12 days of christmas

another one of my cherished christmas memories is the 12 days of christmas- my grandma zobrist would give us a box full of treats [including a homemade candy train made from lifesavers & mints] and then homemade pajamas for christmas eve. i really wanted to do this for landon and decided to combine it with our elf on the shelf, who we have named jack [you're welcome devin]. i wrapped 12 christmas books he already owned [i'll buy a few new ones for next year on sale after christmas] then included a small gift [think target dollar section] which jack would put in different places around the house. then at night i had activities planned - some big but mostly small.

on the first day of christmas, jack was dangling from our dining room light and gave landon some mickey mouse christmas socks in honor of my bff8. meghan, taylor, landon and i visied santa [his second time this year] at tivoli village where landon also got to ride the train - he was so happy!

on the second day of christmas, landon was sick so life was a bit hectic and lame at the same time. jack  snuck into landon's stocking and gave him a rudolph coloring book. that night we watched the cartoon grinch movie.

on the third day of christmas, jack took a note from miley cyrus and was dangling from our shower curtain rod. landon had woken up at 2am and found the book and present [an elmo bath book] but he had to wait until it was daytime to open it. he was quite sad he couldn't go to church with lynsey & skyler but his fever was too high. we had planned on watching the rudolph movie with hot coco but landon didn't eat dinner and justin's family came over for dinner so we just had a nice night together.

on the fourth day of christmas landon got a new christmas book [mickey mouse's night before christmas]. it was family home evening so we made 'ginger bread' trees out of waffle cones and tons of candy. justin got really into it but i still think mine takes the cake. landon was a big fan of all the candy.

on the fifth day of christmas landon got a monster truck from jack then we went on a trip at night to the light show at the las vegas speedway. we didn't have time to make dinner because it was so far away so we stopped for costco pizza [landon's favorite] on the way out there. landon really loved the lights but on the way home he just lost it so... that was fun.

isn't he adorable in his big boy undewear hes mostly terrified of it

on the sixth day of christmas daddy had a unlv basketball game so we snuggled up and watched frosty the snowman [about 2 minutes of it] and landon got a new bath toy [a fire engine].

on the seventh day of christmas we had a special trip planned to the magical forest with mema, lynsey & skyler. it was a cold night so we had an early dinner at mema's house then headed to the forest. landon and justin rode the train back to back and went on the slide once. it was so cold and windy so we didn't stay as long as we did for halloveen. jack brought landon a buzz light year fan stick thing i guilt bought him on a mall trip a month ago then stole away when he wasn't looking.

on the eighth day of christmas we celebrated steven's birthday by going on a double date to the unlv basketball game. it was only my third game in how-many-years. i always make fun of justin and act like it's lame but oh my gosh, so much fun! we sat in steven and justin's season tickets and they sat in meghan's mom's boss's seats down by the floor. landon received some kind of gift from jack.... not sure what it was. give me a minute. oh! he got a tractor-block toy.

additional pictures: landon driving his train, trying to sqeeze toys in his bum
[really? boys are gross] and landon at his school class

on the ninth day of christmas jack brought landon tickets to the boulder city santa train and a mickey mouse snack pack of pretzels/cheese/apples. we went out to ride the train with grandpa, kristi, lynsey and skyler. he was so excited to go see the trains! he really loved watching the intricate model trains, the real ones that weren't moving and play with the toy ones. when it came time to actually ride the train, he was not quite impressed. it was only 30 minutes but he just did not like sitting in the train. and didn't like santa one bit, which i don't blame him. santa wasn't quite as nice as the other ones he's had. that night we went to the annual ornament exchange with teryl's two best friends- it was actually the 21st ornament exchange they've had [can you imagine how many ornaments justin has? he gets about 3-6 at each one]. it was so much fun and landon loved playing with peneolope.

on the tenth day of christmas landon got a new christmas outfit for church from grandpa and some new scriptures from jack [my first temple book]. we also had a nice family dinner and desert party with mema after a wonderful church meeting. i just love this season and hearing christmas music at church.

on the eleventh day of christmas, landon got croup. seriously, when will he stop getting it?! it's not so frustrating that he gets sick, it's frustrating because i have to wait 2 hours at the doctors to see them for 3 minutes to get a new prescription- and they refuse to give me extra. jack brought landon some thomas wall stickers that he had a blast putting on his door. we spent our morning at the doctors then his favorite aunt shannon spoiled him and gave him a slurpee for lunch. we had originally planned on doing a christmas party with the irelands and shopped for each other's stocking stuffers but the sickness put a kibosh on that.

on the twelth day of christmas jack brought landon his final gift, some cookie cutters to make santa cookies! he was especially excited for this gift. after breakfast we made sugar cookies [i was planning on doing it from scratch but sadly did not realize i was completely out of sugar so we used a boring [and not quite as good] mix. in the afternoon we frosted the cookies- well, landon ate frosting then dumped piles of sprinkles on some cookies. that night we had a great christmas eve dinner at my mom's followed by the annual christmas jammies/story/sing-along [which i'm usually the star but sadly, being sick took me out of the running]. christmas post coming next!