Christmas Eve - Home For Christmas!

From NovDecFavorites

We were excited to experience our first Christmas back in Utah! We knew it would be much busier than we were used to, but we couldn't wait.

Kelly and Lisa were our amazing hosts for the Christmas Eve family get together. We got together earlier in the day and had lunch and an afternoon full of fun activities.

From NovDecFavorites

Could Angela make playing Bingo look any more fun? Woohoo! (o: The kids all had fun putting marshmallows on the cute Christmas pictures. Lisa was so sweet and even had wrapped prizes when they won! No wonder Angela was so excited. (o:

From NovDecFavorites

Lisa was very clever. The prizes that the kids got for Bingo were the next activity! The girls all got cute water bottles they could paint and stencil. This was a huge hit! Aunt Lisa is the best!

From NovDecFavorites

I just love this adorable picture of Anna. Kelly used her like a puppet to conduct the talent show. The kids (and adults) were laughing their heads off.

From NovDecFavorites

"Up on the Housetop" was Natalie's number. After getting sick and not getting to perform at my extended family party, she was thrilled to have an audience for her newly learned song. She got thunderous applause.

From NovDecFavorites

Kelton and Lisa played a really pretty duet. Most of the kids did some kind of cute little talent.

From NovDecFavorites

Grandma finished things off with a pretty primary song and her cute visual aid to help us remember the words. She is so clever. The kids pulled strings behind the board that lifted up pictures of parts of the nativity.

From NovDecFavorites

Just hanging out! What could be better?

From NovDecFavorites

This was one of my favorite memories of the day. Kelly and Lisa put together this entertaining lip sync with the kids. They sang that Chipmunks Christmas song - "Christmas Christmas time is here . . ." We laughed until we cried. Then the cousins got turns trying it out.

From NovDecFavorites

I think this one's of Kelton. (O:

From NovDecFavorites

And no party is complete without a little Guitar Hero. (O: Corbin was an amazing dancer. There was also a treasure hunt for the kids led by Travis*. Even with his funny rules about crawling, not running, not pushing or yelling - somehow there still ended up being an injury. (O: We had a very full and FUN afternoon.

In the evening, because it wasn't too late, we were able to do our fondue tradition and have time for the girls to open their traditional Christmas pajamas and . . .

From NovDecFavorites

From NovDecFavorites

The traditional Transformers from dad! (o: They had fun playing with these until bedtime.

This was one of the first years, I had almost all my wrapping done before Christmas Eve! It made for a nice, relaxing night as we waited for Santa to come!

Night on the Town!

From NovDecFavorites

What a wonderful new tradition we get to have being back in Utah!! We were so excited to show the girls Temple Square at Christmas.

From NovDecFavorites

We decided to get dinner first and it wasn't hard to decide where to eat. The Lion House Pantry! We had been here with my mom and Christine last March and loved it. It's a nice, casual atmosphere - the girls love that it is cafeteria style where you pick what you want. The only problem was that it seemed like everyone else in Utah had the same great idea to eat there. We waited in line for about an hour. Outside most of the time. Luckily, we were bundled up. And one of the Lion House staff came out with homemade butter mints to help ease our pain.

From NovDecFavorites

This was after about 40 minutes of waiting. Don't they look thrilled? Ang always smiles for pictures -what a sport!

From NovDecFavorites

Ahhhh - it was worth the wait. We had a lovely dinner - such good food!

From NovDecFavorites

Then we were off for the main event - temple square lights.

From NovDecFavorites

The main nativity that has the story from Luke 2 play over load speakers has been completely updated since we were here last. It was really nice.

From NovDecFavorites

We love to go see the Christus in the visitor's center. We also watched a short film about the nativity in the warm building.

From NovDecFavorites

This was the time of year Kent* and I got married - it was fun to reminisce and even walk right by and take a peek at the room we had our reception in - in the Joseph Smith Building. I still remember the amazing Christmas decorations, the huge tree in the entry and all the Christmas lights outside the windows. It was such a beautiful place for a reception. Good times. (o:

From NovDecFavorites

From NovDecFavorites

Natalie LOVED all the horse drawn carriages - we'll have to reserve one next year. She really wanted a picture "with" one.

From NovDecFavorites

From NovDecFavorites

This ally reminded Sarah of something from a Harry Potter scene! (o:

From NovDecFavorites

This was right outside of the room where our reception was held 14 years ago.

School Christmas Parties

From Dec-Feb

Through the month of December, Angela's teacher invited parents to come share a tradition that our families did for Christmas. I came on the day of their Christmas party and told the kids about our Christmas craft party. Then I helped the kids all make a Santa handprint card like the ones we made our our Christmas craft party last year.

From Dec-Feb

Abbi, Angela's cute friend.

From Dec-Feb

I love Kindergarteners. So cute.

From Dec-Feb

This kid's got personality, can you tell? (o: There is never a dull moment when Ashley is around! What a hoot!

From Dec-Feb

Playing a freeze dance game. The two boys are cuties - Ashton and Jake. Jake, the one on the right, is my boyfriend. (o: He is always giving me hugs and making little things for me when I come help in the class.

From Dec-Feb

Musical Peppermint candies.

From Dec-Feb

Natalie and Ruby at their party. Poor Sarah - by the time I got to her class I was too tired and busy to take any pictures. We did an around the world theme for her Christmas party and I led the Dreidel game. It was pretty fun. The kids put in Starburst candies or took them out depending on what they rolled.

One BIG Christmas Party!

From Dec-Feb

I remember the day I called my grandma T. to tell her we were moving back to Utah. She was so excited. It made me really happy that she was so excited we were coming back. After her cheers and happy expressions the next thing she told me about was the family Christmas party. (o: This was in August! (o: She knew the date and everything! That's how organized you have to be when you have 70+ people to invite. I was so excited to be able to attend and looked forward to it.

Because the family outgrew having parties in a home, we had our party at a church. My uncle John and grandparents thought of everything. Everything was decorated so nice, the food was fantastic and there were tons of things for the kids to do. We even did a big family picture which was quite a feat with so many people! (Take a close look at my adorable husband! He ages so well!)

From Dec-Feb

We had a talent show, a visit from Santa, a nativity, games and more. Unfortunately, Natalie got sick that day. I had Ned* bring her for the first little bit so they could be in the family picture, but that was all she could handle. She had a fever and no appetite. Poor thing. She was so disappointed to miss the talent show. She had been practicing "Up on the Housetop" on her violin all month. )o:

From Dec-Feb

One of the most entertaining things for the kids was making a huge paper chain! I think my cousin April came up with this idea - it was a huge hit.

From Dec-Feb

My nephew Kaleb showing off his portion.

From Dec-Feb

The chain went all the way around the gym by the time the kids were done! And guess who volunteered to take this monster home? Sarah!

From Dec-Feb

My cute little niece Rachael.

From Dec-Feb

My awesome cousins April and Katie. It's weird to think how grown up we are all getting. We used to be the little kids running around at the parties and dressing up for the nativity!

From Dec-Feb

Noelle played an adorable Mary.

From Dec-Feb

Angela was a beautiful wise wo"man"!

From Dec-Feb

Autumn - what a cutie.

From Dec-Feb

These kids were so cute - I don't think a lot of them really got what was going on, but it was very entertaining.

From Dec-Feb

This picture cracks me up. There are two kids with fingers in their noses and my nephew Danny is not sure he wants to be a shepherd.

From Dec-Feb

Grandma and grandpa loving the entertainment put on by their great grandkids. Or are they trying to stay awake? (o:

From Dec-Feb

Fred and Peggy - our "adopted" family ever since I can remember! (o: What a fun night - minus the fact that Ned* and Natalie didn't get to stay.

Christmas Craft Party

From NovDecFavorites

I believe this is our fourth annual Christmas craft party (maybe the fifth?). I started this back in Oregon because we missed out on a lot of the family parties and events that people who have family close get to take part in. Although, we had plenty of family parties to keep us busy this year, I thought it was important for the girls to have some new friend bonding to start making memories with their Utah friends. So, the tradition continues. This year I let each of the girls invite 2 friends.

From NovDecFavorites

Angela invited Sunny and Abbi. Aren't kindergarteners so adorable? Abbi lives two houses down and Sunny is a friend from school.

From NovDecFavorites

Amalie and Kassee are two good friends of Sarah's. She had a hard time just picking two friends. She has been blessed with so many cute and good friends.

From NovDecFavorites

Natalie invited Sydney, who lives across the street and was one of Nat's very first friends. And Janie is Natalie's sidekick at school. They are becoming inseparable.

From NovDecFavorites

We had a lovely time with Christmas music, crafting, making treats and enjoying being together! I love this tradition!

More Snow!

From NovDecFavorites

We got a lot of this white stuff before Christmas! The girls made this cute guy all by themselves with a few supplies from mom! They are loving the big backyard of their own fluffy stuff.

From NovDecFavorites

David Archiletta and the MoTab! LIVE - Almost.

From NovDecFavorites

The week we moved to Utah, I got an e-mail from my cousin about the upcoming Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert. This is an annual event that has grown in popularity exponentially every year. It is always incredible. I have seen several rebroadcasts that they play on BYUTV during the holiday season and they are so inspirational. They really bring the spirit of the season and the MoTab always takes my breath away.

So the chance to be at the Christmas concert LIVE sounded so incredible! A huge perk to living in Utah. Unfortunately, there are over a million other people who think this would be incredible too. The tickets are so popular, people used to sleep overnight in line to get them. To avoid this extreme, the tickets are now given out using a lottery system. The tickets are free - all you have to do is sign up and cross your fingers. They do 4 performances, but even so - you have to be pretty lucky to "win". I used all my siblings information to increase my chances, but nobody was picked. )o: I was pretty disappointed.

As a consolation prize, the church opens up other sites on Temple Square where you can watch a live broadcast. You have to enter to get tickets for these too and my grandparents scored 4 tickets for a Friday night. They very kindly offered the extra two tickets to Sarah and I! Sarah was so excited because the guest was David Archiletta - and being an American Idol fan, she knew who he was.

Our seats were in the Joseph Smith building theater and we had a FABULOUS time. The concert and program were just beautiful and embraced everything amazing about Christmas time. There was dancing, stirring music, incredible story-telling by Michael York and of course the nativity reading from Luke 2. Whether you are LDS or not (the programs are fitting for any Christian denomination), I'm telling you - this is the most amazing Christmas performance there is and there's a brand new concert with new amazing guests every year. I can't recommend it enough. It just gave me chills.

From NovDecFavorites

What a special night this was for us - we loved going on a "date" with great grandma and grandpa T. I love that my girls are getting lots of time getting to know grandma and grandpa now that we are in Utah.

From NovDecFavorites

I'm not a fan of this picture of myself, but it's me and my sweet Sarah, so I'm including it. (I need to get some more stylish winter garb - I've had that dumb headband thingy since I was 14!) We had fun exploring temple square and the beautiful lights a bit with grandma and grandpa. I LOVE temple square at Christmas. A HUGE plus to being back! I have missed it so much and now it can be a tradition for my girls too.

The White Witch

From NovDecFavorites

For a book report in December, Sarah had to read a fantasy novel and then do an oral book report from the perspective of one of the characters. She read, "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" and decided to be the White Witch. (Although, she looked way too cute to be evil. (o: )

Sarah did a great job. She is so creative and has a good sense of humor. She addressed the kids in her class as sons of Adam and daughters of Eve and used her most evil and mean-spirited voice. She really got into it. She talked about how disgusted she was when Edmund got away and her joy when she thought Aslan was gone for good.

I was also able to find some Turkish Delight at the World Market so Sarah could lure them to her to come try this sweet featured in the book. It was a big hit and fun for the kids to try something most of them had never had before. (It is kind of like really gushy gumdrops coated with powdered sugar.)

We love Sarah's teacher. She has a great sense of humor and got a kick out of Sarah's jokes. She laughed at all the right spots. (o:

Good job Sarah! Ahem - Queen of Narnia.