12 Dates of Christmas

Mark and I were very excited to celebrate our first Christmas together! Mark came up with the idea of doing 12 DATES of Christmas this year and I ran with the idea. I married a man who loves presents so I had fun giving him a present for each of our dates.

I really didn't want to turn this into a huge money sucker, but more fun activities we could do every day to celebrate the season and more importantly spend quality time together.

I decided to have a kick off party to our date nights! We made snowmen pizzas, had a sleepover in the living room, and watched movies.

Date #1- Temple Square Lights

We did this last year and it was the highlight of my Christmas season. When I was singled I always hoped that someday I could come see the lights with my hubby. Lucky for me, he is willing to go see the lights with me!

Date #2- A Christmas Story

Mark had really been wanting to watch this movie and I had never seen it all the way through! Since our mattress was still in our living room from our sleep over it was the perfect snuggle date.

Date #3- Gingerbread Houses

I decided to go homemade on this one! It was my first time and I was surprised with how well they turned out. We had fun decorating and eating candy together.

Date #4- Elf Scavenger Hunt

Gardner Village decorates for the season and they have elves (scary ones) everywhere. They have a handout that asks you to look for different elves around the property. It was freezing, but we searched for them all and window shopped.

Date #5- Delivering Cookies

I baked and decorated cookies and then we dropped them off to some friends and family together that night. It was a nice chance for us to see a few people before the holidays.

Date #6- Road Trip and Christmas Music

We headed to California this day, so our day/night was filled with chatting, snacks, and even a few Christmas songs.

Date #7- Family Party

Every year my Aunt throws an awesome Christmas party with the help of all her daughters. We love getting to see our extended family. Last year Mark took a pie to the face because he was the new guy. Luckily this year he just got to eat food and play with the kids.

Date #8- Hot Chocolate and Family

Now that we were in California our dates included family sometimes. Since we had been traveling and were exhausted that night was just a relaxing night hanging out with family and sipping hot chocolate. 

Date #9- San Francisco

Last year when Mark came to meet my family we had a wonderful day in the city. This year we enjoyed another warm day in the city. I'm not sure how we have lucked out with such good weather both years. We explored Union Square this year.

We were also greeted by a sweet monk who spoke little English. He gave Mark a bracelet, then me, told us to write our names in his book and pick something to pray for. Then he told us that would be $20??!!! What? You are wanting me to pay $20 for a prayer?? How about $10. So we kept the bracelets and hopefully have some prayers for love and hope coming our way!

Date #10-Christmas

Since some of my family had to work on Christmas we did an early Christmas together. We celebrated on the 23rd and opened all of our presents! 

Date #11- Christmas Lights

We went with my parents and my sister's family to go see some Christmas lights. There is one neighborhood not far from us that know what they are doing with lights! The one house actually was on ABC and won $50,000 for being so awesome!

Date #12- CHRISTMAS MORNING!!!!

Christmas finally came! Mark and I spent the morning opening our presents to one another. I was spoiled rotten! Then my sister and her family came over to have breakfast and open our Santa presents! We spent all morning in our PJs lounging. It was a very low key Christmas day!

We had so much fun celebrating our FIRST Christmas together! I think this might become a new tradition for us. I seriously recommend it to everyone. Even if you have kids, I think you can make it family dates with 1 or 2 special husband and wife dates too!