OUR MERRY CHRISTMAS

It has been a fun holiday season for us having all the kids home for a week at Thanksgiving and having Josh home along with Mark and Rebecca's family here to liven things up for Christmas. I did not take very many pictures this year, shame on me. And of the ones I did take, they are kind of dark and not the best, but maybe you can get the drift.

After having a fake tree for 4 years, we got a real tree and it was so pretty it looked fake! We even got the popcorn and cranberry garland done this year, so I was a happy camper. That should have been our clue. About 10 days before Christmas it started to dry out and on Christmas Eve it was crunchy and all the branches pointed down. So sad for such a pretty tree! We took it down the day after Christmas instead of enjoying it through New Years. It always makes the house so empty when the tree comes down. Anyway, back to Christmas---

On Christmas Eve we read the Christmas story from the scriptures and Paige used the Fisher-Price Nativity (or, "little lord 'tivity" as she calls it) to illustrate it while Mark read. It was pretty cute. The girls and Uncle Josh got to open that one gift on Christmas Eve and it was matching pj's! Josh's were so big he said he could fit both Paige and Claire in them and still have room, so of course he did! You had to be there, but it was pretty funny. We watched "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever". Paige was especially intrigued how the Herdman's blew up a shed in the beginning of the movie. For the rest of the show Paige asked "are they going to blow this one up?" whenever they showed a new building! Hopefully we didn't traumatize her too much, because I love that movie.

On Christmas morning, Craig and I were the first ones up, so for the first time ever I took my time and got ready and it was a fun relaxing morning. After opening presents and having orange rolls for breakfast, the Bryant's were off to Grammy's for another round of Christmas morning. That afternoon, Nick & Renee and the Gargalis family joined us, along with the Bryant's for Christmas dinner and more present opening.

We had such a fun day, but I think the time has come to defer to the kids so they can stay home and play with their presents and not have to travel hither and yon with tired little ones. It's our turn to be the traveling grandparents! I am a firm believer that we can celebrate any day in December we want, because the important thing is just being together. Eventually I want to have special Christmas party and spendover for the grandkids (inspiration from Pres & Sister Hinckley and Rayma Leach) but that might have to wait a few more years. It will be interesting to see what the future brings with our holiday celebrations, with 3 of our 5 kids moving out of state this year. . .