{the tree}

One of my favorite things about the holiday are the trees.

We have two...one that is navy, silver, and white (our wedding colors) with glass balls that have family pictures in them. Our favorite pictures from each year of our married life.

The other holds all the ornaments we receive for gifts, that the boys make or fun ones we have bought over the years. We also put Christmas books under both trees for the holidays. The books get packed away all year long so when they come out we spend a lot of time reading them. I love them both and insist they be plugged in all day long.

I'm always sad when it is time to take the trees down.

{First time}

So we (me, my parents and B & V) took the kids ice skating for the first time.

Keep in mind it has been at least 11 years since I have been on ice skates, and I don't know how long for B & V.

It is really sad that it took 3 skating adults and 2  non- skating adults to take 4 skaters and one baby.

But we were lucky to have all of us there because we could tag team the skaters, all who have never skated before, and Grandma & Grandpa could deal with the non-skaters or the ones taking a "break."

Everyone did really well. K tried hard and had many falls.

E went around the whole rink quite a few times and fell only a handful of times. It was great to see his determination to keep going and get better at it.

For me....I forgot what a work out it is to ice skate, but I think in my younger years it wasn't a work out. So it's just another reminder of my age.

But they do want to go skating again so that is great!

{even more}

Christmas Morning is wonderful at our house. It is hard to remember why I was so against staying home "by ourselves" for the holiday because I enjoy it so much now.

We have started a little tradition that in the morning the boys come into our room, cuddle up on our bed and HAVE to watch ALL of Polar Express before we go out to the tree. This was a fluke tradition, in that we didn't realize we had done this two years in a row and now I think we are on year 4 so why ruin a good thing? I mean it gives us a good 90 minutes more of sleep in the morning. That is why we can get away with present opening not starting until 830 or 9.

Presents were bountiful this year....nerf guns, wii games, ds games, books galore, games, yo yos, Canadian chocolate...and the list goes on. Santa was good to us all.

At the end of the day I asked E "Did you get what you wanted?"

to which he replied "even more." and it came with a hug.

Melt my heart.

{the Night before}

So my family growing up always took picture by the tree on Christmas Eve. I have 15 years of these pictures with our little family and they are some of my favorites!!

So this is this year's version. They were very cooperative and smiley!! I love it!

{Christmas Eve Fire}

So one of our Christmas Eve Traditions is to make a fire in the back yard and roast hot dogs and marshmallows. This started because on a few trips to Canada for Christmas we went to Waterton on Christmas Eve and played in the snow and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows.

We now do the roasting but continually are wishing for some snow...which truthfully will  probably never happen.

In past years, the boys of the family go out back and dig a pit. This year I kept my eyes open for a fire pit we could buy and luckily I found one. The boys were aware but we didn't tell C but saved it for our Christmas present to him.

Well, when the time or rather day, came to start digging K almost melted with my insistence that C wait to Christmas to open his gift. Finally I told him to ask C if he wanted to open a gift today and after realizing what the commotion was about he agreed and opened the fire pit. K was so relieved to not have to dig a pit.

{Baking Evening}

So this year for our friends and neighbors we decided that we would drop off cinnamon rolls instead of making all different types of cookies and treats to make up plates. So together we made 28 pans of rolls which turned out to be 2 1/2 batches of dough (not the 4 batches we thought it would take), 4 pounds of powdered sugar 1.5 gallons of milk, 27 cups of flour, and 3 pounds of butter. It was a great family project and took only about 5 hours of continual work by all of us (this doesn't count the first half of the recipe since I did that on my own and the time to let the dough rise.)

Our kitchen proves itself too small each year when it is time to make treats for the neighbors and since the kitchen table was covered with puzzle pieces we used all the counter space and floor space we had. It was an adventure and the boys loved delivering the treats in the rain.

24 pans successfully delivered and enjoyed (we hope.)

{Forgotten Carols}

This year was the first time we have taken the boys to see Michael McLean's "Forgotten Carols." C and I saw it years ago in Logan and loved it but it is hard to get tickets for the one night they do the show here so we never have been since.  This year I made sure to buy tickets the first day they were available and we still ended up in the balcony but on the first row quite near the center so that was good.

The boys loved the play and asked why we stopped going to plays. (We had a brief streak of taking them to the live theater but stopped) So now we are setting a new goal for 2011 to see more live theater with them.

{Chistmas Puzzle and Movie}

This past Sunday's Christmas activity included tithing settlement, puzzle playing and a movie.

We put together a puzzle each Christmas break and each year the puzzle seems to get harder. This year it is a 1000 piece puzzle with lots of greens and browns. E and I seem to do most of the puzzle but the other 2 jump in now and then. Mostly it is everyone to start with then as time goes on it is me and E.

But it is a fun thing to have around the house over the break from school.

{our Elves}

{Christmas Paintings}

December 12 was a Sunday this year and it was our 3rd annual Christmas Painting evening. This year the theme was "candy canes" chosen by E. (the first year was snowmen, chosen by me, then last year was Christmas trees, chosen by K).

Everyone gets a canvas and we just start to paint. It is the quietest activity we do as part of our Christmas Sunday Traditions and probably the longest one too but we love it! And it is the one the boys ask for each year!

{the List}

One of our Christmas "traditions" is that every Sunday between Thanksgiving and Christmas we do something "Christmas-y."

Last Sunday was the "Wish List." Everyone writes one, and you can wish for ANYTHING. No limits and nothing is too much. You can add to the list as the holiday progresses and we hang them on the fridge.

They today while I was working in the kitchen I realized that someone had added some new items to his list...It would be K's list and it looks like this....

He added $$$$. Then gold silver and platinum.  Very clever....and I thing this is a sign of him getting older too.

{Tree Time}

I love having the Christmas trees up with the lights on and the ornaments. It makes the holiday come alive each year.

So after everyone left from our Thanksgiving weekend we started decorating.

{more Gingerbread Party Pictures}

Here's some more from our Gingerbread party.....