Celebrating the Season

What a month December was! It flew by so quickly. Without hesitation I declare this year's to be the BEST Christmas EVER! Mason made every minute of it delightful, except when he'd eaten too much sugar and wouldn't stop screaming the day after. Here are some of the highlights of our month:

The Festival of Trees was a lot of fun. Casey was baptized that night and so the whole family went over to the festival afterward. First up we have Mason being "attacked" by Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. He did not like the ladies. Then we headed up to the North Pole. They did an amazing job transforming those rooms into a winter wonderland. I spotted my nieces and nephews names on Santa's List. And Mason fell in love with stuffed dog and cuddled right up to it.

Next, Mason and I went to Salt Lake City to visit my sister (who is trying to break some record for most organs out in a calendar year). We went over to Temple Square one freezing night to see the lights. We parked by the Conference Center. I told Mason usually there are lights over here too when suddenly TA DA. They came on with perfect timing. He thought I was pretty cool for getting them to turn on. We walked around enjoying the beautiful scenes and lovely spirit. It was a really sweet moment for me... and really cold one.

We were really lucky to have the opportunity to participate in a huge Sub for Santa event that Jason's work, APX sponsored. Let's just say they sent us a LOT of money and information on families in our area that we went shopping for. We also got a TON of games and DVDs for the Women's Crisis Shelter. When all was said and done we still had money left over so we contacted the often-overlooked Family Support Center. We did a lot of shopping and then did a lot more. We got some strange looks from folks in Wal-Mart who must have thought we were spoiling our little boy rotten. It may have been a bit confusing for Mason to see us getting so many toys that he didn't end up with, but hopefully we can continue to teach him it's better to give than receive. I am really proud of Jason for taking that project on. It was more fun than hassle and we greatly benefited by having the spirit of Christmas.

At last, we get to Christmas Day. Mason cracked us up as he'd rip of small pieces of wrapping paper. One. At. A. Time. And he was really good about putting each piece in a little pile. There is nothing like a cute little boy to make Christmas a blast.