Every year we go to downtown Seattle at Christmas, about an hour ferry ride from where we live. We always do a fun holiday experience as a family. In past years, we’ve gone to the Macy’s day parade, visited hotels with gingerbread house displays, taken pictures with Nordstrom Santa, and more. This year, we got word that Enchant (the worlds largest christmas maze) was coming to Seattle at Safeco field. We were given the opportunity to go to this event, with VIP tickets! And let me tell you having VIP was such a great experience. Our dinner was included & we didn’t have to wait in any lines! I highly recommend these tickets, with dinner included I felt it was a great value and it saved so much time making it a lot more enjoyable. We entered through a side door from the outside and down to the buffet & bar area. The event staff were extremely nice and the food was amazing. We ate to our hearts content, and although the desert bar added a few pounds to the scale, I don’t regret a thing .After dinner we entered the light maze. (Once again without waiting in line, thanks to our VIP tickets) They handed us all scratch off cards “from Santa” to go around and find all of his reindeer for him. If we found all the reindeer, we would get a prize at the end of the maze. The kids ran around laughing and eagerly looking for each reindeer. My husband and I were mainly in awe of all the beautiful lights! After we completed the maze we turned in our cards for a candy cane and went ice skating (the ice skates rental is $10 per person, this is not included in your ticket price). Once again those VIP tickets saved us nearly 45 minutes to an hour as we skipped line after line to enjoy the fun. The kids absolutely loved ice skating. I think they could have stayed all night, it was hard getting them to leave. I actually think my husband would have skated all night too, after he finally got his balance he thought it was pretty cool .At the end we even found Santa and got our pictures taken .We left Enchant at around 10 PM. Everyone had a blast but we were all so exhausted. I was extremely happy that we had a Hotel in the city about 10 minutes driving distance down the street. We stayed the night at the Hyatt at Olive 8, a new Seattle Luxury Hotel. This Hotel was conveniently located, with shopping malls, restaurants, starbucks and a fun Holiday carousel that the kids went on the next day, all right around the corner.Our room was extremely large with amazing views of the city (my favorite part about staying downtown). The beds were comfortable and this hotel pays attention to every little detail. We had everything we could have needed and everyone was so accommodating. I bought the kids matching Christmas pajamas from Gymboree and Santa slippers from TargetThe Hotel also had a huge pool that the kids LOVED and a hot tub that my husband and I enjoyed. This years trip to Seattle was definitely one to remember!

Thank you to both Enchant Christmas – Seattle

& Hyatt At Olive 8 for such a great experience!

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment below.

XO – Jamie

I always buy the kids pajamas for the holidays. This year I bought my middle son and youngest daughter these matching unisex tree pajamas. I also bought my daughter the pink Christmas theme pjs. Then I found these cute nightgowns with matching doll nightgowns, on sale! So I kind of want to order these for her also haha. I linked them all here:

PAJAMAS

Pink nightgown with matching doll

nightgown Buffalo plaid nightgown with matching doll nightgown

Pink Christmas Pjs

Tree print Pjs

Red slippers

Pink stocking Pjs

Gold slippers

Red “Merry” Pjs

Also every year we love to add a book to our Christmas collection and check some out from the Library. Here are some of our favorites we have collected along the way. And If you are a house that does the “Elf on the shelf” it’s fun to have him bring the kids a new book. I like to set him up as if he is reading the book and drinking hot cocoa or something fun. I have linked all the books here:

BOOKS

The Little Reindeer

Pick A Pine Tree

Mice Skating

The Velveteen Rabbit

The Nutcracker

Olivia Christmas

XO – Jamie

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! My daughter Sydnie is holiday party ready with a festive plaid dress from Bonnie Jean I love plaid at Christmas and this Hope dress by Bonnie Jean is adorable. I love how it can be paired with either hunter boots (as shown) for a day at the tree farm or dress shoes for a picture with Santa. The top of the dress is a soft velvet material and I love the big bow on the back. This dress is our personal favorite but you can also check out other Bonnie Jean Holiday dress styles Here

Let the Holiday fun begin!

Xo – Jamie

Making and decorating cookies for the holidays is one of the kids favorite things to do. We use my grandmas shortbread cookie recipe every time (in fact I have shared it before & I will share it again) it’s by far my favorite shortbread cookie I have ever had! This year I found the cutest Meri Meri Cookie cutters at Homegoods. I also ordered black and white striped bags on amazon, to package some of the cookies up and tie with ribbon to give to teachers friends and neighbors.Holidays and traditions are my favorite!

MY GRANDMAS SHORTBREAD COOKIE RECIPE

1 1/2 pds of butter (refrigerated)

2 cups powdered sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

5 1/2 cups flour

In your mixer start to mix your cold butter, slowly add powdered sugar, vanilla & flour. Mix until creamy.

Lightly flour your surface, roll out to about 1/4-1/8 inch thick and use your cookie cutters.

Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes

(Makes approx 60 medium cookies)