'Tis the Season

This month has been party after party, lots of family time, full of activities and I loved it! We started the month off with our ward's Christmas party but we didn't get there early enough to see Santa Clause. I'm sure Addie was happy about that though since she gets major stranger danger around him. 

Our fake fireplace my cousin Allen set up for us as a surprise.

I've discovered that she doesn't like having tinsel on her. She happened to play the angel in the nativity story twice this month and both times she freaked out over the tinsel on the angel outfits. She continues to teach us something new everyday. This was the first year that Danny's family has been able to throw their own Christmas party because for the first time in over a decade their schedules are no longer determined by Papa Murphy's. 

My parents are also experiencing new freedom this month because my dad has officially retired from his job. Addie and I went with Pollyanna and Aria to his retirement party which was nice. We tried really hard to get a good picture of Aria and Addie together but it was impossible to get their focus off this giant tree or to have both of them looking at us at the same time. 

The weekend before Christmas we had three parties in a row. The first one was with Danny's research lab group. We scored that night with some pretty great white elephant gifts. The next night we had the Rueckert Christmas party with all my extended family. I was surprised yet also not surprised that the Santa Clause that night was a gorilla. The thing that I did find shocking is that Addie seemed less scared over this Santa over all the other ones she's seen. 

The third party that weekend was with my immediate family at my parent's condo. A couple weeks ago when my family went to The Forgotten Carols I mentioned that we should all dress up in pajamas to the party and keep it a secret from my parents. This started off as a joke but my sister Beckie heard it and loved the idea. It wasn't hard to convince the rest of the family and on the night of the party every single one of us showed up to this fancy party in our pajamas. I did feel bad at first that my parents and grandma felt out of place in their nice church clothes but they all mentioned they saw it as a fun prank. 

For the last three years Danny and I have spent our Christmas Eve with Danny's grandparents and the rest of their extended family. This is a tradition that I've come to love! Since their family is so big they always rent out a place to fit everyone and this year it was the classic skating rink. We had the entire place just for the Ferguson family. The employees weren't even there that night which meant we had access to everything. Addie was a bit cautious at first but in no time was running around and climbing on the inflatable play areas. She also loved riding around the scooter and would get frustrated when it would stop moving. We finally left that place around 11:30pm to a blizzard outside. It was definitely a fun Christmas Eve. 

For Christmas we decided to get gifts in the following categories:

Something you need 

Something you want

Something to wear

Something to read

And an extra gift from Santa 

We did pretty well following this outline except we did throw in an extra gift or two for Addie. We couldn't help it. Danny's idea of a perfect list would be a book in each category but he was really happy with what he got instead. 

We waited for Addie to wake up on Christmas morning to open presents which meant that we had to wait till after 10:30am. We almost felt like we wasted the morning but the wait to see her with her presents was well worth it. Before any gifts were opened we read Luke 2 about the birth of our Savior. Addie did so well that morning. The big gifts this year was a Fitbit for me, laptop for Danny, and a toddler basketball hoop and Minnie Mouse couch for Addie. 

I always thought I'd be the mother who hides the handcrafted ornaments near the back of the tree but this little face has proven me wrong. This ornament was too cute to keep it hidden so it was placed front and center of the tree. 

We spent the rest of the day with Danny's family eating Donna's famous Belgium waffles and relaxing with the family. We originally planned on seeing my family that night but the snow storm changed our minds and by 4pm Addie started struggling with missing her nap. 

We traveled to Tooele the day after Christmas to spend time with my mom and Bob. Sam, Camila, Pollyanna, Rick and Aria were also there which was fun. 

I think my favorite activity this month happened this week. We were invited to go see the lights at Temple Square with my in laws and Jaina. We met up for dinner at Teppanyaki Japanese Steakhouse which was amazingly fun. It was a first time for me and I was so close to catching the shrimp that the chef threw in the air. Donna was the only one in our group who succeeded. We then drove to Salt Lake and walked around Temple Square. It was snowing and Addie wore the cutest puffiest snowsuit. She got a lot of comments by people walking by. It was so puffy that she could barely move her arms or see the ground but it kept her warm. 

We spent that night at a nice hotel downtown that Dave and Donna arranged for us. We had Addie sleep on a mattress on the floor in our suite. Even though the hotel was really nice no one really got great sleep except for Jaina. The breakfast served was amazing though. We ended our little staycation by exploring the planetarium before coming home yesterday. It was so much fun spending all that time with Dave, Donna and Jaina. 

My favorite thing about December isn't necessarily the gifts or the food we eat at all the parties. I love having my days filled with family time. It's something I hope Addie and my future children will come to appreciate.