It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

This is going to be a very long post because my blog has been temporarily out of service the last 2 months!  I ran out of storage and didn't want to delete past posts, but finally found a way to continue writing without deleting old posts.  So I have the whole month of December to catch up.  We had a great holiday season.  It was very busy, but wonderful to watch my 3 year old get excited about EVERYTHING.  So this post will be all about preparing for Christmas :)

We stayed busy the entire month!  We repainted our family room and got new carpet which has been an AMAZING transformation.  I used to hate our family room the most and it now finally feels like a homey place.  I should have taken before and after pictures, but I'll post some soon.  I couldn't have done it all without Paul's help and more importantly my two friends Stephanie and Brittney.  They came over and helped all day.

In the south, it is popular to put wreaths up in your windows.  I loved it so much last year that I bought wreaths when they all went on sale and put them up this year.  I loved the way it turned out and was sad to take them down.

 Hayden was invited to a couple of Christmas parties this year.  Here is her letter to Santa.  She asked for a blue Cinderella dress.

Decorating Gingerbread Houses

The whole gang

Poor Hayden had a cold and it affected her eyes so they were all goopy this day.

Next our task was to put up and decorate our Christmas tree.  This was our first year getting a fake tree (Paul actually got us an awesome deal on Black Friday).  Last year I had tons of allergies associated with the tree, so it was inevitable.  I've had a real tree my entire life, so it was kind of sad at first.  But I did grow to love not cleaning up pine needles all month!

Can you tell how excited Hayden was about this?  I couldn't get any clear pictures because she wouldn't stop dancing around.

This is one of my favorite pictures, why do kids love jumbling all the ornaments into one spot?

When I went to hang up our stockings this year, Paul's had weird black dots on the outside of it.  I was so puzzled and I looked inside and a small, black, wonderfully smelling ball popped out.  Yep, you've got it, Paul left his "cutie" from last year.  It molded the whole toe of his stocking.  This is a picture of the inside after multiple washes!  I was shocked that it still smelled so fruity!  I will never let him forget this one :)

We also went to the YMCA Christmas Party.  They had a petting zoo, crafts (or as Hayden calls them, "crapts") and a train ride with Santa Claus.  

 Here is Hayden and her friend Kyla waiting for the train to come back

 Hayden was terrified of Santa at first, but after she saw Kyla hugging him she decided to give him a try.

She sat on his lap the entire train ride!

We also have a tradition of making homemade gingerbread houses.  We invited our friends the Baggetts over for dinner and decorating. They have a son, Charlie who is the same age as Hayden.  The nursery leaders always tell me that Hayden is going to marry Charlie someday.  They love being together!

My Grandma Cowan always did the 12 Days of Christmas for all her grandchildren and my mom has carried on that tradition.  I love watching Hayden open her small gift each day because it brings back all the wonderful memories I have with my grandma and the special lady that she was.  Here is Hayden in her last gift, Christmas pajamas.  She LOVED the tutu!

We have amazing next door neighbors.  They love Hayden and have gotten her a little gift the last few years. Here she is in her bakers outfit.  She has been whipping up muffins, pancakes, and sweetie hotcakes for weeks now!

Christmas Eve we had a wonderful dinner with our friends the Heinholds.  They had no family in town either so we made the best of it by spending time with each other.  I made my grandma's rolls, a salad, and my mom's Derby Pie.  Stephanie made a yummy ham, potatoes, jello salad, and pie.  We played games and talked for awhile before going home to open our Christmas pajamas and reading the Christmas Story.  We must have had too much fun with the Heinholds because I didn't get a single picture!  I hate when I do that!

Hayden was so excited to put out cookies for Santa and a carrot for Rudolph.  She talked in her room for almost an hour before falling asleep, she was so excited!  

December really flew by, we also went to a caroling party, the ward and Relief Society Christmas parties, and I had several doctors appointments throughout the month (I'll probably blog about this later...) Holidays are so much fun with Hayden!