A Very Disney Christmas

We went to Disneyland for Christmas this year. We woke James up early and opened up presents and then we hopped in the car and drove 10 hours to Disneyland. We had such a blast. James has told us over and over that this is the best Christmas ever. It was so much fun and WARM. I actually got some color...in December!  I won't bore you with all the details, but it was amazing and James behaved REALLY well. It was a much-needed break after the year we have had.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

This year's Hallmark

Christmas Eve

Holiday Crafts Preview

I realize that it's early, but I've been busy getting ready for the holidays. I like to be able to enjoy the season, so it takes a lot of planning! So this is what I've been working on for the past few weeks:

Fall Decor

Felt Leaf Garland

Melted Crayon Leaves

Still To Do: Paint Leaves, Fall Pillows

Halloween

Woody Costume. It cost me under $4 to make since I already had a yellow shirt and jeans. The fabric for the vest cost $0.63. The Sheriff star cost $1.99. The bandanna cost $1.00.  I wish he'd wear a hat, but it's not worth the money since he won't.
Still To Do: Treat Bag

Thanksgiving

the inspiration

Thankful Tree. The idea is that each day in November leading up to Thanksgiving you write something that you are thankful for on a slip of paper and put it a leaf pocket on the tree. I got the idea from pottery barn (what's new?). I'm not going to lie, it was a LOT of work. Cutting out all those little leaves, hand stitching the numbers and word, then using the sewing machine to put it all together. I'm so glad it's done. I got the felt at 4 sheets for a dollar. I used 5 sheets of felt and an old pillow case. The "dowel" is really part of a hanger. So it was an extremely cheap project. I just love how it turned out!

Still To Do:  Finger Puppet Favors, Table Runner

Christmas

Pottery Barn Knock of PJ's. I followed this tutorial. I don't have much experience making clothing, so this project took me a few days. Next time I think I will just purchase a real pattern. This one didn't quite line up and since I haven't really dealt with much clothing there was a little more guess work than I would have liked. Overall, they didn't turn out bad. They are a little big, but at the rate he's growing they'll probably fit by Christmas.

I'm excited to share what I've come up with for our Christmas Advent. After I've put it all together I make sure to post it. It's going to be awesome.

Still To Do: Stockings, More PJ's, Update Wreath, Advent Calendar, Update Tree Skirt, Christmas Gifts (you'll have to wait until Christmas to find out what I'm making!).

Christmas Festivities

We have been so busy with Christmas festivities that I almost forgot I had a blog!
Here are some highlights of what we've been up to.

• Made Christmas cards for the elderly with my sister.
• Collected tons of clothing for poor children in El Salvador. Paul started the drive last week and sent the clothes home with one of his International employees.  With only 5 days we managed to collect more clothing then she could take with her!
• Made candy: caramels, chocolate covered cherries, orange truffles, mint truffles, fudge and divinity. whew! Thank goodness that's over with.
• Watched a million Christmas movies.
• James learned to say "ho, ho, ho!"  It's absolutely hilarious. Any time he sees anything remotely Christmas related he shouts it as loud as he can. It's awesome.
• Attended our Family Christmas Party.  It was our first year with the new tradition and it was a lot of fun. Yay for new traditions!
• Wrapped James' presents--Finally!

Now we're getting ready for Paul's work party tonight. We have our annual Sister's Cookie Day coming up and then we're spending Christmas Eve in Salt Lake (hopefully it's not freezing cold).  I have been really bad and haven't taken pictures of anything this year. I need to charge the camera battery and get on that probably.  Have a great Christmas everyone!

A Very Merry Christmas

Christmas Baking

All of my sisters came over for our annual Christmas Cookie Day. Here are some pictures of the goodies we made.


My sister Roxanna made a manger scene out of her cookies. I thought it was cute.

And my sister Reanna made these morbid, scary cookies. As usual. My favorite would have to be the prune eye cookie though.

I got brave this year and made bon bons. I always thought they would be difficult to make, but these were so easy and fun! I love how they turned out.

Christmas Festivities

What a great Christmas we had this year! Thanks to some amazing family and friends James made out like a very spoiled little boy. We didn't know how great it was going to turn out because we woke up on Christmas Eve to a very cranky James. One of his eyes was swollen shut and oozing and he was totally miserable. We had plans to go to the annual Christmas movie with my family but ended up in Urgent Care instead. As it turned out the poor kid had a double ear infection that had spread to his eyes and throat. I felt so horrible because the only indication he had given that anything was remotely wrong was tugging at his ear a few days before. After that it was off to the pharmacy for antibiotics and ear drops. Add a dose of tylenol and he was peacefully sleeping in no time flat. We spent the rest of our day catering to the baby and later on we went for a drive and looked at Christmas lights. When we came home we watched Christmas movies before heading to bed.

His eyes were so sensitive to light on Christmas Eve that we had to put his sunglasses on inside the house! He was happier when they were on because he could still play.

James doesn't get how to open presents on his own. He loves to crinkle the paper, but when it came to actually opening them he needed a little help. We would help him unwrap a present, show it to him and then put it aside so he could open another one. This method really made him mad because we kept giving him toys and taking them away. About half way through he had had it with opening and just wanted to play, so Paul and I opened the rest and Paul put all the toys together.

After the medicine kicked in on Christmas Eve. You can still see that his left eye is red and puffy. Poor baby.

Great Grandma Cohoon sent him this sled. SO cute.


Christmas Morning

James got so many presents I don't think I could list them all, so here's a picture of his presents:

For Christmas this year we set a budget that PAUL didn't stick to. Stinker. He sold his books and added it to his budget without me knowing. He bought me a Franklin planner. And not just any planner, but a Jean Chatzky Financial planner! I am SO stoked about this gift. It may seem silly to some, but I currently have been organizing my life out of several binders and folders. Being able to have everything organized is such a relief. I LOVE my gift :) He also got me a box of chocolates. All caramels because they are the only ones I really like. I also got a couponizer (a coupon organizer) from my awesome almost-brother-in-law. Oh, and a sewing machine from my dad. I'm SO excited to finally have a sewing machine. I can not wait to try it out.

I got Paul the Joseph Smith Papers. He's been wanting this book forever, so I broke down and bought it for him. I also got him some cologne by Versace. Mmmm. He also got a watch from my parents and a charging station from my sister.

After our Christmas at home we went over to my parents for Christmas dinner and gift exchange with my brothers and sisters. It was a nice relaxing holiday but I can't believe that Christmas is over and it's time to take down all the decorations. I'm always sad to take down my tree. I love all the lights. I'm also going to have to come up with new things to entertain James. We have been truly blessed this year and I am so grateful to so many people. I hope you all had a happy Christmas!

Moving, Christmas and stuff

We started our move on the 18th. We had the car and several snow storms that made the move take 4 whole days. It was long and horrible and cold and once again, I never want to move again! I'll upload pictures of the new place after we're unpacked.

But then it was Christmas came on full force! We set up the tree and bought our new Hallmark ornament (Willardson tradition is to buy a new one every Christmas). Paul surprised me the first night of our move and set up the tree while I was in the shower because he knew how much I was looking forward to Christmas. He's so sweet :)

Then Rosi and Reanna came over on the 23rd for a cookie baking party/sleepover. We spent most of the day running from store to store trying desperately to find a gingerbread man cookie cutter. After 5 stores, we finally found one at Bed, Bath and Beyond. May I add that it was was a freezing cold day. The divinity came out just like Grandma Willardson's despite being cooked a little too hot and the gingerbread men were a lot of fun, not to mention tasty (and scary thanks to Reanna's fabulous cookie-decorating skills)!

On Christmas Eve our family went out to Chuck-a-Rama. I will say that our tradition of going to Home Town Buffet tasted sweeter, but there isn't one in Utah, so Chuck-a-Rama has to do. Rosi and I slipped things in Paul's drink while he wasn't looking. Salt, pepper, sugar...the usual available stuff on the table. He drank it though and didn't notice a difference, which makes me wonder if there's something wrong with his taste buds. Later on the family all went sledding. It sounds like they had fun. I stayed home with Muffin and Figaro. Last year I sprained my wrist sledding so badly that I couldn't use it until August, so I decided being pregnant and all I'd make cocoa for when everyone came home. Meanwhile,

Figaro decided to play with the baby Jesus. We've determined that the cloth Jesus must have some sort of stuffing in it that's related to cat nip, because every year Figaro destroys the cradle. Every year.

Here's Paul shedding his sledding overalls in my parents' living room. Nice.

Figaro and his Christmas mouse.

The back yard at my parents house

My Gift to Paul. It took him a while to put it together, but he's really excited about it. Now if we could get a clear night that wasn't so cold!

Paul's gift to me. He definitely gets a gold star!

Our Christmas Tree :)

Well, that was pretty much our Christmas. We had a great time and we're looking forward to everything the New Year will bring!