Christmastime

This Christmas will be remembered as one in which we: enjoyed a white Christmas in Colorado (which is less common than one might think, as only approximately 1/3 of Christmases in the Denver metro area in the past century have been white); were watched over and blessed by a number of angelic secret Santas who performed a variety of anonymous and extremely generous acts of service for our family; managed to keep the tree and ornaments largely intact despite a destructive toddler; shared some laughs; watched one of our own children perform a touching act of his own service; learned more about our Savior and grew to love him even more; saw Brian lose himself in and subsequently find a way to produce one of the most touching writing pieces he has ever created; enjoyed watching the children take an increasing interest in identifying all the faces in the abundance of Christmas cards that arrived in the mail; and celebrated the joy of the season.

Christmas Eve day found us playing in the snow to burn some energy and making mini snowmen-

It was just the six of us for Christmas Eve. We enjoyed a fun appetizer dinner, played some Christmas-themed Minute to Win It Games (this was SO MUCH FUN!), including throwing marshmallows into a small bucket, playing the Nutstacker (stacking bolt nuts on top of each other) and carrying marshmallows to a bowl via a spoon in the mouth, no hands), watched the children perform their own version of the nativity, with Connor as Joseph, Isabel as Mary and Lucas as the innkeeper, watched 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, read some Christmas stories, let the children open one gift, and put out cookies and milk for Santa.

It's fun to play Santa and prepare for Christmas Day after the children go to bed. I made these fun snowman poop stocking stuffers-

Christmas morning! Santa brought Isabel a fun new desk for her room, since she spends so much time writing/coloring/drawing and such; we got the desk from a friend; it had a cute shape but needed some TLC. I saw an idea on Pinterest to paint the drawers in the graduating colors from a paint card, and Isabel unknowingly selected the knobs when we were shopping one day. I love how it turned out! Connor got a great Hot Wheels race track, Lucas got a scooter and Mason got a Little People farm tractor set.

For breakfast I made Father Tim's Christmas morning casserole from my Mitford Cookbook, and my mom's cherry bread-

Our family on Christmas-

At church we enjoyed a beautiful Christmas program, then we hosted Christmas dinner with some of Brian's family. I was so busy I forgot to take pictures! We capped off dinner with an unbelievably scrumptious caramel bread pudding. That evening we relaxed and watch the Joy to the World DVD, which always fills me with joy and love.

Hope everyone had a beautiful Christmas!

More days of Christmas

We attended Isabel and Connor's class Christmas parties. I forgot the camera at Isabel's. Connor's class performed a Christmas play - Connor did a great job memorizing and delivering his lines - and they performed some songs. Darling.

We had a Christmas get together with my brother and SIL Nate and Alli. We watched A Charlie Brown Christmas and had pizza, exchanged some gifts and went on a great walk to look at lights.

I did a fun Christmas ornament craft with the kiddos, thanks to a Pinterest pin. We painted little canvases, applied painted handprints, then decorated them as snowmen and hung them on the tree. This took most of an afternoon with all the drying between each step and the work they put into them, and it was SO MUCH FUN! We all have a great time doing this. I am slightly project OCD and am so proud of myself for not helping them at all - these are entirely their works of art. We followed with an Apple Dumpling Gang movie party; I loved this movie growing up, and it was the first time my kids have seen it. Brought back so many memories.

We (read: Brian) spiced up our spaghetti dinner one evening by creating a small plate of Buddy the Elf spaghetti. I refused to try it, he choked down a bite, but the kids ate it right up.

We had a huge snowstorm just a couple of days before Christmas, and went sledding and playing in the magical sparkly white joy. Mason especially is crazy about snow.

We did our annual tradition of wearing PJs to drive around and look at lights and deliver some goodies; this year we added mugs of hot chocolate to the evening. The snowstorm had just ended, and it was a silent, sparkly night to be out. A very peaceful and warm memory.