A Very Merry Christmas Indeed!

To sum up the last few weeks, it has been such Happy Holidays around these parts! Truly, we have felt the Spirit, felt an abundance of love in our home, and been warmed by the thoughts and kind gestures of so many others! We are so blessed!

I won't try and recap ALL the details (just some). Suffice it to say, we had a simply sweet Christmas Eve and a wonderful Christmas day! With none of my extended family close by this year, it was just the 5 of us on Christmas Eve. I have to say, I loved it! It was purposefully simple and really, really happy. We made and decorated cookies early in the day. Kaiya was VERY into this. She had been talking for weeks about Santa's tummy being grumbly and how we HAD to have lots of cookies for him. So we made lots!

That night we decided to eat out at one of our favorite restaurants because again, SIMPLE...and mom didn't feel like cooking! We went on our traditional Christmas Eve drive to see lights and Kaiya spotted Santa heading into someone's house (probably for a party of some kind). She was quite distressed about it and covered her eyes and said, "I don't want to see Santa! He won't bring me presents if I see him!!" She was convinced it was actually him! Too funny! We came home and worked on our love stockings (by far, one of my favorite traditions from when I was growing that we do in our family now),

put on our Christmas jammies,

had hot chocolate and treats and popcorn while watching Frosty. Then we read the Christmas story and talked about how much Jesus means to each of us. Another of my favorite things to do. We listened to Grandma and Grandpa read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" in their recorded book, put our cookies and glass of milk under the tree (that's where Kaiya designated it should go so Santa would be sure to find it),

and went outside to throw our reindeer food in the grass so they would be sure to have something to eat while Santa worked.

Then after the girls went to bed, Chris and I watched National Lampoons together while wrapping presents and constructing a few things. It was a really nice and quiet and perfect evening!

(This picture kills me -- look at Tay and Avery making the EXACT same face! Sisters for sure!)

Christmas day started bright and early as the girls snuck into our room to ask if Santa had come, still too nervous that they might see him if they went out to see for themselves! We had a blast opening presents and I am happy to say we were really successful this year in our choices for the kids -- they loved everything!
It was so, so nice to have Christmas on Sunday this year and to be able to go to church. Our choir put on the most beautiful program and I was grateful for the added measure of the Spirit to think about our Savior. Afterwards, we drove to Chris' parents house and spent the rest of the day/evening enjoying being with our family. Delicious dinner (Chris' mom always works so hard and puts together the most yummy spread), and a chance to visit. We opened more presents there and then drove home all tuckered out, but very happy! I really loved Christmas this year! So much!(The reality of what 90% of our pictures really look like!)We really missed my parents as they serve their mission. We had lots of moments of "I wonder what mom and dad are doing right now" or "Remember last year when we were doing [this] or [that] with mom and dad?" But it is also such a blessing to be able to share our love and sentiments across the miles. We felt of their love so strong and hope they felt ours in return. We know they and we have received such abundant blessings from their service and we are so grateful for their example. I missed my siblings a lot too. I was fortunate to be able to spend some time with my sister and to have my oldest brother fly into Utah for a quick trip and meet him for dinner one evening. We also had a visit from one of Chris' sisters that lives out of state and her family. So, those visits with family members were cherished and I'm grateful for any chance I get to spend with the ones we love.

We have been sooo lucky to have Chris home A LOT over the last few weeks! He had some extra days to take off, in addition to what he already had off, so it has been almost a full two weeks of our honey! We have been soooo spoiled! I don't know what I'm going to do when he has to go back to work :( We have had lazy days, fun days, busy days, and very happy days with him around! Life is just BETTER and more fun and more exciting and more sweet when daddy is home! We are cherishing this time with him!

So, I'll end with some pictures and my heart full of happy memories from our Christmas this year! Hope yours was wonderful as well!