The Friday after Thanksgiving I headed to SL with my parents and Aaron headed for the hills to cut down a Christmas tree with the kids. One of Aaron's employees showed him the 'perfect spot' for their tree hunt. No more Charlie Brown trees for us. The kids found a fully fantastic fir this year!
Once again, the kids took care of the decorating.
A final pic of Elsie
with her two front teeth...
We have a real tree in the family room near the kitchen and our artificial tree is upstairs by the kids' bedrooms. Naturally, it's the "kid tree" adorned with various ornaments they've created over the years.
Christmas Eve day we busted out the gingerbread train kits.
And found a pink Hello Kitty house - on clearance already.
It seems the amount of candy that comes with the kits continues to dwindle each year. No matter. My kids have finally reached a point in their lives where they don't feel the need to eat the candy off the houses. I happily throw them in the trash when the time arrives and nobody complains:).
Another family activity we enjoyed on Christmas Eve day was watching the movie "Christmas Oranges" before heading over to G-ma and G-pa M's place for the traditional dinner of various snack foods. Everybody contributed something - we brought green salad and spinach artichoke dip with bread for dipping. Greta wasn't feeling well so Chris & Julia didn't make it this year.
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| Aaron - narrator |
It was Matt's final Christmas as a single man. Nice to have Jordan drive up and join us for games. We played games long enough that most of us had moved into that slap-silly state of mind. Not exactly ideal for acting out the "Nativity" - but we did our best.
Elsie - a 'wiseman'
Bob - the camera man
Jordan - the donkey
Quinn - as Joseph
Anna - as Mary
Janene & Brinley - as happy/giggly shepherds
Matt - the absent-minded angel
Heather & Jantzen - wisemen also
We concluded a fun-filled evening and returned home later than expected but managed a quick Skype with P's in China before the kids opened their Christmas Eve gift.
Our tradition is to have the gift relate to "bedtime" - so it isn't always pj's. They were absolutely thrilled with the new movies they received (thanks China). Maybe a stretch but it still fit the theme because sometimes they are allowed to watch a movie on the weekends before bedtime...
Aaron went to work setting up an obstacle course/barricade to keep the kids at bay...
This addition really threw the kids for a loop at 2:30am. They thought it was Aaron - so they waited quite some time in the dark of the night until they determined it wasn't an actual person:).
Negotiated time is always 7:00am. Each year Bob and Janene drive over and watch the kids open their gifts. Uncle Matt spent the night at our place but ended up sleeping in...
Santa drank the eggnog and the reindeer cleaned up the veggies. We usually leave cookies for Santa but decided to surprise him with some yummy homemade toffee this year. Good stuff!
And he left behind a few treasures for the children.
My kids love opening their stockings and it's always the first thing they do.
Quinn thought the Super Q cape was pretty cool but declared the green boat (tub-toy) as his most favorite gift. He has since slept with it. It goes wherever he goes. Funny kid.
Elsie was very pleased with her own make-up set and...
...a book all about Elsie from birth to age 6.
Anna opening fuzzy, warm black UGG boots (thanks China). Ahh, a perfect fit.
Brinley was happy with new clothes, combat boots, jewelry and a cookbook.
All the kids opened their water bottles from G-ma & G-pa P at the same time. Thanks so much!
Tanner was thrilled with the unexpected iPod nano and camera.
Each year the kids draw names and buy a gift for one of their siblings. Brinley made Quinn a little photo book which he was very excited about. Quinn did lots and lots of jobs to earn $9.00 for Tanner's gift. It was so rewarding to see the look of satisfaction on Quinn's face when Tanner opened up the gift (cash) he worked so hard to give.
Aren't they all so handsome in their new beard-beanies?
How adorable!
I brought these comforters back from China but now have the task of making duvet covers for them. (Tricia, any tips?)
Jantzen - Red Rider bb gun and a basketball hoop for the back of his bedroom door.
I make the breakfast ring (2) every year but feel like I am the one who eats most of it. Probably not the best tradition...the kids are too excited with their new gifts to take notice.
Yeah, we were up late and managed a little nap that afternoon.
Aaron pulled the kids around in the yard and some played in the snow.
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| Anna doing the 'toyota jump' |
It was a beautiful day outside though brisk.
And while we didn't have my parents around this year (they were in PA with the P's then on to SC with C's), we made our traditional reuben sandwiches for dinner.
Aaron, Tanner, Brinley and Heather are the biggest fans of this tradition. And we loved having enough left-overs for lunch the next day. We finished off the day by driving around looking at Christmas lights together while reading the final verses of The Book of Mormon to complete our scripture study. We couldn't have timed it any better than to finish (again) on Christmas day. It's been a wonderful holiday season and we feel very blessed!
Merry Christmas 2013!
