December 2019 Highlights

HAPPY NEW YEAR/NEW DECADE!! Here's what we were up to in December:
99% of these photos are in my December Daily so you might recognize them :)
Christmas is a great excuse to liven up the home with lots of bright colors and twinkly lights!

I took this photo to use with my "If Kisses Were Snowflakes I'd Send You A Blizzard" cut file.

Jane helping me bake her beloved cupcakes. Her favorite part is mixing the batter.

And Fox helped me make his beloved sugar cookies.

Speaking of cookies, for Chris' work party this year we brought Crumbl cookies for the white elephant gift exchange. They were stolen twice so that was exciting.

 The party was at the Columbine Country Club and was a total hoot.

Chris set up the Lego Christmas Village all cutely and in an order that made perfect sense. From the North Pole and Santa's Workshop, through the forest where you cut down Christmas trees, to the town village and festivities then the cute cottage homes. We love Legos :)

 Christmas makes me happy. Love the comfy cozy feeling of all the decorations.

 We got Christmas dishes this year, all from Target.

  Rachel took her usual spot on the red Christmas tree mat. Phoebe the bunny says hi and wishes you a merry Christmas.

 We spent a fun day at the Gaylord Rockies hotel. It's such a massive structure in the middle of nowhere.

 So fun!

 My kind of Christmas tree! Cute ornaments.

The main attraction is the Ice exhibit which was amazing to behold. And cold lol. So amazing that every element was made of ice. Beautiful work of art.

We walked around the ginormous hotel and found cool things.

The view of downtown Denver and the Rocky Mountains from the hotel lobby can't be beat!

 This lobby though!

Then we headed outside to go on the ice tubes. Wicked fun.

 Beautiful light at the end of the day.

 We went to Texas Roadhouse for Papa's 69th birthday.

 Christmas party number two was at Doctor Holt's house which was also really fun. Fun fun fun all month long :)

I wore this sequin sweater that I've had since before Jane was born (I wore it to her baby shower way back in 2012!) to both Christmas parties. It's fun to get dressed up once in awhile since I'm in sweats 90% of the time.

Nap time. Rachel follows me everywhere and I love it so.

 All four of us sat on our bed and watched Christmas Chronicles. Tender moments and memories made. The rockin' jailhouse scene is my favorite. "Well it's Christmas time pretty baby!"

 A new thing this year here in Highlands Ranch was a spectacular light show drive through.

Last day of school for 3 weeks! Let winter break begin!

 Chris and I did a session at the Denver Temple, my first time at this temple. It was spiritual and very much needed.

 We didn't get to see the Nutcracker ballet this year but we did find some nutcrackers to use with my Nutcracker cut file! Yes I looked for opportunities to take photos to use with particular cut files :)

 The kids started taking piano lessons back in April and have advanced leaped and bounds! They had their second recital and did so well. I'm very proud of them.

 Nana and Papa couldn't make it to the recital so they got a private performance a few hours later.

 Speaking of piano, Nick couldn't come home for Christmas (he works at Sony up in Canada and is on crunch time for the release of his next movie, The Mitchells Vs. The Machines) and he usually plays the accompaniment piano. Margi asked me to step in so I practiced multiple times a day for weeks. It really put me in the Christmas spirit and was so fun to play with a purpose. I took piano lessons from when I was 8-18 years old and miss it!

Backed cut files everywhere!

 I realized after Christmas that we didn't go see Santa Claus this year! TOTAL FAIL!!! This photo from 6 years ago reminded me that I totally dropped the ball this year.

We got a rug for our bedroom. Can you tell I love color?

 While Chris and I went on a date night to see Knives Out, Aspen the babysitter assembled our gingerbread Christmas tree with the kiddos. She's the best!

Christmas program at church.

Family time!

 Fox & Jane took turns reading How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

  The EPIC Gingerbread House! Can you believe it?!

 Chris loves wrapping presents and putting them under the tree as soon as they arrive or are purchased. I would prefer to wait until Christmas morning to put them out for a big reveal, but such is marriage and compromising :)

 December Daily in progress.

 Me'n'my girly girl!

Chris is an amazing cook and prepared a Christmas Eve feast.

 We always read from the Coming of Christ on Christmas Eve.

 Then we exchange gifts purchased at Target earlier in the day. Fox and Jane really liked each other's presents and gave hugs.

Our backyard neighbors lit up a lot of their trees which we got to enjoy too!

 On Christmas Eve we went over to Nana and Papa's for the Nativity in the Barn. Baby Kylie is getting so big already and is oh so cute!

Jay & Haylie and their crew - Landon, Quinn, and Kylie.

 Playing on a keyboard was vastly different than playing on a piano but we made it through!

 We played the Bag Game with questions based on 'Twas the Night Before Christmas.

 Christmas morning, we actually had to wake up the kids because Nana and Papa were coming over at 6:30! I'm amazed they slept in! Opening stockings.

Christmas was wonderful and we spent the next few days at home recovering from a bug. Chris and I watched the entire Twilight series on a whim. So many fond memories! Are you team Edward or team Jacob? I'm team Edward.

This is a fun visual Google emailed me of everywhere I traveled in 2019, I went more places than I thought!:

Would have loved to have been sent these emails when we lived in Germany when our sole mission in life was to travel :)

On the crafty front, how cute are these pins from The Gray Muse?!

Here are my top 9 from 2019! It surprises me that not one layout made the cut, but I will continue crafting and doing what I love :) Layouts, mini albums, coptic books, and more! I love it all!

Here are all of the cut files I designed for Silhouette this month:

Once I finished my December Daily it was time to knock out assignments, including this mini album I'll share on the 5th.

I started working on this stitched star back in October and now I'm about 3/5 done - I'll share more once I'm finished!

Did you grab all five free cut files this month in my Happy Scrappy Place Facebook Group?

Speaking of free cut files, this is the cut file that will be sent with my newsletter on Friday so be sure you're subscribed by clicking here!

2019 was amazing. Lots of ups and downs, but overall, we smashed it! Bring on 2020 and a whole new decade!