December Festivities

Our first Christmas in Arizona. We thought we knew what to expect and in most ways we were spot on: sunny days and no coats. Wonderful. But in some ways we were totally wrong. For example we used to think people were crazy for owning coats and having fireplaces in their homes, but more than once this December I have been grateful for a cozy fire. Arizona is really unlike anywhere I have ever been and its been fun to learn this new climate. 

 Every morning we woke up to 30-40 degree weather which made for cold runs and cold scooter rides. 

 But by after noon we were wearing this...

Taken December 5th

 Once the sun went down it would get chilly again and we would all huddle around bonfires and hot chocolate. Heres that part that I loved though. As cold as it got, it never got freezing and it never snowed. We were able to play outside ever day, carol at night without getting wet socks, didn't have to scrap car windows, and didn't have to shovel walks. It didn't take long for us to be sold on this Arizona winter. That being said here's my complaint.. We were told that we would have 70 degree winter days but this was Arizona's coldest and wettest December in 10 years. Instead of 70s we had most days in the 40s and 50s. Not freezing true, but not 70. Feel bad for us.

Here is the golf course one frosty morning. It was so beautiful.

Everyone in our neighborhood decorated their house putting our house to shame. People had music playing, lights synced to music, those blow out things, projectors and decorated cacti. I guess when its warm all the time, you have time to go all out with the lights.  I wish I would have remembered to take more pictures of our neighbors houses because they were magnificent. Not elegant at all, just completely awesome. Just for a taste, our neighbors, Roy and Phylisis played Celine Dion's  Christmas album all month long on repeat from 6pm-10pm. Is there a way to be more awesome? 

 Avondale had a Christmas kick off on Main Street. It resembled a carnival and what I liked about it was that they geared everything towards little kids. They had crafts, Santa, rides, carni booths, snow, and of course snow cones. What Christmas party is complete without snow cones.

 Like everywhere else, there was a Santa to meet at every party and on every corner, but we decided to go meet Santa at the Library. I initially went to kill some time, but we certainly picked the right day to go to the library. There was hot cocoa, story time, Frosty, the Grinch, crafts, cookies, and of course Santa. The best part was that Santa had time to talk to all the kids AND gave everyone a free book. It was so much for Kelsey. Madison not so much...

 In December we introduced Madison to the walker and she LOVED it. The second we showed her she knew what to do. She was sift at first but quickly learned how to get her self out of tight binds and situations. It is hilarious to watch her now. She is deadly with this thing. Get out of her way.

Kelsey and I went caroling with some ward members and then had doughnuts and hot cocoa at a park afterwards. Kelsey loved it. She is in the very front of the pack with the red bow. She wanted to knock and then would sing her heart out even if she didn't know the words. That girl loves her music.

December brings the manditory movie watching list: Elf, White Christmas,  Muppets, Rudolph, Home Alone, and Wonderful Life.

This actually happened because Edie accidentally locked them out so we had a movie day!

 Lots of books were read by the tree...

and many gifts were wrapped. 

 I think my favorite thing about December this year was that Kelsey could enjoy doing crafts with me. At first I thought I would be ambitious enough to do a craft a day but than things started happening so although that didn't happen we still did lots of fun things.

 I actually learned a lot crafting with Kels. She crafts to enjoy what she's doing. She doesn't expect anything to look a certain way and certainly doesn't expect herself to be perfect. She just sees a color and uses it or sees a jewel and knows that it belongs. Bigger is better and more is best. She was so happy when she was creating because she was creating to be happy. I had so much fun doing all these crafts. There was no right way, no too much, and definitely no messing up. It was really the highlight of my days.

Don't be fooled. Kelsey did not do a single one of these projects. She was actually napping when I did all these with Hannah. We just couldn't stop. It was so much fun. If only we had ribbon than they would look perfect (inside joke!)

We also did a couple of secret Santas and neighbor gifts. The neighbor gifts were a disaster (like tasted really bad)  but Kelsey had fun decorating them (so they looked really cute)

As the days passed and the Christmas festivities kept happening, it started to feel more and more like Christmas. We had a few cloudy and even rainy days which helped to bring the Christmas spirit and we soon learned that not having snow opened up the possibilities of activities. Its amazing what you can do when you don't always have to worry about how cold it will be.
December was different for sure, but I am completely convinced that a snowless warm Christmas is the way to go.

This was one of the first times that Madison stood up all by herself! YAY!

Side note sort of related.... when its not too hot and not too cold the golfers come by the truck load. Our collection is ever increasing.