A few more things...

I was just about to add some of our Christmas Day photos and write a bit about the day but first I want to add few things that we did this year leading up to Christmas ...that I don't have pictures for!! (there was about 10 days where we had no camera... lost the battery charger...) Like I mentioned before, I knew my mom and dad would be out of town and this was our first Christmas with just our own little family, so being the mom.... I knew the traditions and fun were ALL on me this year, I didn't have my mom to fall back on:) I didn't want to feel a void :) and I just really wanted to have a memorable and special Christmas. I looked online for some ideas and found a great site with ideas for doing the twelve days of Christmas as a family... Each night doing something little to bring the focus on the Savior and the true meaning of Christmas. We read about the legend of the candy Cane and it's symbols while we used a candy cane to stir our steaming mugs of hot cocoa! We made rice crispie mangers and talked about how humble Christ's birth and life were and compared them to ours today and all the blessings that we have because of His life. We talked about the word Christmas and how without the first six letters... CHRIST... Christmas doesn't have any meaning. We unwrapped an old sock and apple peels and talked about the importance of giving the best gifts especially gifts of ourselves and of love! We read lots of Christmas books together and laid by the tree each night singing Christmas carols! There were a few kinks of course... we're talking about three little boys with the excitement of Christmas in the air... and some nights I felt like they probably didn't get one thing out of these mini FHE's!! But even still, I had so much fun planning these things for my family and I know that we talked more of Christ and we spent more time being together... It was definitely a special lead in to Christmas!!

I didn't get any pictures of the boys baking sugar cookies and decorating them, of our extended family nativity play... Evan and Eli made the cutest wisemen, Gabe refused to have any part of it! and I didn't get any pictures of our visit to see Santa at the mall. Santa asked them each what they had been doing all year to be good, he asked them about helping their mom and if they were doing well in school... he was so cute with them!! They each asked him for a few of the items that they really wanted for Christmas- Evan a four wheeler (not a toy one!) and Eli a play station... He said he'd see what he could do!! Gabe was very uncertain about Santa but really wanted the candy cane that Santa tempted him with. Finally, with Evan's help he got close enough to snatch it from Santa but turned on his heel and ran as soon as he had a grip on the prize! Evan and Eli were certain that this was the real Santa and not just his helper! Eli noticed he had real boots, not just black flaps??? and Evan saw a sign saying Santa would be gone around noon to feed his reindeer... so it had to be him!! I love the magic of Christmas and I love the ages my boys are right now... Christmas is so exciting!!

Ok, I know this is getting long... what else do you expect from me though, right? :) I just have to write about one last special... It's my favorite one!! I decided to do the 12 days of Christmas for Glen... I tend to focus on my kids so much every year because well, Christmas is for kids... but I wanted to make sure that my sweetheart got a little reminder of how magical and happy he makes my life everyday! Each day he recieved one of these notes...
and lots of little reminders that I am so lucky to share my life with him!!
Here's how the twelve days went...

On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me
One special memory
There have been many firsts in our marriage, but none as monumental as that first kiss! So on this first day of Christmas I give you "kisses" and my memory of our first kiss
(I wrote a little letter to Glen about our first kiss... I gave him some hershey kisses and a few real ones too... :)

On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me
Two toasting glasses
Tonight, lets toast to the memories, dream of the future and just cuddle up together!
(I lit some candles, we drank martinelli's and ate delicious eclairs!)

On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me
Three favorite treats
Today is your day here are three of your favorite treats to enjoy!

On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me
Four wheels a rolling
One of my favorite things to do with you and our boys is to drive around the valley looking at the bright Christmas lights as we listen to and sing along to our favorite holiday music. Let's spend the evening rolling along, just being together!

On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me
Five Golden rings
inside these rings are written some simple reasosn whyI love you!
(I made a paper chain with gold paper and hung it on the door so he'd see it when he got home)

On the sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to me
Six drinks to sip on
Here are some of your favorite drinks, just ask and I'll be at your service
delivering one... on the rocks, with a straw- however you like it!!
(six pack of diet mtn. dew, his favorite!)

On the seventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me
Seven favorite places
I'm taking a look back through the years and remembering seven of my favorite places that we've been together! Let's face it though, anywhere you are is my favorite place to be!
(I printed some post cards from my favorite places and wrote little notes on the back. Memories of special sights, different food and just fun times we've shared together!)

On the eighth day of Christmas my true love gave to me
Eight songs-a-singing
I hope when you listen to these songs they makes you smile as you remember all of the good times we've shared!
(CD with some of our favorite songs burned onto it)

On the ninth day of Christmas my true love gave to me
Nine text messages
keep your phone close by. Your getting nine special messages today!!

On the tenth day of Christmas my true love gave to me
Ten fingers massaging
Let's put my ten fingers to good use! Here comes the best Christmas gift of the year, a massage from your truly!

On the eleventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me
Eleven favorite cookies
These eleven cookies are just for you! No sharing today, you can enjoy every single one!

On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me
Twelve months of memories
On this Christmas day I give you twelve special memories to carry you through until next year!
You are my true love from our first kiss to forever and all the little moments in between!!
(I had a calender made for Glen to use at his office It was full of pictures from the last year and included all of our extended families birthdays and special little notes too!)

This was by far my favorite Christmas plan... It was so fun to have a secret project to be working on and was so exciting to surprise Glen and see the look on his face everyday! My sisters and mom did variations of this for their spouses too, so it was fun to collaborate and nice to share ideas too!! Doing this for Glen only made the holidays better for me and I felt like a teenager in love again, just thinking of all the memories we've shared!! Having something each day to look forward to was so romantic and oo- la la exciting... and I know he loved it too!!

Christmas Day is up next...