While Visions of Sugar Plums Danced in their Heads

Christmas jammies are my absolute favorite.  The kids have had this same basic style since they were born and they love having Santa on their "jammers".  A few weeks ago I happened across an add for a photographer doing sessions for Christmas and I thought it would be a perfect way to capture the magic and innocence of this particular Christmas season.  The experience was so fun and the photos turned out even better than I had hoped.  The photographer was so impressed with how loving they were towards each other and how willing they were to pose together.  I absolutely love being a mom to these two little loves - Merry Christmas babies.

  

Christmas in Salt Lake City

The kids were super excited last Friday when we told them that we were headed to Salt Lake City for a Christmas adventure.  They love Curious George and are fascinated by the fact that he lives in an apartment in the city, so heading downtown for them is like going straight to George's neighborhood. We had one minor mishap when we realized that we had forgotten coats for the kid.  It was such a cold day and we had nothing that we could even use to improvise so we took a detour to Wal-Mart where the kids got new coats which they considered a bonus to the day.

Our first stop was The Grand America Hotel to see the Christmas windows.  The kids didn't think they remembered having gone last year but as soon as we stepped off of the elevator, Luke got really excited and knew where we were.  This year the theme was Christmas Around the World and each window wished us Merry Christmas in their own language.  As we stopped to admire each window, it was fun to teach the kids a little about the various countries and their customs.  Luke's favorite country was Australia because there were surfboards and Santa was wearing a swimming suit.  Ruby was impressed with all of the glitter and anything that looked like a fairy tale scene.  I especially loved watching the reactions of other people to my kids - they were so excited and enthusiastic about everything they saw that it was impossible not to smile at their joy and innocence.

The life size gingerbread house is always a favorite!

After finishing at the hotel we drive to Temple Square where we bundled up and hoped to share more of the true meaning of Christmas with the kids.  Within a few minutes of entering the grounds, they started the reading of the nativity while spotlighting the various life size figurines.  That has always been one of my favorite parts of Christmas at Temple Square and we timed it perfectly because there were very few people so we could all see and hear, and most importantly, feel the story.

Luke could see the Christus statute from outside and really wanted to see it up close so we went into the visitor's center to listen to the missionaries' presentation.  Ruby kept asking when we were going to hear Jesus talk - she must have remembered the presentation from the temple in St. George.  After the missionaries' finished, they did play a recording of Christ's words and Ruby acted as though she had just discovered her best friend again.

As we walked along the main sidewalk outside of the temple walls, we saw a man playing the flute for money.  We stopped for a minute and talked to the kids about how he probably felt cold and lonely.  I gave them each a dollar to give the man and said they should wish him Merry Christmas.  I loved watching their childlike love in action.  Luke marched up and put a dollar in the man's case then looked at him and told him Merry Christmas.  Ruby followed right behind and then I took my turn to wish him the best.  As we walked away Ruby was so excited and said "That made him so happy".  I hope they never lose their ability to love and befriend all they see. 

It has been several years since I have been to see the lights at Temple Square during the holidays.  All of us started the day with high hopes for a magical day and it was really practically perfect.

The Polar Express

Last year Grandpa and Grandma Whitesides took us an adventure to the Polar Express.  The kids had fun, but they were young enough that I wasn't sure how much they remembered and hadn't thought much about buying tickets for this year.  About a month ago Luke suddenly started talking about riding the Polar Express and which pajamas would he wear this year.  He was so excited to go that I couldn't imagine disappointing him so I quickly started looking for tickets, invited some family, and made the arrangements to go.  I think the anticipation was almost as much fun as the adventure - for days leading up to the trip, the kids talked about what they would wear, if they would see Santa on the train, and how excited they were to have cookies and hot chocolate.  Cory ended up not being able to come because he was sick with the Spanish flu, but we were thrilled to have lots of little boys along to keep Ruby entertained.

Once we boarded the train, the kids quickly got settled in adjoining seats and the singing and dancing began.  We had elves on the train and they play lots of Christmas carols and kept everyone entertained.  We all had the best time - the kids were the ringleaders of the fun in our train car.  I loved watching them have so much fun together.  The ride to the North Pole was truly magical.  

Cookies and hot, hot hot, hot chocolate

Luke remembered that he didn't drink his hot chocolate last year because it was too hot so he was determined to make sure he drank it all this year.  I thought it was so funny that he would remember.

The magical ticket punch by the conductor

Miss Clause, Santa's daughter

Ruby was star struck, she thought she was so beautiful.

After arriving at the North Pole, the kids were so excited to hear that Santa would be visiting us on the train.  They sang extra loud to make sure he would come to our car first.  He gave everyone a jingle bell to remember our ride, I think Luke took them all to hang on his Christmas tree in his room.

We had the most fun and this was one more memory to store in my bank of all of the amazing adventures we have had this Christmas season.  And the kids, don't worry, they are already making plans for next year.