My Christmas shopping was almost entirely online this year. Amazon.com was my friend. It was so wonderful to find and order gifts, then have them show up on my doorstep two days later. It is so much easier than trying to figure out a time I can actually go shopping without children and then go to several different stores trying to find the right item. I think I'm (mostly) converted. One evening in early December, Kyle and I went on a date to The Davenport Hotel, a historic hotel in Spokane which they decorate beautifully for the holidays. We had a yummy dinner in their restaurant, decided on most of our Christmas purchases for the year, and found many of them on Amazon while we waited for our dinner! Oh, how fun it was to be with my honey and be productive! After dinner, we did a self-guided tour around the hotel and saw the beautiful decor. A great night!
Here are some of the other festivies:
I did something I never thought I would do: purchase a Christmas tree from a store--ugh! But, with temperatures at or below zero degrees, it was very nice pulling my car up to the curb at Lowe's, throwing the tree in the back, and driving home! Much easier--and much less memorable--than visiting a tree farm, but oh, well. Maybe next year! We still had a great time decorating it:). Kyle purchased our 2013 family ornament. The bottom picture is him showing it to the children.
One Saturday we took the kids to "Santa Express", a little gift shop/fundraiser they open for the holidays where all the presents are under $10. We gave the kids some money to buy gifts for one another. We also bought a couple of gifts for Anneca, which we took to her grave on the way home. Kylene is showing off our new family ornament in the bottom left picture.
Our ward party included a visit from Santa.
We decided our new lightshow tradition would be going to see the lights at The Coeur D'Alene Resort in downtown Coeur D'Alene. It is a light display on the lake, and you can walk around a huge floating boardwalk to see most of the lights. (Or you can take a cruise out onto the lake, but that will be for another year.) It was fun to see the fire breathing dragon and the castle, then go warm up inside next to the fireplace and huge fish tank.
Kylene had crazy hair day at school and her piano recital in one of Eastern Washington University's recital halls. She was very nervous, but did perfectly! She helped decorate the Christmas tree during one number, then played "Angels We Have Heard on High" for her number.
Lastly, we had another visit from Santa Claus, right outside. The fire department comes around to the neighborhoods, handing out candy canes. The kids loved seeing him and getting in the fire engine.
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