Christmas, better late than never

 

Yes, I am finally getting to my Christmas pictures.  But, as I said in the post title, better late than never!

We celebrate Christmas at our house on Christmas Eve.  I love to make Christmas Eve dinner.  Its so much easier than Thanksgiving!  We do the traditional prime rib and all the trimmings.

 

I know I look like a dork here but he wouldn’t take a picture of the food without me in the picture – bleh.

All the immediate family came over.  I do love the holidays because we are all able to get together, talk, and have fun at least a couple times a year.

Julia and her Deda

Cade and Henry playing as usual

 

Me and my brother

The kids got so many presents this year.  I thought we kept the amount down but all the relatives bought them so much stuff.  They made out like bandits.  It was like hyenas attacking the sick wildebeest.

We got the boys a bunch of camping gear for scouts.  We wanted to get them stuff they could use throughout the year.  Almost every Christmas they get a bunch of toys and 2 weeks later they are all broken.  So, this year we got them useful presents.

Cade was so sweet and got Victor an awesome tool belt.  It was such a thoughtful gift as he is always fixing something around the house.

I made some capes for the boys based on my friend Lynn’s awesome tutorial.  You can see it below.  He’s wearing it while riding his new bike in the house no less.

Julia was into everything.  She obviously didn’t know what was going on other than there was lots of pretty paper to rip up.  We did get her a baby doll in a stroller.  She was SO cute with it.  I love to see her play with and nurture her baby.  It really brings home to me how important it is that I am able to be with her everyday and how she is modeling my mothering.  It makes me feel so blessed.

 

It was an awesome day but I must say I’m glad all the Christmas craziness is over.  Now, its time to do some Spring cleaning!

I love to see the Temple…

Before Christmas we went to the Temple to see the lights.  I had never been there during Christmastime and was really excited to go!  It was so beautiful.  The Temple is already beautiful, but it was extra special at Christmas. 

There were two really beautiful nativity scenes set up on the lawns.  The lights were amazing.  My camera does not do them justice.  Unfortunately, it went a little wonky so most of the pictures I took there didn’t turn out so great.  But, the beauty of it is in my heart.

We decided to go to the Mormon Battalion afterward since it was pretty close to the Temple.

 

I had never been there either so it was a real treat.  We went on a weeknight and there was nobody there.  It was amazing!  I loved the movies and the themed rooms.  So kid friendly!  I love how they made the story so interactive.  It was like being at Disneyland.  Because nobody was really there that night, the boys got to try on all the cool gear the soldiers wore.  They had a ball.

We got there pretty late so we couldn’t pan for gold or look at the brick making equipment.  I’d love to go there some Saturday and then explore Old Town too.

We had a wonderful evening starting at the Temple and then learning all about the amazing pioneers of the Church.

Christmas Knock-offs

 So, I’ve been reading some awesome crafting blogs lately.  I’ve been inspired!  I love it when people share their thoughts and ideas on blogs.  What a wonderful way to share some great ideas with us lesser crafty folks!

I’ve wanted a Christmas Advent calendar for AGES but couldn’t find one that I really liked until I came across one I loved at Land of Nod.  Unfortunately, the picture is no longer available but I basically looked at the picture of it and did my own.  Here it is:

 

A good friend at Church held a crafting activity in which she showed us how to make a Thanksgiving advent calendar.  I used the same concept for this one.  I embroidered the “Merry Christmas” on a separate piece of felt and then attached it with the snowflake stitch on my machine.  I was too nervous to put it on the big piece of felt because it required moving the hoop.  I figured if I messed it up on the scrap piece, no big deal.  However, it turned out great and it wasn’t crooked!

I had so much fun doing this and my kids just loved getting their candies out of it every day.