On the first day of Christmas....

First off I need to say that my girls are so lucky to have really wonderful grandparents who love them so much. Last year grandma Moyes made us a 12 days of Christmas package that gave something special to open, do, or read leading up to Christmas. It was SO much fun and my girls absolutely loved it! Thankfully she decided to do it again this year and the girls could hardly wait to start opening the first gift. They have been sitting under the tree for about a week and the girls lifting them and shaking them and guessing what could be inside. SO since we have a CRAZY week this week between music concerts and dance performances and singing performances and primary Christmas parties we started our packages on Friday night so that hopefully that will time it right for us to open the last one on Christmas Eve.

So! On the first night of Christmas our grandma gave to us.....


Here is Dustin reading the first note to tell us what we are supposed to do.
And Lilly taking the first nights turn to open the present.....

and then we got to work making our special decoration. The girls made a little bell decoration that we are to hang up somewhere in the house. There were also little sticky notes that everyone was to leave special notes to each other throughout December and hide them where people would find them. Then when they find something nice about them they can go and ring the bells. Such a cute idea!

The little baby bell was the favorite and we finally had to just say that it was the real babies bell so they would stop fighting over it.

On the second night of Christmas our grandma gave to us.....

Here are the girls dancing to the Christmas carol that we now sing before we open a gift. It tends to become a duet between Dustin and I because the girls are a little busy dancing.

And everyone gathered around Daddy to read the second note.

It was Josey's night to open the present! It was fun glow sticks and a wonderful Christmas story.

All decorated.....

where did they go?

Maddy and Josey were gathered around Daddy while he read the story. It really brought the spirit of Christmas into our home and there were a few sweet tears that were even shed. Josey asked later that night if she could read the story at church. I told her that it wasn't her Sunday to give a talk and that someone else was preparing a talk for Primary. She said that she didn't want to read it in Primary but in Sacrament meeting. I had to tell her that primary children don't give talks in Sacrament meeting and that someone else was already preparing a talk for the next day. So then she asked if she could give her testimony! I really wish that it had been fast Sunday!

Lilly thought we were still doing a photo session.
On the third night of Christmas our grandma gave to us....

It was Maddy's night to open the present.....finally (Maddy thought).

It was a cute table decoration that we all made together.

This really is a joke picture grandma! We were all enjoying ourselves!

Everyone took turns putting different parts together.

Our finished product!

And a note to grandma and grandpa

And this was from the other night. The girls wanted a picture of it. We made a gingerbread train. So now we can put out gingerbread train and our gingerbread house together on the table and admire our creativity.

Thank you grandma and grandpa for taking so much time and putting so much effort into putting these all together for us. They really have become one of the highlights of Christmas that my girls look forward to every night. And frankly it takes a little bit of the holiday stress and pressure off of me trying to make the season special and bring us together as a family. It is such a wonderful Christmas present to our whole family. We love you!