This year we finally made it to our ward Christmas party and it was a lot of fun. The girls got to see Santa and tell him what they wanted. Finally this year Ashlyn didn't cry when she saw Santa. They also played music to dance to and the girls loved it and had fun jumping around.
My favorite memories of Christmas are driving my mom around to deliver goodies to the neighbors, opening one present on Christmas Eve, and eating Lil' Smokies with my Dad. I decided when I had children that I wanted to have traditions that we did every year so they would remember. One thing that I started with Madison was making reindeer food and leaving it outside for them to eat. The first year we scattered it outside on the driveway and the cleanup wasn't fun to do so this year we just set bowls out. I loved seeing Madison's face when she saw the bowls were empty. She giggled for 30 minutes. It reminded me of one year my dad took his boots and a deer leg from his hunt(gross I know, but it totally made it realistic) and made tracks in the snow up to our house. I was so excited to see those tracks!
We have lived here in Vegas now for almost 7 years and have never made it up to Mt. Charleston when there was snow on it. This year I decided my little "city" girls needed to go play in the snow. I think it might have been Ashlyn's first time, but Madison has played in the snow at Grandma Julie's before. It was so much fun, but we didn't expect to see so much snow and we didn't even bring a sled! We improvised and Madison still got to slide down the hill, but next time we will be better prepared. They had so much fun and before Ashlyn fell asleep that night she said in a really sleepy voice "Mommy, thanks for coming to the snow with me". It was so cute. They even had sleigh rides up there with big Clydesdale horses so we might do that next time too. It was nice to drive only 40 minutes and be in snow and then drive home to dry roads and warmer weather.
