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All the Festivities

I am VERY comfortable and on board with the "holidays".  There are those that complain about Thanksgiving being completely overlooked by all of the Christmas fanfare but I would disagree.  Bring on the music, bring on the decorations.  HOLIDAYS is an all encompassing word that to me means the time from early November when that amazing feeling of gratitude and love and peace on earth begins right through the New Year.  There is no need to keep them separate as I believe they all compliment each other nicely!  With that being said, here is a compilation of pictures and memories from our 2011 holiday season!

Thanksgiving:  The big tree goes up before Thanksgiving.  Everything else waits until the day after.


I had a LOT of help this year but I loved Mason's excitement and enthusiasm.  It all worked out in the end.

I took 2 pictures of Thanksgiving.


We really did have a lovely day but I apparently only felt the need to take pictures of the Oreo cookie turkeys we made.  They turned out so cute and my boys had fun making them.  We did take a bunch of pictures Thanksgiving night but that will have to wait for another post.

Poinsettia Fundraiser:  Each boy trying out for the Cottonwood baseball team is encouraged to sell 55 poinsettias each year.  They also ask people to buy extras to donate to the VA hospital and VA care center.  It is a tight fit getting all of those in the car.


This ended up being my FAVORITE picture of the season.  We barely had room for Mason once we loaded all of the plants.

I went along to deliver the plants to the VA care center, mainly because my Grandma lives there and it was a great excuse to go visit her.  She doesn't communicate very well anymore but I could tell she was so happy to see Douglas and all of his friends.

Stockton's Piano Recital:

Stockton did a great job and it was fun to listen to his friends.  I think it is super cool when boys take piano lessons!

Festival of Trees:  It is always difficult for me to squeeze this one in but this year I vowed I would not miss.  Mason and I had a great time but it was super crowded and he fell asleep in his stroller before I was able to get through all of the trees.



School Sing-A-Long: 6th grade is the BIG year.  Their songs are always TOP SECRET and super creative and fun.  This year did not disappoint.
Stockton rockin out to "School's Out For Christmas".

21st Wedding Anniversary:  We didn't realize how hard it would be to squish a celebration in this time of year but we did manage to spend a whole day together!  The morning was spent at the sing-a-long.  We ran some last minute Christmas errands and took Mason and a friend to Chick-Fil-A for lunch.  Then we left Douglas in charge while we went to Cheesecake Factory and a movie, Breaking Dawn.  We honestly love each other more with each passing year.

Even More Stuff:  Wow!  We have been busy.  Just a few more pictures.
A fun new decoration.  Even though it was slightly crooked I enjoyed looking at it all month long.

Our own gingerbread house!

Ice skating!  Some genius came up with the cool balancer Mason is using!  He got to where he was skating pretty fast with that thing!



Not Pictured:  A full week with 2 extra work days of Russell being off.  We took turns sleeping in since our youngest still wakes up WAY too early!  Lunches out, dinners out, movies out & in and way too many goodies.  3 outdoor runs in balmy, spring-like weather.  Football, football, football...yay for BYU and UTAH winning their bowl games.  Boo for the Cowboys messing up their playoff berth, AGAIN! Lot's of family time!!  No practices of any kind and lots of Christmas music!  I believe it has been the best holiday season yet.  Details of Christmas still to come.

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Comments

wylie said…
This was so fun to read and I loved all the pictures. What a delightful holiday post. I was chuckling at a lot of the pictures of Mason -- Mason helping decorating the tree; Mason in the poinsettas and Mason in the big bubble at Festival of Trees. It is very exciting that Douglas has his license. Or course I liked the picture of our boys after their piano recital.
January 2, 2012 at 8:49 PM
Kim said…
Looks like you had a packed & fun filled holiday! I bet you had fun with Mason. Although 3 year olds are a lot of work, they are so much fun at Christmas! I do miss those times.
January 5, 2012 at 2:57 PM
Teacher Mama said…
What fun! Your boys are so handsome.
January 7, 2012 at 7:41 PM
Aimee said…
Jenny, I sure miss you guys!
January 14, 2012 at 10:57 PM
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