As always, I have to begin with a picture of Viv.
Now, on to Christmas. I really think this has been my favorite Christmas since being married, which is probably because it's the first year I have a child who understands the magic. Savannah fully embraced the concept of Santa Clause for the first time, which is good for bribes, but not good for sleeping on Christmas Eve.
Savannah has a book called The Sweet Smell of Christmas. It tells about a small bear whose Christmas experiences are chronicled by scratch-n-sniff stickers. We've read the book so many times that the stickers have no more sniff, but we still love it. I thought it would be fun to bring the book to life this year by recreating the bear's experiences for Savannah...starting with...
Sugar cookies! Grandma sent Christmas cookie cutters, so we had no choice.
Apple pie came next. It's the first time I made pie from scratch. The crust recipe called for 1 1/2 cubes of butter, but I read 1 1/2 cups. I was so proud of my pie until I realized what I had done. Now, when asked what my favorite flavor of pie is, I will say butter.
Then, we made gingerbread men. Most of the men were decapitated soon after they were decorated. It's their own fault for having 5 M&Ms per face. (If you need a visual aide, there is a poor little cookie corpse on the table.)
Next came the part where we hung candy canes on our dead tree. How dead was it?? It was so dead that the branches snapped off when Savannah touched them.
The dead tree put Savannah in a melancholy mood, which probably explains why she was not excited to show off her dilapidated gingerbread house. On that sad note, she quickly went to bed after biting the head off of each cookie she left for Santa.
Santa came! Look carefully at the dolls in the dollhouse. They are crime scene evidence.
Savannah woke up at 4:00 ready to go. However, Hyrum and I were not so willing. We told her she had to wait. She chose to "wait" on our bed and didn't fall asleep again until about 6:00. Ugg.. When we finally went out to see what Santa had brought, we realized that she had already been out, because the doll family was in a different arrangement. Gotcha!
Good thing we hid her main present behind the recliner, so we were able to see her face when she saw her bike for the first time. For months, she's been saying that Santa was bringing her a bike and a "hat" (helmet). Luckily, a very generous person left a gift card to Toys R Us on our door, so we were able to make her dreams come true.
Savannah wasn't the only one who got what she wanted from Santa. Vivian got a cool new book from Jake & Danielle, and Hyrum and I got matching Snuggies. If you think a Snuggie is nerdy, it's because you don't have one. Ever been working at the computer, and your blanket keeps slipping off your shoulders -- leaving your arms exposed? You need a Snuggie!!
After presents, we went over to see Grandpa Berg and the family.
Then, we went over to the Torgerson's for Christmas dinner. They had also invited the McFaddens and the Rolls. Marty taught us how to make amazing snowflakes. It took me about 30 minutes to cut one out, and anyone could see that a boring accountant had done it. It was nothing like the ones Marty made!
After dinner and snowflakes, we sat around and talked for awhile while Bella played with Savannah and her princess dolls. It was a Christmas filled with love, excitement, friends, family, and magic. I'm already excited for next year :)
