Christmas 2015

Christmas really is a special time of year, but this year was so incredible, thanks to Elise.  She was almost 6 months old, so she did not know what was going on, and wasn't like, "yay all these presents are for me!"  but seeing her light up when we set her in her new exersaucer jungle gym was so much fun!  Being a mom this Christmas also made me focus more on the true meaning or "reason for the season", and Dan and I tried to be more Christ like by serving others.  We bought my nephew and niece, Will and Marzia, Christmas since Jessie was not able too, they thought it was all from Santa, so they got Christmas just like all the other kids their age!

We also did a "12 days of Christmas" for a family in our ward for the first time, and it is now a tradition we will continue each year.  I cannot wait for Elise to get old enough to participate and do some of the door bell ditching :)  I got ideas from online, but wrote up the poems for each night all by myself, and they turned out pretty dang good, if I do say so myself!  We had planned to stay anonymous throughout the entire 12 days, but on the FOURTH, that's right, FOURTH, day, the dad decided to spoil the fun and he literally chased Dan (who was on foot sprinting down the block to our "pick up" spot) in his CAR!!!  I was observing all of this in the car and couldn't believe it.  He was very grateful to us, and he promised not to tell his kids, but I was kind of bummed that he ruined the fun of being anonymous so early on!

Dan went out of his way to make my Christmas special by preparing a little challenge for me.  He wrote up fun rhyming clues that went to each of my presents, and first I had a chance to guess just by feeling/shaking the gift, but if I didn't guess it right, I was given one of the clues.  He had a "bonus gift" for me at the end if I guessed all of my presents correctly, which I did!  He really is so thoughtful.

Pics of the fun: