Christmas

The whole month really seemed to fly by- I don't know why that always happens!

Having some ipad time together and not fighting :)

I actually sent this picture to my mother on her phone and she got after me for dressing Brielle in truck pajamas. They fit her and still have a lot of life in them! She also looks about the same size as Connor in a lot of pictures too. They are only 5 lbs apart, but we will see how long that holds out.

St. Nicholaus followed us from Germany and put goodies in our shoes on Dec. 6th

 While Grandpa and Joseph were here visiting we attended the West Point Holiday Singing Concert. They had told all of the children to wear nice clothes for the concert and I really tried to help Cael get ready for the big show. We were pretty embarrassed to see the outfit he was wearing. Check out the second picture....

 Look at all those holiday sweaters and nice slacks. Then check out the snow boots. Where does that kids come from? He did sing really well, it was just hard to look past the crazy outfit!

 Brecon looked so cute up there singing with his class and looking so handsome too! They had a great song called "Snow Pants... warm and snuggly ... SNOW PANTS" We all got a pretty good kick out of that one.

Here is the entire 4th grade class for a group shot. I liked the Chanaka and Kwanzaa decorations as well as the big Christmas Tree. Cael came home with an armful of the paper chains that were all around the gym. He said kids even were taking some of the chains that he had, and he still came home with enough for us to decorate our house a little bit more with.

***On Christmas Eve we worked really hard to make goodies plates to deliver to our friends and neighbors. Carmel popcorn, cinnamon almonds, and Lemon Melting Moments. I'm sure I could have come up with a better combination, but these were just the treats I made that day. I'm glad that Ben really wanted to keep up this tradition-- but we felt funny knocking on doors and having everyone answer dressed up like shepherds or angels. Obviously they were acting out the biblical account of the Saviors birth and we were going around dropping off treats. It even snowed that night as we were driving around- A Christmas Eve miracle.

***Christmas Morning. We spend the holiday together as a family here at our little home. The morning started at 8:00 when everyone was awake and ready to check out the downstairs. The kids are so fun to watch, the excitement, squeals of delight, and cheers of an exciting gift. Brielle got some cute dress up Tinkerbelle shoes and a doll house. Also a few baby dolls! Every girl needs a few baby dolls! The funny part of the morning was when Brecon and Connor had taken Brielle's doll house and hid behind a door so they could play with it uninterrupted.

This year as a family we decided that we are going to make gifts for each other from now on for Christmas. I think that starting earlier in the month will relieve some of the stress that comes from trying to get everything finished on time. I helped Brecon make cardboard swords and weapons to give to Cael and Connor. He even made a magic fairy wand for Brielle and we did MODGE PODGE with pink, purple, and black paper on the handle to make it more colorful. I made reverent books for each of the boys with pictures of the Savior and also temples in it. For Ben I made a memory book of all the emails we wrote to each other while he was in Afghanistan. Plus pictures he took while he was down there.  Ben made secret books for the boys (regular books with a cut out section to hide treasures in) and the whole family made me vanilla candles in tea cups. In addition, we've started the tradition of a MOM and DAD book. A place when the kids can draw, write, color, and make an entry in a book that we will keep for Christmas, birthdays, and other holidays. There is something special about that first picture your child draws for you! Or when they write their name for the first time or spell out 'mom' in those first letters. I'm excited for this tradition as I watch the kids and my relationship with them longitudinally through their entries over the years.

We played with our toys, read stories and books, and spent the day -- and the whole break-- taking it easy and enjoying our time together. Plenty of messes all the time but that was okay!