Christmas 2010

The cast of the Nativity play

mesmerized by Grandpa's train

Silly nephew

sorting

WOW!

Maren got a "quiet book" for church, hopefully it will work

matching jammies

I love the look on her face

We had a great Christmas this year. I tried really hard to focus on the real meaning of Christmas and to just enjoy things. I did pretty good, except for the frustrations of finishing the doll house.
We spent Christmas Eve with my family. We had a yummy dinner and the kids played the piano for us and acted out the nativity. I love spending the evening with my family, I love watching my kids play with their cousins. I think one of the funniest events of the evening was watching Maren try to steal baby Jesus from Mary (Sydnee). She threw quite the fit, luckily Ben caught it on video. The girls loved their new pajamas and got ready for bed pretty fast. We tracked Santa on NORAD and then went to bed. Santa visited our house and left us lots of presents.
The girls were up and ready to open presents, but Maren was still asleep. We fed Addy and Sydnee breakfast to try to distract them. Finally, Maren got up and they tore into the presents. Addy and Sydnee loved the dollhouse. I had a chat with Santa and between him and both sets of grandparents, their house is fully furnished. Maren loves her new little kitchen and tea set. She didn't tear into the presents like I expected her to. She loved seeing everything and toting it around. Next year, I'm sure she will understand more. After opening everything, we went to my parents to exchange gifts with my siblings and nephews. I think I won favorite Aunt this year. We gave my two older nephews remote control helicopters and the younger one a remote control train. They were a huge hit, so much so that we had to go to Macey's Monday morning to get a few more helicopters. We ended the day with Ben's family. It wasn't as chaotic there as other years and was fairly relaxing. We left when Maren hit melt down mode. It was a nice day and I am so grateful we could spend time with our families. I am so grateful for the best gift of Christmas, my savior Jesus Christ. I am grateful for his birth and for his atonement. It truly is the best gift of all.

Where did December go?

Ben the reindeer and the mystery girl

two of my favorite uncles playing penny hose

playing face the cookie

Maren wasn't too sure about Santa

Sydnee singing

The only good shot of Addy at the school sing

Mr. Macho, I don't need a coat

Sydnee the snow angel

Addy and her snowman

The finished doll house

Matching Christmas dresses (the girls asked to dress alike)

G&G Williams playing the Wii

Maren ate so much that she had to lean back
if you look close you can see all the rice stuck to her shirt

GF dinner at Thaifoon=Yummy!

Didn't we just start December? I can't believe that Christmas is over and the new year has started. Since I am way behind, I will just re-cap the events of December.

• Carter Christmas party-my favorite Christmas party. We had lots of fun and even had some new family members show up that we had never met. Okay, they really weren't related, and we don't know who they are, but we showed them a good time. We played games from the show Minute to Win it.
  
• School Christmas sing-I love to go and hear my little angels sing. They looked so cute, Sydnee looked a little scared, but still cute.
• Neighborhood party-what happens at the party stays at the party. We laughed so much that my face hurt. Good times!
  
• The Nutcracker-I have loved the Nutcracker ballet since I was little. This year I took my girls to see it for the first time. They loved it. Addy kept saying "wow, this is so cool" We took Grandma and Grandpa Williams and Aunt Camille. I would love to make this a yearly tradition.
• The Polar Express-the miniature version. One of Ben's co-workers and his family have a miniature railroad in their yard and they let us come and ride the polar express. It was short and sweet.
  
• Sick kids-not a highlight, but we have all taken our turn in the last few weeks.
• While everyone was sick, we also had cabin fever. We remedied this by going to JCW's for dinner (when you eat at 4, there aren't any crowds) then we drove through the lights at Thanksgiving Point and had custard at Coney's. This took care of our cabin fever for a day or so.
• Woke up to lots of snow one morning, Addy and Ben built a snowman.
• Top secret project-I fixed up my dollhouse to give to my girls. It tested my patience and I made many trips to Hobby Lobby, but they love it and that's all that counts.
• Christmas-I'll do a separate post for this, but it was great!
• Temple Square-We have never taken the kids to see the lights at Temple Square. Everyone was healthy enough to go and we had a great time. The kids loved it. We had a fabulous dinner at Thaifoon, yummy!
  
• Temple date-Ben and I were able to go to the temple together and then go to lunch. It was the perfect date.
• Christmas take-down-I have to admit that the decor and all were really starting to cause me anxiety. I love the Christmas spirit, but the chaos was getting to me.
• New years eve party- We had my parents over for a dinner of appetizers, or hors duvers as we like to call them. We ate until we were stuffed and then played Wii. We even got my parents to play. We had a great time, and I was asleep by 10.
• Today is the last day of vacation. I have enjoyed having Ben and the kids home for the last two weeks, but I am definitely ready to get back to a steady routine.
  
• 2 o'clock church-not a highlight, but hopefully when Maren is well, we can actually stay for the full 3 hours of church. We usually take Maren home after sacrament for a nap. Only 3 more weeks until she can go to nursery, yeah!