December is Here!

Well the craziness of December has begun. The calendar was full before the month ever began. I love the month of December and all the Christmas decorations, and time spent with family. The first week of December has already been busy with some fun events.

This is our first official year of Christmas at our house. This is the first time we have ever hung Christmas lights. Hailey loves lights and makes us drive around the neighborhood to see all the different houses. Daddy was a trooper and allowed Hailey to help him with the process.

We had a visit from Santa who left one of his friends, Elfe and a story. Elfe spends most of his time at our house. He does fly home to the North Pole when Hailey is sleeping to tell Santa if she has been Naughty or Nice that day. But, Elfe always returns before Hailey awakes in a new spot which allows Hailey to search all over to find him.

As Hailey is getting older she has been more interested in each of the holidays. She especially loves all of the Christmas decorations. It is fun getting to try new things with her. This was our first attempt at building a gingerbread house from a box. Lets just say it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. We spent a night decorating with Auntie Natalie and MacKenzie. Auntie Natalie's house was already assembled... we will remember that for next year if we try again. Hailey didn't seem to mind, she was most interested in licking the frosting. We came home and Daddy had to use caulk to keep the roof on! I guess we won't be eating it!

We are so blessed to have annual Disneyland passes and live so close to Disneyland. Unfortunately, those passes expire this month. We love going to Disneyland during Christmas because of the amazing decorations, the parade, the firework show, and the snow. We met up with Auntie Terri, Uncle Sol, and Peyton to enjoy Christmas time at the Happiest Place on Earth.

Auntie Staci and Uncle Vince hosted a Christmas Party in the backyard with one of their favorite bands, Dublin 4. They had tons of family and friends, and wonderful food to enjoy while watching the band. Hailey loved being able to play with the band and spend time with her cousins.

Because we are so crazy we went back to Disneyland Saturday evening to watch The Candlelight Ceremony. It was a short visit, so I didn't take my camera. Colin had once been in the ceremony when he was in High School and had talked about wanting to see it, so we did. It was my first time. We arrived about 25 min. before it began and found a pretty decent place to watch from. The music was beautiful. Hailey enjoyed it for about the first 15 min., but seemed to lose interest. It is mostly for adults, but I'm glad we went.

As the week came to an end we were all exhausted!! Colin and I talked about how blessed our lives are and how lucky we are to expose Hailey to all these different adventures. I know she is young and will probably not remember much at all, but I'm thankful to be able to document it and share the memories with her as she gets older.