Christmas!

 We had so much fun celebrating Christmas this year! As always, so many of the fun parties and activities went undocumented- but that's okay. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and my family and our friends and guests and didn't worry too much about pretty pictures. So there was a BYU friends party that happened (we hosted, it was fun!), a White family party and a Smith family party that was lovely, and a whole lot of merriment around our house.

We snuck away one cold and snowy Friday night to Christmas village in Ogden. I love this place. It's so full of twinkle lights and Christmas magic. This year was especially fun with silly Davis, who quickly looked at each little house and then RAN to the next one, frequently saying "Let's go boys! Let's keep lookin!" We kept up a brisk pace to keep up with him (which was great since it was cold) and finished off the night at home with pizza and watching Muppet Christmas Carol. It was such a fun night with our little family.

 We had a gingerbread decorating party with the Hugos one Saturday afternoon. These gingerbread men were delicious and the boys had fun decorating. Hudson made his army guys. I think Chase made a grinch gingerbread man.

 I love our house decorated for Christmas. In the evening, Ben and I often just sat in our living room in the sweet, soft light of the tree to chat and breathe for a minute. Such a happy place for us!

 We went to temple square one Sunday night with Nana and Papa. It was cold, but we enjoyed ourselves anyway. These lights are so pretty and all the boys loved it!

 This is my ever diligent Chase practicing his Christmas songs early in the morning. I absolutely loved making breakfast all month while listening to his sweet piano music serenading me with Christmas carols.

 Then it was Christmas Eve, our most anticipated day of the year! We had a lovely time up at my parents house. The kids put on the cutest talent show- Chase played his favorite Christmas piano songs (Little Drummer Boy and Angels we have Heard On High), Hudson did a magic trick, Davis identified letters, Nora did ninja skills, Anna produced a small play, and then Chase and Hudson did a Star Wars finale with Chase playing the piano and Hudson light saber battling. We did the nativity with puppets, which was crazy and chaotic as always. We played a few fun games and had our beautiful candlelight dinner. Both of the older boys have mentioned lately how they really look forward to the candlelight dinner all year.

 Then we opened presents and the room was filled with so much love and gratitude. The kids were spoiled of course, and really didn't even need anything from Santa or us the next day after all the gifts they got from their grandparents, aunts and uncle and cousins. It was such a fun magical night!

 We quickly got the boys in bed, and they were all asleep by like 8:45! I read them a few Christmas books and sang a few carols and they were almost asleep before I even left their room. I had all the wrapping done early in the month, so Ben and I just watched BYU lose it's bowl game (bummer) and got to bed at a really reasonable time!

Christmas morning the big kids woke up early, but dutifully stayed in their room and quiet until 7:30, when we let them wake Davis up. We all headed downstairs and enjoyed a peaceful morning opening presents together! The boys were so thankful for their gifts and happy that Santa delivered just what they wanted. We unwrapped the gifts under the tree, and all loved watching Davis's excitement as this was the first year he grasped the presents concept!

Ray and Diane came over for Christmas breakfast, and bringing still more gifts! They got the boys helmets, which were much needed- hence them all wearing helmets in this picture. And this is actually the only picture I have of Christmas day! I guess I was just enjoying the moment too much to take many pictures. Ben made delicious biscuits and gravy for our breakfast and the kids played with their new toys all day long. Between the laser tag set we got them, several new lego sets, slime making kits, and other fun new games and toys they were happy and busy all day.

We ended the night back at my parents house to have dinner with them and Heidi. It was low key and delicious. This Christmas was just wonderful- we were all healthy and all together. It was full of fun, but not too frantic or stressful.  I'm so thankful for this beautiful family of mine and that we got to have such a joyous season together!