Christmas 2016

We had such a great holiday season this year. This is the first year since we got married that we got tickets to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert since they changed the way you get tickets from raffle to first-come-first-serve. No pictures of that unfortunately but it snowed/sleeted that night so it made for a cold walk. 

Below is the night we made it to temple square to see lights, it was about 15 degrees that night so after only twenty minutes on temple square we retreated inside for warmth, good food, and fun company with our friends from Las Vegas who were up visiting. 

Hilton's last day in nursery (I may or may not have wept when I dropped him off knowing it was the last time). Also his second year of refusing to dress as a character for the manger scene. He was an assistant :).

We took Hilton to see Santa at Station Park in Farmington as everyone says 'he's the real Santa'. As we were walking back to the car after meeting him, Hilton very thoughtfully asked me, 'Mom that Santa is different then the Santa that came to Preschool. Why are there two Santa's?' My jaw about dropped at how a three year old has already got suspicions. Either we're not very sneaky or he's incredibly wise. I responded as carefully as I could that, 'the Santa's we see aren't the real Santa, they're his elves who come down from the North Pole so that all the boys and girls can tell them what they'd like for Christmas'. Hopefully we get a couple more years at least before we have to tell him about the Magic of Santa in place of the literal Santa. 

We also took Hilton to see the Christmas in Color light show in Kearns and while it was very pretty for about five minutes, it was unfortunately an uncomfortable experience in my opinion for the money. It was a dirt road that had a ton of pot holes in it, the cars were very crowded and you were forced to go at the speed of the traffic. Hilton enjoyed it at least, but mom was very carsick by the time we got out.

Our Christmas eve tradition of making homemade pizza and then watching a movie at home. This year's movie was Toy Story (Hilton's choice of course).

After Hilton went to bed Santa's elves went to work putting together his mini trampoline and tricycle.

Christmas morning was very magical and exciting watching Hilton see what Santa had brought and be so excited that he had come. I think what comes he really loves though is not so much getting gifts but opening them. He helped open Graham's as well as Adi and Aspen's gifts. Hopefully next year it will be just that much more fun to see his reaction.

His tricycle bell was probably the biggest hit of it all, we're still working on the actual cycling aspect of it.

We had a white Christmas indeed! It snowed 15-16 inches (!) Christmas morning, Jared had to snowblow our driveway TWICE. Hilton was more than happy to help and go play in all this new snow after the excitement of opening presents. After snowblowing we got pulled together and went to my parents for Christmas at their house.

After nap for Christmas evening the Smith crew came over and we had a wonderful Italian dinner with Pasta Carbonara, pear and brie caprese slices, breadsticks, salad and tons of pie and martinelli's. So yummy and fun to be with family and cousins. I was the odd man out in my choice of clothing color though.

All the men wore red so we had to get a group picture although all the kids were squirming so this is the best we could do.

The day after Christmas we went sledding to enjoy in all the new snow and let's just say that the rest of Bountiful and North Salt Lake did as well. Pretty much we had a great time but it didn't end well so we'll just leave it at that. Love my husband and his refusal to take photos.

But Hilton had a great time and that's what matters. Love my little man and his enthusiasm for fun activities.

Last but not least we went to the Smith Fiesta Christmas party with all the extended Smith family. Unfortunately this is the only photo I got but my little nacho burrito munchkin is pretty darn cute so it's all good. Merry Christmas everyone!