A Recap

I really enjoyed having my kids and my husband home for the past couple of weeks, but it is sure nice to get back to our routine and a sense of normal.
Some highlights:

• Christmas was fabulous. Only minor interruption was the snow. We got buried. I measured 16 inches of snow on our sidewalks. This made for a few change of plans since Aaron's family was all planning on coming to our house that afternoon. My parents, brother & sister-in-law managed to get to our house early that morning to open presents, though my brother got stuck in front of our house and ended up leaving his car at our house and going home with my parents. He eventually got his car back, so all is well. Aaron's family found a new location that didn't have snow. It was actually very fun because we ended up spending the afternoon shoveling and playing in the snow with the kids. It was nice to just play and not have to worry about going anywhere. We made it out finally about 5:30pm and joined his family briefly until the snow started up again and we decided not to chance it and headed home. I don't have a lot of pictures. I am too caught up in my kids opening presents to stop and take a picture. Then I left my camera at my sister-in-laws on Christmas and didn't get it back until New Years Eve, so these are all the pictures I have.
• Thanksgiving Point Lights. We traditionally go look at the light display at Thanksgiving Point. It is great because my kids enjoy it and we get to stay in our warm car. The conversation while looking at the lights goes something like this. Person A: "Hey look at that reindeer" Person B "What reindeer?" A: "Over there." B: "Where?" A: "Right There" B:"I can't see it" A: "It's right there" B: "Oh, I see it." Person C: "Hey look at that Santa" B: "What Santa?" C: "Over there" B: Where?" C: "Right there." B: I can't see it." C: It's right there. B: Oh, I see it." and so on and on. Maybe it isn't that great. We should look at going to Temple Square instead.
• Family Time. With the kids & Aaron off we got to spend a lot of time together. We had fun playing games and being together. It involved much of the time outside in the snow. Shoveling and shoveling while the kids were sledding in our yard. They did get to go to a park and sled with their cousins which was also fun. We got to see a lot of Aaron's sister and her family while they were here from CA. It was great to see them and their adorable little girl. For some reason they were excited to leave the frigid temps and get back to sunny CA. I don't understand why. (Lucky heads)

Simplicity

This year we are starting something new. We have been wanting to simplify Christmas for some time now. My friend posted a little while ago about how her friend simplified Christmas. I showed it to Aaron and we were immediately sold. Each child receives 4 gifts on Christmas morning. Something they want, something they need, something to wear and something to read. They still receive a gift from Santa Claus (in our family Santa always brings a game.) We will add that they still receive their PJ's on Christmas Eve.

Tonight Aaron and I went out on a "Heather needs a break" date. We went to Barnes and Noble and began the process of figuring out what we want to get our kids for Christmas. We looked around the kids book section for awhile trying to decide what books would be best for each child. Then we went over to the cafe and had some hot chocolate/scone/cookie and mapped out what we wanted to get for each category. I have to say - so far - I absolutely love this. Each gift is so much more thought out. We can spend more money on each gift as well because we aren't trying to spend on tons of presents. Hopefully this will eliminate a bunch of stuff that my kids never use.

We are going to have the kids do homemade gifts to each other. I am going to check out some kid craft books from the library and let them choose something to make to give to each sibling. Then plan a time when I can help them make them.

We are going to tell our kids about our new tradition after Thanksgiving. I'll keep you posted on how it goes.