End of December Continued

My dad has been talking about going shooting with Nate for months. They finally scheduled a day and I decided to tag along. It made me a little nervous at first, but it was actually kind of fun! We also went to the Zoo with Ashley and Jared and their family.  

End of December

We went sledding with the Elmers (no one else in my family could go), made cookies with friends, and had Janet and Kent and Ashley and Jared and their family over for dinner. My kids can't get enough of Annie and Austin and Isaac!

Christmas Day

We started a new tradition this year of putting wrapping paper at the top of the stairs (Laura's idea) on Christmas Eve so when the kids woke up in the morning they could break through it. It worked great! As the kids have gotten older, Christmas Day has changed. Our traditions have changed a little and been added to. As sad as I am that the kids are not as little as they once were, I've also found that we enjoy Christmas Day more. I'm more relaxed and as a result, I think everyone enjoys the day more. We stayed in our pajamas most of the morning and afternoon and then visited my dad and Nate's family (after Nate shoveled the driveway for over an hour). I was really excited to give my dad his present--a five generation picture of him and his ancestors on his dad's side. At the Nelson's we got to see Ashley and Jared and their family and Luann and her family. I'm always sad when the day is over, but it was a really nice day and the kids were so cute!

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, my mom came over in the morning and then the kids opened their pajamas from us. We then went skiing like we did last year on Christmas Eve. It was a great day! I braided the girls hair the night before and packed a bag to take to Janet and Kent's after skiing. We all showered there and got ready to go to dinner. We went to a dim sum house downtown and then went to The Grand America to see the windows. On our way home, we drove by Temple Square to see the lights. It was a different Christmas Eve with all the rest of Nate's family not there, but we had a really nice night! It was fun to get ready at Nelsons (it was almost like we were staying at Grandmas from out of town) and dinner was fun too (albeit incredibly slow and I didn't get a picture of Nate and Janet). And seeing the windows and lights on Temple Square was perfect because there weren't any crowds on Christmas Eve. The kids changed into their new pajamas at Nelsons and we headed home. It took us over an hour to get there because of a snowstorm, but we made it and put everyone to bed in the girls' room and sang Christmas carols until everyone fell asleep. It was one of my favorite Christmas Eves!

Our "Christmas Eve"

The Sunday before Christmas we always have our family's "Christmas Eve." We also opened the kids pajamas from Luann that night. And this year instead of acting out the nativity (since we had already done it twice with both of our families) we watched different nativity movies on lds.org. This night is always one of my favorite parts of Christmas!

More from Christmas Break

Laura had a piano recital where she played four different songs, including two duets with Alexa, and got a trophy for practicing the most. She played beautifully! We also met Ashley and Jared's new baby Annie, who is as sweet as can be, went sledding (Tiffany and her kids came and we met up with Jenny Roos and her kids there), and saw the reindeer and the lights at Thanksgiving Point.