We couldn't have asked for a better Christmas this year! It really makes me sad as I make this post because I hate to see the Christmas Season come to an end. Ours was filled with love, laughter, service, lot's of yummy food, a visit from Santa himself on Christmas night, and many, many wonderful memories! It makes me so happy to be able to spend this special time with my family and the ones we love. I hope each of you had a very Merry Christmas too!
This is our little family on Christmas Eve as we were getting ready to head to my parents house to begin all the festivities!
Every Christmas Eve we eat a delicious candlelight dinner at my parents house. The menu is always the same...homemade Chicken Cordon Bleu, Rice with our special sauce, Green Bean Casserole, homeade Rolls, Berry Jello, Sarah's Salad, and Chocolate Mousse. And every year I look forward to it for weeks to come! After dinner we used to reinact the Christmas Story from the Bible, but we started a new tradition of doing that on the Monday before Christmas for FHE. This year was much better because we weren't so rushed and so we were able to enjoy our dinner and do some visiting before we all loaded up into our cars to make our secret delivery. This year we chose a family from my parents inner-city mission. They are a cute little family from the Dominican Republic who are really struggling. The dad works 2 jobs and has serious health problems. Our delivery is always my favorite part of Christmas!!! We spend weeks planning, shopping, and wrapping the presents for the family. It has been a tradition in our family since I was really little and it is the one thing that I remember year after year. This family lives in a little townhouse in the Rose Park area and so we all headed down there to make our delivery. We had bags and bags of food and presents for the family and piled them all on their front porch. We then always ring the door bell and hide so that we can not be seen, but can hear their reaction. So far we haven't been caught and it is always so fun to hear the little kids get sooo excited that Santa came!
Once we complete our delivery, then for the last 5 years we have all slept over at my sister's house in Herriman. This has been such a fun tradition to have all of us there together for Christmas! Sadly, we just don't know how much longer we'll be able to keep it up since our family is getting so big! Hopefully this wasn't our last because we have such a great time! Once we all get back to their house then we all open our pajamas and set out the milk and cookies for Santa. Once the kids are all in bed then we adults then open our presents to each other. This year we had a special little present to open, and that was the envelope from our ultrasound telling us that we are to have another little boy! We then all finish up our wrapping and get the house all ready for Christmas morning. This year around 2:00 a.m. before we were all about to go to bed, Santa came! My sister Krista and her husband Riley always sleep upstairs in the bonus room with the older kids and so they woke them up to let them take a peak at Santa! It was quite the surprise and they talked about how they saw Santa nonstop the next day! (I think we now have believers for life!) Once Santa left then the adults finally headed to bed.
When we wake up in the morning, we aren't allowed downstairs until uncle Toddy has all the music and lights ready for us. So, here is Grady and the boys upstairs with all the kids opening up their stockings and waiting anxiously to come down!
Christmas morning...this is what we all woke up to!
Uncle Toddy...aka Santa!
Cute little Sawyer wearing Santa's hat!
The boys coloring on my sewing machine box with their new crayons...I really think their big crayons from Papi was their favorite gift! It's always the simple things!
Christmas morning was spent taking pictures, opening presents and eating our Christmas Breakfast Casserole. We had such a good time and it was so fun to watch the boys get so excited about Santa coming and opening their presents. It was also fun to see them interact and experience this with all their cousins!
Normally we would have left around 1:00 p.m. when we were all finished, but this year we woke up to so much snow that we were actually snowed in! So, all the men headed outside to put in a few hours of shoveling snow and getting our cars unstuck. Luckily we were able to stay inside and play with all our new games and presents. We didn't end up leaving until around 5:00 and by then Grady was exhausted so we just headed home to enjoy a nice quiet night as a family.
This is our little family on Christmas Eve as we were getting ready to head to my parents house to begin all the festivities!
Every Christmas Eve we eat a delicious candlelight dinner at my parents house. The menu is always the same...homemade Chicken Cordon Bleu, Rice with our special sauce, Green Bean Casserole, homeade Rolls, Berry Jello, Sarah's Salad, and Chocolate Mousse. And every year I look forward to it for weeks to come! After dinner we used to reinact the Christmas Story from the Bible, but we started a new tradition of doing that on the Monday before Christmas for FHE. This year was much better because we weren't so rushed and so we were able to enjoy our dinner and do some visiting before we all loaded up into our cars to make our secret delivery. This year we chose a family from my parents inner-city mission. They are a cute little family from the Dominican Republic who are really struggling. The dad works 2 jobs and has serious health problems. Our delivery is always my favorite part of Christmas!!! We spend weeks planning, shopping, and wrapping the presents for the family. It has been a tradition in our family since I was really little and it is the one thing that I remember year after year. This family lives in a little townhouse in the Rose Park area and so we all headed down there to make our delivery. We had bags and bags of food and presents for the family and piled them all on their front porch. We then always ring the door bell and hide so that we can not be seen, but can hear their reaction. So far we haven't been caught and it is always so fun to hear the little kids get sooo excited that Santa came!
Once we complete our delivery, then for the last 5 years we have all slept over at my sister's house in Herriman. This has been such a fun tradition to have all of us there together for Christmas! Sadly, we just don't know how much longer we'll be able to keep it up since our family is getting so big! Hopefully this wasn't our last because we have such a great time! Once we all get back to their house then we all open our pajamas and set out the milk and cookies for Santa. Once the kids are all in bed then we adults then open our presents to each other. This year we had a special little present to open, and that was the envelope from our ultrasound telling us that we are to have another little boy! We then all finish up our wrapping and get the house all ready for Christmas morning. This year around 2:00 a.m. before we were all about to go to bed, Santa came! My sister Krista and her husband Riley always sleep upstairs in the bonus room with the older kids and so they woke them up to let them take a peak at Santa! It was quite the surprise and they talked about how they saw Santa nonstop the next day! (I think we now have believers for life!) Once Santa left then the adults finally headed to bed.
When we wake up in the morning, we aren't allowed downstairs until uncle Toddy has all the music and lights ready for us. So, here is Grady and the boys upstairs with all the kids opening up their stockings and waiting anxiously to come down!
Christmas morning...this is what we all woke up to!
Uncle Toddy...aka Santa!
Cute little Sawyer wearing Santa's hat!
The boys coloring on my sewing machine box with their new crayons...I really think their big crayons from Papi was their favorite gift! It's always the simple things!
Christmas morning was spent taking pictures, opening presents and eating our Christmas Breakfast Casserole. We had such a good time and it was so fun to watch the boys get so excited about Santa coming and opening their presents. It was also fun to see them interact and experience this with all their cousins!
Normally we would have left around 1:00 p.m. when we were all finished, but this year we woke up to so much snow that we were actually snowed in! So, all the men headed outside to put in a few hours of shoveling snow and getting our cars unstuck. Luckily we were able to stay inside and play with all our new games and presents. We didn't end up leaving until around 5:00 and by then Grady was exhausted so we just headed home to enjoy a nice quiet night as a family.
Logan and Sawyer playing with their new blocks once we got home to our house! Once again, it is sad to say goodbye to Christmas, but we look forward to many more wonderful Christmas's in the future! I am so grateful for my Savior and for his birth which makes it possible for us to celebrate this special time of year!
3 comments:
Please tell Grady he looks HOT in his PJs!
What a wonderful Christmas. I love the idea of your delivery, that sounds like such a wonderful tradition and I am sure really helps you feel the Christmas Spirit. Congrats on another little boy!
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