We had a great Christmas this year!
With the Christmas season comes the carolers at the door, Christmas cards in the mail, giving and receiving fun random treats from neighbors and friends, and... the ward party! It's always fun!
This year the primary put on a nativity musical! They did an awesome job-- but my personal favorite part is Kailey. She was asked to sing with the big girls and oh how excited she was to be a part of it! She was the youngest up there and I gotta tell ya-- it was so much fun watching her up there! I tried to video it.. so click below to see her!
This year we tried hard to keep focused on the true meaning of Christmas and to keep/try new family traditions. Our kids are young, but they are getting old enough now that they can remember holiday traditions which is very cool and yet a little overwhelming at the same time. So, let me rephrase...they are old enough to start remembering, yet young enough that this is the time those traditions can start.
We tried a few.
Some turned out fun and meshed with us, while others did not.
Some that we loved this year and will carry on into the future were:
- Christmas Eve boxes (Each of us had a box with fun pjs and hot coco... perfect tradition for our stay home together watching a christmas movie and then later reading the true Christmas Story from the scriptures before bed.)
- Birthday Cake for Jesus (The kids seemed to really enjoy this! We left out a slice of birthday cake for Santa instead of cookies which was a bit more meaningful for them.)
- Brother/sister gifts- This year the kids all drew each others names, bought gifts for that sibling, and then on Christmas Eve they opened those gifts. They opened each in turn after they were given their gift from their brother/sister. It was special making them wait in turn because each got to see and feel the joy of the gift giving! *Next year, we want to do this again-- but change it to Christmas Eve's eve and on that evening "sleep under the tree". I felt like we tried to do too much on Christmas eve night and because of that some things felt rushed, but it all worked out. I love that we are a young family figuring the 'holiday traditions' out and I can't help but feel joy even in the slight failed attempts and tiny mistakes.
- 12 Nights of Christmas books- Last year my mom, Michael's mom, and myself all bought Christmas books to use for this tradition and it was such a hit with the kids, so we did it again! I bought a couple books to add to the collection, wrapped them all, and they anxiously waited til it was time to start counting down the nights with books!
Gah and Pawpaw Steve drove from MS the day before Christmas Eve to spend the holiday with us! We went to Union Station to see the lights and trains and then came home for a night of Christmas Eve traditions. It is fun having extra family with us on Christmas morning, so we loved that they were able to come!
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| Christmas Eve with our pjs on! |
Oh, and check out the Lego table!
I had a friend give me an old train table which we turned into a new lego table!
It's been super fun especially since the kids are really using it! :)
I didn't take as many pictures or videos as I wanted, but in that failed attempt I just have to remember that we have 4 kiddos and it is HARD capturing each of them opening gifts all at the same time and enjoying those moments with them. I think at one point my camera was lost in wrapping paper, but we were there in the moment with them more so than behind a camera and I can't feel bad about that choice.
Thank you to all family that sent us gifts!
We love you... miss you... and wish ya'll all a happy New Year!!
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