A Glimpse into my Life.

We went up to Salt Lake City to visit Temple Square over the Holidays. It's the first time we've taken the children up to see the lights and I think they enjoyed it.

City Creek Plaza right across the street. I really liked the lights and how they reflected on the water. It was a nice way to start out the evening.

It never ceases to inspire and amaze me every time we go to Temple Square. I always intend to go back more often and usually end up not being able to as often as I'd like. The peaceful Spirit is always calming and wonderful.

This is the best shot I could get of our family. We're all mostly looking the same direction, our eyes are open, and no one is making too awful of a face. Not sure about how my coat is making my skirt look like goofy pants though. Huh.

I love visiting the Temple, even if it's just to walk the grounds with my children.

We have been decorating our house for Christmas and even though we are not done yet (really, how much more can we do?) we have a lot of stuff done. The tree still needs the gingerbread people put on it, but they are made. The gingerbread house is being finished as I am typing, and the cat hasn't eaten too much of the popcorn off the garlands.

Rynie is studiously concentrating on coloring his gingerbread boys and girls.

And here are two of Rynie's people!

Little Miss is doing something. I wasn't fast enough to get her coloring her gingerbread girl, but she sure was fascinated with getting to use markers.



Here are some of our finished gingerbread people. They were a lot of fun to do!

Here is Little Miss admiring the Christmas tree. She kept pulling the jingle bells and bows off the tree and trying to put them back on. She was completely fascinated with the tree and lights.



Here is Rynie's cheerleader. She isn't sure she likes what we are doing with the gingerbread house, but she'll watch and clap.

Here is the gingerbread house:









I'm not really sure what the fixation with green windows was, but hey, Rynie enjoyed it!

After seeing this Meme on Sarah's blog at Romantic History, I thought this was a fun one!

1. Eggnog or hot chocolate? Hot Chocolate! Not saying I don't like eggnog, but there is just something about hot chocolate that reminds me of curling up in front of the fireplace with my cat Princess as a girl.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Neither, but just setting them under the tree would be closest. They usually get set near the tree but it depends. When we had a lot of family visiting, we'd put them on the sofas and chairs for some reason. I really don't know but it works for us.

3. Colored lights on the tree/house or white? On the tree: white lights or oddly enough blue lights. Other colors are nice, but those two really remind me of Christmas. My mom loves multicolored strands so she does that but white, blue, or white/blue mix are Christmas lights to me. On the house: mainly white, but tastefully done accent colors look beautiful. NASA should not be able to see your house from space.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? No, but I wouldn't be opposed to hanging it if I found fresh mistletoe.

5. When do you put your Christmas decorations up? Anywhere from the day after Thanksgiving to two weeks before Christmas. Any earlier than that and I feel like Thanksgiving is overrun and forgotten and any later than that it just doesn't seem like the holidays.

6. Favorite holiday dish? I really don't know, I just love all the traditional foods that come up during Christmastime.

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child? Cooking in the kitchen with my Grandma, Mom, and Aunt Kish. We made a LOT of food every year and it was so nice just to cook, bake, sample, and listen to Christmas music while we were at it.

8. When did you learn the truth about Santa? I really don't know. I think it was a natural evolution of things. After we got to a certain age, we just knew it was more about the spirit of the season and not about getting stuff for YOU.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? A small one.

10. How do you decorate a tree? Mainly with things that are kid friendly. I have some ornaments that are treasures from when I was younger, but those are not going to be pulled out while I have extremely young children and a wild and crazy cat. We do a lot of garlands, bows, and we are amassing quite the collection of jingle bells. There is a popcorn and cranberry garland on our tree right now and Spitfire is in love with eating the popcorn. We still have a few more decorations to make and put up though.

11. Snow! Love it or dread it? Love it! It makes winter worth it.

12. Can you ice skate? Yes I can! I love it even though I haven't done it in years.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? A round, metal disc sled. It was sky blue and wonderfully fast! It lasted about a decade until one rather untimely rock put a massive dent that couldn't be hammered out. My brother and I had a blast on it.

14. What is the most important thing about the holidays to you? Spending time with my family, reflecting on the blessings in our lives and how blessed we are to have a Savior who loves us so much that he was willing to Atone for our sins and die for us.

15. What is your favorite holiday dessert? Chocolate fudge. Again, it's a nostalgia thing. My Grandma and my Uncle Randy taught me to make it, and now, if there is fudge and sugar cookies, it really is Christmas Time at our house. (Sugar Cookies are courtesy of my other Grandma)

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? On Christmas Eve, we have a Mexican Feast (literally) and after everyone is completely stuffed, we go into the family room and read one of the Gospels about the Savior's birth and talk about what Christmas really means in context to life and in our own personal lives. We sing Carols and Hymns, it's one of my favorite evenings of the year.

17. What tops your tree? Usually an angel. She isn't up right now because we got distracted in decorating the house and need to finish.

18. Which do you prefer-Giving or Receiving? Giving. I almost can't stand it, just ask Hubby. I almost have to forget I have gifts for people or else I want to give them to said people as soon as possible.

19. Favorite Christmas song? Either No Golden Carriage, No Bright Toy or Candlelight Carol. They are so evocative of the meaning of Christmas to me.

20. Candy Canes-Yuck or Yum? In small quantities, YUM. I like to take a miniature one and stir hot chocolate with it.

21. Favorite Christmas show? I don't really have one. Shamefully I haven't seen a lot of Holiday movies. It is something I intend to rectify this year though. My friend just about died when she heard I had never seen White Christmas or any of those old ones.

22. Saddest Christmas song? Any of the intentionally tear-jerker-ish ones that really (to me) do not convey the meaning of Christmas and who Christ is and what He did for us.

We have the house decorated for the Holidays, and are in the process of wrapping presents. Hubby is having to check before entering the sewing room since random presents can be laying about. Can't have peeking at presents now can we? ;) I can't wait until after Christmas since I know Hubby will love his present.

Rynie, pseudonym for the eldest, is adorable and 'cooking' with a saucepan. He has craisins and a spatula and is stirring them around calling it 'eggnog.' I love to watch his little imagination at work.

The Pink Princess, pseudonym for the youngest, is working hard at being cute and chubby. She is trying to roll over and can do it, but not consistently. She tries so hard and cannot do it, then she will be trying something else (not sure what) and end up rolling over.

I just got some beautiful green and ivory plaid silk in the mail today and am itching to make a skirt. Now to go and pull out some patterns and figure out what type. Whatever it is, I'm hoping for enough to make the Pink Princess a skirt too!