Holiday Time

For as long as I've lived in the U.S. now, one thing that I still am not used to is how close Thanksgiving is to Christmas!  (Canadian Thanksgiving is celebrated the second Monday of October).  I'm not sure if this is how it feels for everyone else, but as soon Thanksgiving hits I feel as though Christmas time is already here, and I love it!

Once again we set up Christmas this year just before heading down to Vegas for Thanksgiving. Since we're leaving for Mexico on the 15th, this gave us a bit more time to actually enjoy the decorations before taking off.

Gavin couldn't wait to set up the tree. Ornaments were going on before we even spread out the branches or put the lights on. Hence a somewhat awkward looking tree, and if you can't tell, the majority of ornaments are clustered around Gavin's height level.  But Gavin thinks it's the best tree ever, and who can argue with this four year old!

At night Gavin always insists his door stays open so he can see the new star on the tree top

So despite our home looking like this...

We took care of the important stuff - setting up Christmas and making shortbread cookies!

Jared found out his office would be closed on Wednesday before Thanksgiving, so we headed down to Vegas a day early and enjoyed good times with family, yummy food, and of course a trip to the Magical Forest to visit Santa Clause.

Sleep over with Grandpa, Daddy, and cousins in the teepee

The week before Thanksgiving we bought a sailboat off KSL!  We towed it down to Vegas to store for the winter, and can't wait to use it once the weather gets warm.  We set it up in the back yard and the kids had fun checking it out.

Go cart rides with Grandpa and cousins

Trips to the community garden

Magical Forest Fun

Trip to Lake Mead

We hoped to go sailing, but the wind was crazy so we fed the carp instead

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Gavin opened some Christmas gifts from Grandma and Grandpa early, and LOVES his light saber

Time has flown by since coming back from Vegas.  We've been busy with Christmas shopping, enjoying the crazy warm weather, and the regular activities of life. We did enjoyed a free night of ice skating at Seven Peaks and a trip up to Temple Square to listen to the Christmas Devotional and enjoy the beautiful Christmas lights!