This Christmas was actually quite nice. It was quiet and low key and fairly relaxing. We did end up having the Elders (missionaries) over kind of last minute on Christmas day so they could Skype with their families and then they stayed for dinner. We had told them a few weeks ago that they were welcome to come use our computer if they needed, but they had something set up already. They texted us the night of Christmas Eve saying that had fallen through and wondered if they could still come over. We always love having the missionaries over, so we were happy to oblige. One of our Elders is being transferred tomorrow, we will be so sad to see him go. It's a whole new experience being outside of Utah and being so involved with the missionaries. Between the Elders and the Sisters we have missionaries over to eat about once a week.
Anyway...I got way off subject there. Back to Christmas!
We started by decorating and getting in the festive spirit!
Early in December we went with a couple families from the ward down to Rancho Cucamonga to see some awesome Christmas lights. We had a great time!
Claire lost her other front tooth just a few days before Christmas. It was awesome timing! She was not wanting to make a normal face for pictures...so this is what we get. :)
To try to beat the boredom in the days leading up to Christmas with all the kids out of school, we did a couple little projects. The first day we made beanbag sock snowmen. This turned out GREAT. The kids carried those little snowmen around for the next few days.
The next day we painted our nails and made paper plate Santa's.
Also a big hit...minus the nail polish on the table. :P
The Sunday before Christmas, the girls got to wear their beautiful new Christmas dresses, and Brody wore an adorable tie. (Boys are so much easier to dress!) They all looked darling!
Christmas Eve we opened pajamas. The kids had been asking for a while for footie pajamas. Not really sure why...but I decided to make their dreams come true this year. :)
I didn't get a picture of Brody on his own...but oh well. We then set the camera up on a chair and set the auto timer to get the whole family all together.
Christmas morning we did the obligatory picture on the stairs before getting to see the presents. We didn't wake Brody up, thought it would be nice to just let him sleep, so he isn't in the picture. But it made for a much happier baby when he was ready to be awake.
The girls checking out the loot. They got some great presents this year. We scaled back a bit (I know it doesn't necessarily look that way in the pictures...but we actually did by QUITE a bit) but you wouldn't even know by the wonderful reactions to everything. Thanks to some great cyber deals and couponing prowess, I was able to pull off some GREAT presents for a fraction of the cost. It was great!
The biggest present was saved for the end. There was an envelope on the tree from Santa saying we had to open that last. Inside was a clue to begin a treasure hunt leading us around the house until we found this outside. The kids were ECSTATIC! We got a trampoline for Christmas 4 years ago, but it unfortunately bit the dust while we lived in St. George. The girls were very happy to have a new one and have spent all sorts of time outside. Thank goodness for mild winter weather!
And that about sums it up!
It was a good Christmas. Were we homesick? Absolutely...but we made the most of our time together and it really was great. I'm so grateful for my sweet little family!
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