musings of nancy b.: Christmas Time Festivities

The weekend after Thanksgiving, we pulled out the Christmas decorations. The kids were SO excited. They threw things out and had them in one place or another before I could move!! I didn't get many photos of this because I was trying to keep the decor and the kids from breaking in one way or another. Whew!

Abby and Jane were really puzzled at the experience, but it didn't stop them from pulling everything out!!

The Christmas tree box was a great entertainment for a while... just proves that sometimes kids like the boxes more than the expensive toys that come in them!!

One of the first things on our list of festivities was the Festival of Trees. I LOVE it so much. All of the trees, quilts, food, and everything else is donated. The proceeds all go the the Primary Children's Medical Center. It blesses the lives of so many children and their families. Our family will be donating a tree in one of these coming up years. As I walk down the isles and see they beautiful creations which are always dedicated to or in remembrance of a loved one, I get totally choked up. The festival of trees is a celebration of love, life, and goodness.

Here are some of our highlights...

Savannah loves the Christmas book called "Christmas Oranges." She found a tree with the lighted candles and oranges which are in that book and had to have her picture by it.

Owen found a Lightning McQueen tree. Of course he had to get his picture by this one. Oh, what a happy boy he would be to wake up to this tree on Christmas morning!!!

Some other beautiful things I saw:

I thought this advent calendar was so clever-- socks and gloves that form a Christmas tree. Cute!

I really do know how to turn pics around now, but I saw it too late... maybe I'll edit it one day. We love the Grinch in our family... I especially love how they spelled the Grinch with him as the letter "I".

This one is my dream Christmas tree. All books- wow!!!!

What a cute Santa. I LOVE Santa. I always have and always will. I believe. There is always magic at Christmas time!!

Unfortunately we chose one of the coldest nights of the year to see the lights at Temple Square. They are gorgeous and magnificent. I'm thankful that we got at least one picture:

I love the reflection of the temple and the lights in the water and the nativity in the background. I really LOVE that these two little rascals are hugging!! That was one benefit of the cold night!!

After five minutes Abby and Jane were DONE!! They cried. It really was too cold... especially because their absent-minded mom forgot their mittens!! We'll try again next year :)

One of my very favorite Christmas activities we did this year was attend the Bonneville Glen nativity. There is a hidden glen in the middle of an east bench neighborhood in Salt Lake. No one would guess by just driving by that going into the Glen transports a visitor to the mountains. There's a river, a hilly dirt path, and amazing trees. Once a year several churches go in together and transform this glen into Bethlehem. It is breath taking and amazing. The costumes are authentic. They bring real camels, sheep, goats, and a donkey. There's a live nativity, and the Spirit of the Lord is there. It's beautiful. Because it was dark, I only got a few poor-taken pictures, but I wanted to remember that we went.

Our neighbors came with us. We snuggled to keep warm in the freezing weather. Thanks to Stacy. She stayed home with Abby and Jane.

The Grand America Hotel had a Christmas hunt for kids. I adore that place. In my mind it looks how I imagine the Titanic looked. I don't know why, maybe it's the gorgeous walls and chandeliers, or the true vintage decor. It just feels elegant. We all had a great time on the treasure hunt...

These two didn't help much, but they definitely enjoyed sitting on the princess chair :)

I may come and edit this later... but as for now, another sideways picture... We went to all the windows in the lobby and solved riddles.

I wish I would have written down how many pieces of candy and how many pounds of gingerbread went into building this amazing gingerbread house.

The treasure hunt led us to the new toy store that opened in the Grand America. Of course the kids immediately found the candy. Who can resist candy that comes in every color- with a piano that lights up when stepped on?? Magical:)

I will admit that this toy store is magical even for me. There are sweet, fun, lovely hand made toys. Many are knitted by a group of women in the Andes mountains. Since I love to knit, and also know how much time goes into hand knitted things, I was mesmerized and wanted to by some toys... for me!!!

The treasure hunt ended at the bakery in the Grand America- called "La Bonne Vie" aka "The Good Life"-- oh how good life feels whenever I walk into that store!! The most exquisite freshly made french pastries and desserts- YUM. I could just stay there and look for hours.

They gave us all delicious cookies-- such a fun night!

As we walked back to the car, we went by the "Little America." It's always where we park when we go to "The Grand" because it's free rather than $10. A jolly old fellow beckoned us...