out with the old...in with the new!

i'll salute the end of the first week of 2012 with recapping all the fun we crammed into the last remaining moments of 2011... we did a lot! and i'm pretty sure george didn't have a clue what any of the hub bub was about.

i'll start with tradition. for, the second year running i bahumbug'd santa and had george yet again get cozy with every christmas tree we met. Christmas tree hunting is a lot easier on so many levels, for one, trees, unlike santa's don't stir the curious questions of why they all look different. two, trees can be fake and everyone, even a small child, is okay with this knowledge, third, there is no line or fee to snap a photo, and lastly, and again, unlike santa, trees glimmer and sparkle attracting children, while bearded men tend to make children wither and run (although i must admit those pictures can be classic).  however, while george was magnetically pulled to every tree we saw, its lure could not hold him still...

in no particular order, here are all the trees we found and rattling them off from upper right to left,
top row: kneeling by the winegar chirstmas party tree, freezing for a mere moment by aunt keri's more accessible tree, aunt marci's cute tree, our first tree of the season at park city.
second row, cool blue tree at temple square, if you squint your eyes and tilt your head while sticking your tongue out of the side of your mouth you'll see george with the haslam party tree (not, he wouldn't stay still!), our half naked george proof tree. 
thrid row: a tree we found in a provo resturaunt, grandma jane's pretty tree, uncle matt and aunt teri's sweet tree.
last but not least, the big professional tree picture at great aunt jill's taken courtesy of Luke Hansen! 

amongst our Christmas tree hunting we squeezed in other holiday festivities. the most popular was sledding!!! what's that you say? there wasn't any snow to sled down? yeah, that kind of put a little damper on my best gift plans for james, so we improvised a little...

yes, we felt so sorry that our flashy green machine never hit fresh powder, that james came up with a way to still make it feel awesome, take pictures while posing in the sleigh.... with all our bounteous Christmas loot. oh the wacky ideas i'm willing to partake...

yes, it was a traditional, wonderful, magical Christmas! we are grateful for the good food, the fun parties and the generous family and friends we got to share it with.

 we wrapped everything up, literally we moved the day after Christmas, and headed out to new adventures, that perhaps include snow for better pictures and fonder memories with the green machine! 
2011 was generous in blessings and opportunities, we are grateful for a great year! here's looking at you kid,

bring on 2012!!!! Happy new year!!!