Gardner Village

I didn't want those few days when the temperatures were in the 50's to go to waste, so we did a few of the Christmas activities that had been on my December list that we just hadn't gotten to yet. We went to Gardner Village to see the elves, which Hayley loved. Jackson was a little leary of the elves at first. Maybe he figured out they had something to do with Santa.



We'd gone to see the witches before, but never the elves, and it seemed like maybe it would have been neater to go at night when they are all lit up. Oh well. Now we know for next year.



Don't let Hayley's get-up fool you. It really was a nice day. Perfect hoodie weather, just the way I like it.



Hayley and Jackson may have snuck under the fence to play near this gingerbread house. I may have let them since there was no one else around.



We finished up our outing with a treat at the bakery. I knew that there was a Elf Hunt paper that you could fill out and redeem for a cookie, but that seemed like a lot of work, so I sprung for the dollar a piece and just bought us each one. Hayley was in heaven that they had macaroons. And then of course she had to tell us about the last time she had a macaroon, which was at Disneyland. Later I got a note that read:

I wont too go too Disnyland.
Love, Hayley

I love that girl and the way she thinks!

Christmas Day

Jackson just kept on being happy all day long on Christmas. He was friendly and smiley all day long, even playing and wanting to be held by the extended family relatives he doesn't even know that well while we were at Aunt Carol's for lunch.



Then we headed to Stacey and Matt's house to open presents with my Dad. Jackson liked his remote control car from Grandpa, so we got it all out and batteried up for him. The funny thing was, he had no interest in the controller, he just wanted to chase the car around.



Hayley loved her sewing kits and paint by number sets. It's been fun to do a crafty thing with her while Jackson is down for his nap in the afternoons.



I got a darling jewelry box and some fun gift cards to spend. :)

Here's my Dad, Dennis, and his three daughters, Whitney, Heather, and Stacey.



So happy to have all of us together and celebrating such a great day!

Christmas Morning

Someone woke up excited and ready for Christmas morning!



Have you been noticing a theme with any of Jackson's gifts so far? This child loves, loves, loves Thomas the Train lately. His big present of the morning was this Thomas the Train set.



Hayley got a scooter from Santa. The first few pictures I got a kind of half-smile, so I told her to start looking more excited about her scooter. Thanks Hay, that's a little more like it!



One of the best things about Christmas morning was that Jeremy was off and home with us to wake up and open presents. Plus, he put together the playhouse from Grandma and Grandpa.



The Dora Kitchen that Hayley supposedly wanted so badly still hasn't made it out of the box, and she still hasn't even asked Jer to get it out or put it together. Yeah, Santa may take that one back to WalMart.

P.S. In case you were wondering, Jeremy got a new airplanes and jets calendar and this Indiana Jones themed shirt, which is kind of an inside joke.



I got these for Christmas, and I love them!



Good work on picking out cute Skechers, Jer. :)

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, we headed up to Jeremy's parents' house in Centerville. We had a family picture taken, and were treated to a nativity performed by the kiddos. Hayley was Mary, and Jackson was... off doing something else, apparently.



Sorry about the crappy quality on those nativity pictures. My camera has issues. Actually, Jeremy says that it only has one issue: That it's getting old. I told him he's welcome to surprise me with a new one any time. Ha!

Next we opened presents. Jackson got this little Percy the Train flashlight. It lights up and makes train noised when you push the button. He loved it.



In fact he loved it so much, that he just about had a fit when he couldn't get it out of the packaging himself. Imagine this face and him yelling, "Out, OUT! Fix it! OUT!" Really child, just a little patience. Just a little.



He also got these awesome JawBones which are like updated TinkerToys. They kept him and Hayley busy for quite a while on Christmas Eve, and him, Hayley, and the cute stranger boy in back of us at Sacrament meeting the next day busy for almost the entire meeting. Score!



Hayley's favorite present I think, was this joint gift for her and Jackson, a playhouse, complete with a working doorbell and play phone.



Also a fun surprise was the Christmas pinata set up in the garage. Love how someone tells Hayley one more hit, and she squeezes in about three. Selective hearing on that one, I tell you.



Even on little Jackson, the pinata and stick brought out his "crazy eyes."



The kids sure had fun on Christmas Eve, with their cousins and seeing the grandparents!

The Dame Christmas/Birthday Party

With my dad's birthday being so close to Christmas, it's kind of inevitable that sometimes his celebration gets smooshed together with something Christmas-y. We had a yummy dinner at my house, and finished off with cake and ice cream.



My Grandma Dame and Aunt Jan came over for the celebration too, and sweetly brought Christmas gifts for Jackson and Hayley too. Jackson kept pointing at the bears in the book saying, "Anmo, anmo!" ("Animal, animal!")



I tried to take a picture of Hayley with her gifts and Aunt Jan and Grandma. I told her to smile normal, and this is what I got. Awesome.



Apparently that smile runs in the family, because Jackson also has the look down pat. You would think they'd be a little more well trained with all the pictures I take, right?



My dad also opened his birthday presents, which he liked, but I know that mostly he was just glad to be home from his out of town job. We were glad to have him home to celebrate with us too.

The Wright Christmas Party

My mom's side of the family always starts the celebrations off early, and this year we had our party the Thursday before Christmas. We met for dinner at yummy Braza Grill with all of my mom's kids, and all of Robert's kids, and afterward we headed to my mom's house to open gifts. Hayley and Jackson were both in heaven and so spoiled with all their gifts.



Hayley loved her new Squinkies and their gumball machine house.



Jackson loved his new cell phone from Grandma and Grandpa.
"Hello? Hello? How you? Kay. Bye bye. See ya!"



Also a hit was this little hills and roads car course. That was until I couldn't get it put back together correctly fast enough for Jackson the next day. There's nothing like feeling dumb not being able to put a two-year-old's toy together while he yells, "Fix it! Fix it!" in your ear. Glad I got it figured out before he got any more worked up.



Such a fun start to our Christmas Party Extravaganza!

Dicken's Festival

My Dad has been working out of town lately, and the last time that he was home to visit, one of the things that he really wanted to do was go to the Dicken's Festival. My sister Whitney, my kids, my dad and I headed there for the evening after Hayley's dance concert. Jackson's been really into animals lately, so when we saw one of the big horses drawing a carriage around, I turned Jackson around so he could see it, thinking he would love it. Yeah, not so much. He screamed, "NO!" so loudly even I was a little freaked out. So, animals in books = great, animals in real life = not so much. Got it Jackson.

We headed into the buildings at the Fairpark, and stopped for a picture with the Scrooge backdrop. Funny how Hayley did not want to be the Ghost of Christmas whatever-the-little-fairy-girl-is. Acutally, I'm pretty sure she just wanted an excuse to stand on that green bar.



This Santa, or Father Christmas, as he was called was so darling. Taking time to talk for a good few minutes with each child. The picture is out of focus because I didn't use the flash. I didn't use the flash because there was a great big sign that said no personal photography. I just wasn't up to paying $40.00 for a pictures with Santa photo package when only one of my two children was interested in seeing Santa. Jackson started yelling, "No, NO! Help, HELP! Help me!" as soon as we got in line. I let him sit this visit out.



Hopefully next year Jackson will be over his Santa issues, because we will be back next year for another visit. I gotta get Jackson trained that this is actually a fun holiday tradition!