December in Review

December always gets away from me and there is so much going on but I don't ever blog or tell anyone about it so... here is a quick review.

Christmas decorations with a 10 month old is a challenge but it was one that we whole heartedly accepted.  When we first put up our Christmas decorations and the tree Elizabeth didn't seem to care much but as the month went on she became more aware.  We had the tree behind the couch/chair and she did okay at leaving it alone- there was some ornament snatching! She also was young enough not to know what presents were; I would actually wrap in the living room while she played and she would leave it alone (even the wrapping paper laid on the floor)- believe me this changed after she learned what to DO with the presents.  Throughout the month I got fun naked baby with ornament pictures. 

 Here are some I took at my parents house (12/6/13):

My parents got Elizabeth a push toy for Christmas to help her walk but it was pretty obvious at the beginning of December that she was not going to wait, so they gave it to her early.  She has been walking around furniture and standing on her own for a while now but has not shown an interest in walking alone.  Why walk when you can crawl REALLY FAST? It took her a while to get used to pushing the walk toy around (our house is small so she runs into walls quickly) but she soon learned how to maneuver it around.

We went to the Crocs Christmas Party and this year it was at the Denver Broncos Stadium (the Pepsi Center).  It was a cool location because they gave free tours of the stadium; we got to see the boxes, guest locker rooms and even got to go down to the field. The night was fun with dinner and dancing.  It is always fun to see Ben with his work friends and get to know that HUGE part of his life better! 

We had other activities we did and parties and events we went to; Brea had her annual Book Club White Elephant Exchange that went well (she read 43 books this year and is proud of that accomplishment).  Brea also went to a baby 'sprinkle' (a shower for friends who already had babies) and got to pamper herself and her friends.  Brea did days of baking and we all got to take treats around.  Elizabeth and Brea drove out to the airport one day and got to have a fun lunch with Michael Angelo (at his layover on his way home for Christmas).  We both sang in the Sunday Ward Christmas Program.  We had a fun night of treat giving and Christmas Caroling with the Newson's!

One of the BIGGEST parties, at least in Ben's mind, was the Ward Christmas Party at which Ben was in charge of the program.  He was really nervous about this and stressed but it turned out GREAT! People loved it (he might have done a little TOO good and risks being asked again next year).  The night ended with a big surprise, we learned that our outgoing, personable, social, fun loving baby girl does have a phobia; Santa Clause.  It was a shock to us how scared she got (she will go to strangers all the time) and is it bad to say that I kind of loved the cuteness of her fear!?!