Christmas Day 2011

We had a wonderful Christmas Day this year. I love having Christmas on a Sunday and actually getting to go to church and worship our Lord on His day. We let the kids open their Santa gifts and then went to church. Church was wonderful; I especially love the singing of the Christmas hymns. Afterwords we had a Christmas morning brunch and then let the kids at the gifts. We went to dinner that evening with our friends, the Wysowskis, and just had a beautiful, peaceful day. I hope you all did too and we wish you all a  belated Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Christmas Eve Pajamas

We have the family tradition of opening a present (pajamas) on Christmas Eve. We did it a little earlier in the day, but that way the kids got to enjoy wearing them for a bit before they had to hop in bed. It was so fun and the kids are darling (at least I think so!).

 This little girl kept ripping open this one present and no others! Luckily, I knew what it was. Spencer had already repaired it 4 times by this point!

My little girls...and a tree

I received a new lens for my camera the day before Christmas Eve. It was a Christmas present, but Spencer wanted me to be able to play around with it before I used it to take my shots of the Christmas Eve pajamas. I still have a lot to learn, especially about lighting, but it is really fun to play around with everything and see how it changes the pictures!

This little bug has been obsessed with the tree. She just won't leave it alone, as I am sure you can tell with all the ornaments up at the top! It's so fun to see the wonder in her eyes while watching it. Lucy and Madelyn had such a blast constantly playing in front of the tree.

Sienna's last hula performance

We decided several months ago that when the year was over, Sienna would not continue taking hula lessons. She just was not into it and it became a chore and something the entire family dreaded every week. Their only performance this year was in December, so we didn't want to stop before then. It was a crazy day, but it was wonderful to be able to see her perform one last time. I think overall it was a good experience for her.

Crafting

I have been very busy this year, crafting a lot of things for gifts and I want to document them. Some will be given as gifts to the little ones, so I will post those after Christmas.

I had the opportunity to make some hats to be donated to a NICU for preemie babies to wear on Christmas morning. Such a small thing, but I hope it will bring a little joy to families that are struggling.
(Please know I am not trying to seem like I am wonderful for making the hats. I was just proud of the hats, since I am new-ish to knitting and wanted to display my work and forgot to take pictures before I mailed them.)

I did the red/white striped on the top, the green/white  striped, and the red w/ white brim on bottom left.

I also finished a hat for my Grandpa that had been in my project bag for almost a year. It matches a scarf I made him for Christmas last year, but didn't finish in time and sent him a few months ago. It's such a relief to finish some projects and I love making things for those I love! Don't mind the picture on my head in the mirror. I wanted to show it on and Spencer wasn't home, little ones were sleeping and I wanted to get it packaged to mail right away. I'm a little bit of a freak; don't worry, I already know! ;)

Decorating sugar cookies

I have the yummiest recipe for sugar cookies and the kids love making them with me. We decided to make some to bring to our ward Christmas party. It was so fun!

Gingerbread houses

We had a lot of fun this year doing our tradition of Gingerbread houses. The kits came with fondant, which I haven't used before, but it made for some fun new decorations for the houses.

Baking Fun

Sienna and Aidan love to help me with cooking and especially baking. I am trying to let them do more and more by themselves in the kitchen. Sienna's friend, Grace, who also loves baking, was over and the kids decided to make some cookies. I thought they were so cute, in the kitchen, and working together. The cookies might have had a few little issues, (partly my fault!) so they didn't turn out as pretty as usual, but the kids had a lot of fun making (and eating) them and that is most important!

Decorating the Tree

We have such a fun time decorating the tree. I somehow didn't get a picture of Sienna, but she was there, helping. I love listening to Christmas music, being together as a family and start the celebration of our Savior's birth.