Late late late

 It is almost January and here I am just starting to get my Christmas cards sent out.

 

 I am grateful that I had a few minutes to sit down and start on them today.

Early Risers

I swear this girls wake up earlier and earlier every year.

But that's ok because their excitement is well worth rolling out of bed at the crack of dawn.

 

 

 

  I am so very grateful for the birth of our Savior.

Another Christmas Tradition

 I am grateful for all the family that we were able to have over for our Shepard's dinner.

 

 

Christmas Eve Eve Get together

It's time for the annual Christmas Eve Eve get-together at my in-law's house.

And time for the kids to put on the Christmas pageant.

 

 

 

Party with the Elf

Well, the Elf on the Shelf has made an appearance in our house this year.

Tonight we found her having a party with the Barbies.

I am thankful that our elf isn't a trouble maker.

They each get their own

One of the traditions that we have is that each of the kids gets a mini tree for them to decorate however they wish to.
I love watching them decorate it.

I am thankful that the kids practically beg to decorate their tree.....just shows me how much they love it.

Time for the tree

I am grateful that Jay didn't cause too much trouble while we were trying to set up the tree and decorate it.

Advent Activity Calendar

I mentioned earlier in the month that we were doing an Advent Activity Calendar.

I decided to put a list of all the things we did into one post...so here we go!

So here is what it looked like...

nothing too exciting.  =)

Actually looks really messy and busy....oh well.

Each of the days had a card with the activity on it and some of them even had a bonus prize or teat with them.

Day 1- Cut out Snow flakes

2- Write letters to Santa

3- Go to Zoo Lights

4- Go see Santa

5- Go listen to a Christmas Music Performance (it happened to be my oldest's band Christmas concert)

6- Go get Ice cream

7- Paint a Christmas Picture

8- Make cookies and deliver them to neighbors

9- Go see Layton Lights

10- Read Christmas books together

11- Decorate Christmas ornaments

12- Treasure Map treat hunt

13- Play a game together

14- Look at neighborhood lights and have hot chocolate after

15- Make Gingerbread Nativity's

16-Go to Temple Square

17- Pick out a toy for toys for tots

18- Sing Christmas songs while wearing santa hats

19- Wraps some presents

20- Watch a Christmas movie and eat treats

21- Build a blanket fort and have dinner in it

22-Eat red and green pancakes

23- Go to Nana's Christmas party

24- Have our Shepard's dinner

Some of the activities had to switched around due to bad weather or sickness.  But all in all the kids absolutely LOVED it (even though there was a bit of bickering during some of the activities)!  It made for an even busier holiday season but we had a lot of fun spending time together that I think I may do it again next year.

Now here's some pictures from our adventures.  =)

( in no particular order)

Oh....and sorry for the bad quality of the photos....they were taken with my cell phone.



Time for Frozen Yogurt

Christmas Party at Nana and Papa's

Temple Square

Listening to the band concert

Going to see Santa

And dropping off our letters to Santa

Zoo lights

Merry Christmas

Baby Ponyo trying her clothes on all by herself.  =)

Christmas Eve

Before we got the kids all nestled snug in their beds we read

The Night Before Christmas

I am grateful for traditions.

Nana's House

I am grateful for the fun we had at Nana and Papa's house tonight.


Oh and here's a funny little story about Little A.

She was Mary for the Nativity Pageant.  She ran off with her 'outfit' and got dressed all by herself.

She came out in her undies with this on her.

It was too cute and funny! We were all laughing SO hard!  She made a perfect Mary.

Big Helper

I am thankful for gingerbread nativity making fun.  =)

New Tradition

This year I decided to try out a new kind of advent calendar.....kind of like a family activity advent calendar.

Now I'm probably not going to have pictures for every single activity that we do..... I'm trying to be more part of it and not worry about if I got a picture of it or not.

For day 1 we cut out snowflakes.

Today, day 2, we wrote letters to Santa.

I am grateful for spell check.

Time to decorate!

I am grateful for my Christmas tree decorating helpers.

Christmas in a nutshell

I am grateful for a wonderful Christmas.

Christmas Eve

Woohoo! It is Christmas Eve!

One of the family's favorite nights.

We had our traditional Shepherds Dinner.

Then the kids opened their Christmas eve gift. They each got jammies and a winter hat.

Then we put cookies out for Santa and read the Night Before Christmas.

Then we sent the kids off to bed so they could have dreams filled with sugar plums dancing in their heads.

I am grateful for a fun and meaningful evening with my family.

Just for fun.

Today I wanted to get some pictures to help us remember how big she was for her first Christmas.

I posted a couple of them on Facebook already of her with a Santa hat on, but here are some that I tried with some Christmas lights.

I am thankful that this season has been a fun and festive one and not too stressful.