and simply didn’t have time before leaving on vacation to go everywhere I wanted, but I’m glad we had a plan and celebrated the season with a good mix of simple, at-home activities and outings. Here are the final standings on our attempt at 25 Days of Toddler Christmas:

1. Seeing the lights at Fashion Island
2. Decorating our tree
3. Decorating the house
4. Breakfast with Santa at Pretend City
5. Seeing a live nativity
6. Reading Christmas stories
7. Christmas crafts and coloring
8. Visiting the MV Santa’s Village
9. Seeing the Candy Cane Lane lights
10. Mailing cards and delivering neighbor gifts
11. Visiting Zoomars
12. Riding the Christmas Train at Irvine Park Railroad
13. Baking Christmas cookies
14. Breakfast with Santa and the Twins Club
15. Christmas gymnastics
16. Singing Christmas carols
17. Watching Frosty the Snowman and other classic Christmas movies
18. Neighborhood Christmas party
19. Donating toys to families in need
20. Taking Christmas portraits
21. Wrapping presents
22. Building a snowman
23. Drinking hot cocoa and playing Christmas songs on the piano
24. Opening up Christmas Eve gifts
25. Enjoying Christmas Day

Activities on our list that we didn’t do:
Seeing the lights at Dana Point
Visiting Jungle Bells at the San Diego Zoo (super sad about this one!)
Selfies with Santa at the Irvine Spectrum
Victorian Christmas at Heritage Park
Sand Sculpture contest at the St. Regis
Boat rides with Santa in Dana Point and Boat Parade in Newport
Visiting Daddy at his firm Christmas party
Ice skating (don’t know how we would have done this with the girls anyway!)

Even Jake was forced to admit that my far-fetched plan didn’t turn out so stressful after all– in fact, the month of December was one of our best months ever. If the girls could articulate their thoughts, I hope they’d say they felt the magic of Christmas…and that they won’t need permanent therapy from all the Santa visits.

Turns out, a little organization (and a touch of crazy) isn’t such a bad thing, after all.

Lots of love,

Filed Under: Christmas

Dreaming of a White Christmas 2014

December 31, 2014 by Rebecca Whitehead

All week long, the forecasts had predicted a 100% chance of a white Christmas– they didn’t disappoint!

Just for nostalgia’s sake– Amelia, Christmas 2013:

Samantha, Christmas 2013:

The girls were such BABIES last year, I can hardly stand it!

Instead of attempting to eat their presents this year, S and A totally got the hang of the whole present unwrapping thing.

Amelia stakes out her place in front of the tree.

I have a feeling this one’s mine!

Being silly.

Even Bandit was excited to open gifts. Christmas 2014:

Deja vu! Bandit, Christmas 2013:

Helping themselves to someone’s chocolate orange.

We kept Christmas simple this year– Santa had already brought the girls a Pottery Barn Play Kitchen set and a play roller coaster before we left, so we just got them a small present each, plus some little stocking stuffers and another simple present each from Santa. Even with the simplified gift-giving, it sure seemed like the girls were totally spoiled with presents (ahem, Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Sarah and extended family). Due to the ridiculous gift-surplus, we will definitely be re-wrapping some of the gifts for their birthday (but don’t tell the girls that!)

I–erm– Santa found these adorable animal blankies at Costco three months ago. So fuzzy!

We wrapped Samantha up in her bunny blankie and she just walked around like this for twenty minutes, happy as a clam.

Showing Aunt Sarah their loot.

Transportation was a big theme this year, with the girls receiving lots of trains, cars, and random vehicles.

Samantha was content to sit back and watch, while Amelia made sure she helped unwrap all the presents– even if they weren’t her own.

Thank you, Jack, Eleri and Rhys for the amazing scooters! This was probably their favorite gift this year.

Twin Scooter Gang: coming to a neighborhood near you, January 2015.

Amelia wasted no time setting up a luncheon with her new tableware while we finished present opening.

Thank you, Aunt Sarah, for making us these rad beaded initial necklaces. All that work you’ve been doing with the Shoshone tribespeople is definitely paying off!

The girls had a blast opening presents and couldn’t wait to play with everything…after naps, that is.

Naps over and ready to review the loot again.

Reading the book the girls made for Grandma and Grandpa– starring them!

The girls loved playing in their igloo…indoors.

S and A got Daddy an RC helicopter and the trio spent the afternoon flying it around the house. Bandit went crazy after it, even when Samantha flew it straight into his face.

By day’s end, the girls were so pooped, they didn’t even get to try Aunt Sarah’s famous Buche de Noel. More for the rest of us.

It was exciting to see S and A actually “get” Christmas a little bit more this year. After a month packed with holiday activities, Christmas Day turned out to be a nice, relaxing time to wind down and simply have fun with the girls and family. The only sad part was knowing this magical time of year was nearly over and that we’d have to wait a whole 365 days to celebrate Christmas: Year Three with the girls. Until we meet again, Christmas!

Lots of love,

Filed Under: Christmas

‘Twas the Night Before Christmas

December 31, 2014 by Rebecca Whitehead

Christmas Eve snacking with “Grammy,” as the girls have now dubbed her. Grandpa is now “Papi.”

When I told Samantha we were going to go out and play in the snow again, she just stared angrily at me and said, “COOOOOOOOOOOLD.” I totally agree. So we went on the deck for a few seconds and then rushed back in for some hot apple cider. Wimps, I know.

Only in Utah would you find a trampoline/bounce house park that was completely free for adults and free for kids two and under. Sweet deal!

Most of the trampolines were meant for big kids, but that didn’t get in the way of S and A bouncing around to their heart’s content.

Tackle Daddy! S and A were over the moon having Jake around so much while on vacation.

All bounced out.

Before bed, the girls were allowed to open two presents. I didn’t do pj’s this year since the girls already have way too many, but they did get to open books and electric toothbrushes (what kid doesn’t want a new toothbrush?)

The Frosty the Snowman book was simultaneously a hit and a huge mistake– you push a button and it plays the Frosty song. We’ve heard it approximately 425,598 times in the past week.