Christmas 2013

Christmas has always been my favorite time of the year.  I love listening to Christmas music.  I love how everyone's thoughts turn away from themselves and focus on others.  I don't even mind the cold and snow this time of year.

We went and picked out our Christmas tree early this year because I was anxious to feel that holiday cheer.  Eventually we even got around to decorating it.

And yet, I still struggled to really get into the joyous Christmas spirit.  And that's because so much of what I associate with Christmas are the family traditions.  Traditions that were, in large part, established because of my dad.  And that meant that, this year, there were a lot of bittersweet memories.

We made some good new memories too though.  Leila absolutely loved seeing all of the Christmas lights (or "slights" in Leila-speak).  She would get so excited and point out all of the different colors as we were driving around.  So, one night when we needed an out, we just loaded up in the car and drove around looking at lights.

Christmas Eve, we made our way up to Bountiful to spend the evening with my dad's family.  We had our traditional meal of soup and then the "kids" all acted out the Nativity for us.  Leila was an angel and boy, did she give quite the performance!  In addition to wearing a Christmas Light necklace as a belt, she attacked the cast and audience alike with the star stick, tried to bring a Santa statue into the manger, and eventually stole one of the wise men's gifts, called it a banana a tried to eat it.  Crazy goober!

 

Unfortunately, once we got home that night, Leila started to have a really rough night.  We hardly slept at all.  Turns out she had come down with some bug that left her with a low grade fever and just not feeling well at all.  We finally got our Christmas morning going and opened presents with Aunt Jessica.  Leila got a little play kitchen and she loves getting dressed up in her apron and chef's hat!

Then, we got ready to go spend the rest of the day with at my mom's so that we could be there when our favorite missionary called!  We were able to have a WONDERFUL talk with Jared!  He has matured so much and I am just so proud of him!

Since Leila was feeling under the weather, Jason stayed home with her and I went back up to Bountiful with my family for Christmas dinner.  I am so grateful for the strong family bonds I have to rely on when I'm feeling weak on my own!

Who Do You Think I Am?--Ancestry Christmas Party

Last night, Jason and I went to the Ancestry.com Christmas party.  The theme this year was Who Do You Think I Am? (a play off of the TV show Who Do You Think You Are?), which meant masks were recommended.  Meet our version of Batman and Catwoman!

The food was New Orleans inspired, as was the entertainment with a jazz band, fortune tellers, caricature artists, and carnival performers.  Not a bad way to spend an evening out!

Thanksgiving in California

Our last vacation for 2013 was visiting with Jason's family in California for Thanksgiving.  We drove to Anaheim Sunday, miraculously missing the infamous Vegas-California Sunday traffic.  We were staying in a hotel for 2 nights and Jason was able to talk the hotel into upgrading us to a really nice suite for free!  It made breaks/sleeping with baby SO much nicer!

Monday and Tuesday were spent at Disneyland, of course.  Why else would we be staying in Anaheim? :) Jason's parents were able to come with us on Monday, making it their first experience with Leila in the park.  At the end of the night, we sent Leila home with them and Jason and I stayed to play in the parks another day.  It was Jason's first trip back since Cars Land opened, so we made sure to spend plenty of time in DCA.  It was great that we were able to see all of the Christmas decorations and shows but didn't have to deal with the crazy crowds that were sure to be there later of the week.

Yes, Leila's riding with them and she handled it better than either of them!

Tuckered out! She actually fell asleep in my arms as I was walking with her to our hotel shuttle.

The rest of our trip was spent chilling in Oceanside with the family, including Thanksgiving dinner.  We watched the sunset at the beach one night (and left with a screaming 2-year old who just wanted to swim and definitely didn't want to leave), went to a couple movies, and took some family pictures.  Such a nice, relaxing vacation!