Christmas Day 2011

We had a wonderful Christmas Day this year. I love having Christmas on a Sunday and actually getting to go to church and worship our Lord on His day. We let the kids open their Santa gifts and then went to church. Church was wonderful; I especially love the singing of the Christmas hymns. Afterwords we had a Christmas morning brunch and then let the kids at the gifts. We went to dinner that evening with our friends, the Wysowskis, and just had a beautiful, peaceful day. I hope you all did too and we wish you all a  belated Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Christmas Eve Pajamas

We have the family tradition of opening a present (pajamas) on Christmas Eve. We did it a little earlier in the day, but that way the kids got to enjoy wearing them for a bit before they had to hop in bed. It was so fun and the kids are darling (at least I think so!).

 This little girl kept ripping open this one present and no others! Luckily, I knew what it was. Spencer had already repaired it 4 times by this point!

My little girls...and a tree

I received a new lens for my camera the day before Christmas Eve. It was a Christmas present, but Spencer wanted me to be able to play around with it before I used it to take my shots of the Christmas Eve pajamas. I still have a lot to learn, especially about lighting, but it is really fun to play around with everything and see how it changes the pictures!

This little bug has been obsessed with the tree. She just won't leave it alone, as I am sure you can tell with all the ornaments up at the top! It's so fun to see the wonder in her eyes while watching it. Lucy and Madelyn had such a blast constantly playing in front of the tree.

Decorating sugar cookies

I have the yummiest recipe for sugar cookies and the kids love making them with me. We decided to make some to bring to our ward Christmas party. It was so fun!

Gingerbread houses

We had a lot of fun this year doing our tradition of Gingerbread houses. The kits came with fondant, which I haven't used before, but it made for some fun new decorations for the houses.

Decorating the Tree

We have such a fun time decorating the tree. I somehow didn't get a picture of Sienna, but she was there, helping. I love listening to Christmas music, being together as a family and start the celebration of our Savior's birth.

Christmas 2010

We were blessed with a wonderful Christmas this year! On Christmas Eve, we were invited to our friends home, the Jenkins, for dinner and a Christmas Eve reading of the birth of Christ. It was beautiful and spiritual and even though it wasn't with our family, it felt like it was, because these wonderful people here have become that to us. Afterwards, we came home and opened our Christmas Eve pajamas.

Christmas Day we opened Santa gifts and then family gifts and just lounged around and played. That evening we went to the Wysowski's home for dinner. We are so blessed to have so many friends here and people that we love. Some of the pictures aren't the best, but they are the ones that I have and it's so important to document these memories. I don't ever want to forget.

We are immensely grateful for the knowledge of our Savior and all that He has done for us. We love him and we love this wonderful time of year to celebrate his birth and life and remember all that He provided for us.