Christmas Memories

We had quite the fun weekend! On Friday evening, we headed up to Salt Lake to take the kids to Temple Square. Our first stop was at the Grand America Hotel. We loved their window displays and the cookie at the end was totally worth the trip! Amazing!

 The pastry chef's at the hotel made the huge gingerbread house! Everything is edible and it is beautiful!

 The kids got their passports and had to match the correct "Merry Christmas" phrase to the correct country. They did a good job and we loved seeing the beautiful windows!

 Waiting to get their passports stamped and their cookies! This will be a new family tradition!

 We grabbed a bite to eat at City Creek and headed over to Temple Square. We are always amazed at how many lights there are!

It was cold, but they were good little troopers. 

 Adam and Tessa love the lions on the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. Every time we go there, it brings out their inner lions. Tessa was pretending to be a lion cub.

Gwennie was such a good girl and just went along without complaint. We bundled her up good and she liked all the bright lights. 

On Saturday, we had our ward Christmas breakfast. After we ate and sang some carols, a special visitor surprised the kids. Adam was so happy, he burst into tears. Sorry, Buddy-you get that from me:)

 Santa put on quite the show. He had all the kids up on stage singing, Rudolf. 

 There they are pretending to be reindeer. 

 Gwen can almost say "Ho Ho Ho". 

 Santa asked for a special helper and he chose Tessa! He told her to pretend like she was asleep while he told everyone "The Night Before Christmas". Tessa didn't move a muscle. Everyone loved watching her and my neighbor said Santa couldn't have picked a better kid for that. I don't think most people have ever seen Tessa hold that still before. 

 We waited in an eternal line to sit on Santa's lap. They said it was worth it though. 

We came home and had some fun with Santa beards. I told the kids we would write our letters to Santa next week, so they needed to narrow down their lists a bit. I swear they grow daily!
Tonight, we went to Ma and Pa's house for Advent. We have done this for years in my family and I took pictures tonight, but for some reason, my phone won't let me download them.
We have a wreath with 4 candles-one for each week of Advent. Each Sunday, my Dad (Pa) will share a special Christmas message with us and then we light a candle and sing O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. I am grateful that my kids are are able to participate and learn about our family traditions. For me, that's what makes the holiday season so special.
We have many more activities and adventures planned for the month. Only 2 more weeks until the "Big Day". Tessa can hardly stand the wait!