Christmas With The Wilson Clan
Our family enjoys many traditions around the holidays, but none of them top the most important tradition of them all...time spent with family. A nice kick off to the holidays is riding the train with the Reed family to downtown Salt Lake City to meet Josh, Marie, Jake, Erin and Reagan so that we can enjoy the temple square lights and Nativity scene as a family.
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| We typically catch the train in Draper and ride it all the way to downtown SLC. |
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| Nothing says holidays like love for a sibling. |
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| The kids love to ride the train. They particularly love standing at the connection point of the cars. |
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| Like I said, the kids love riding the train. I guess Elijah isn't a kid anymore and just loves his phone. |
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| Downtown SLC is beautiful around the holidays with the lights, music, city life, outdoor ice skating, horse drawn carriages and holiday festivities. |
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| Uncle Jake, Aunt Erin and Reagan. This was baby Reagan's first outing to the Temple Square lights. She is such a happy little girl. |
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| Dax is a punk and wouldn't cooperate for a picture. This is the best of the three we got. |
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| Regan chilling on Dad's back. |
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| Dax cooperated...kind of...for this photo. |
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| Elijah enjoying the bustling city night life of downtown. |
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| Uncle Josh and Aunt Marie. Sorry about the gloved finger in the top left corner. |
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| I've said it several times before. Anybody who thinks that Mormons don't believe in, have faith in or recognize Christ as the Son of God, have not been to Temple Square during the holidays. |
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| Uncle Josh and Aunt Marie being goofy...as usual! Well, at least Uncle Josh is usually goofy. |
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| Another fun tradition after seeing the temple square lights is to enjoy the holiday window displays, made entirely of candy, at the downtown Macy's. Here is Leah licking her chops while staring at that big ball of candy. |
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| Another fun tradition we have with the Reeds is visiting Santa. We usually visit him at Cabela's and here at The Shops at the River Woods in Provo. This Santa was great. He took time to visit with the kids and really interacted with them. This is a rare quality to find in a "free" Santa in a public setting. |
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| The Shops at the River Woods have done a great job of creating a place where you want to hang out and enjoy the environment year round. Multiple Fire spots to warm your hands in the Winter, lights galore, live music, etc. I hope the businesses are making money there so that it continues. |
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| Cole told Santa he wanted coal for Christmas. HAHA! Cole, Emerson, Chris Kringle, Jacob and Elijah |
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| Another tradition we have shared the last 5 years with the Reeds is attending the live Nativity in American Fork. A family sets up a journey spanning a quarter mile (round trip) wherein we experience and meet shepherds, three wise men, the inn keeper and a choir of angels. The journey starts with the tax/census collector that takes your name and how many are in your family and ends at the feet of Joseph, Mary and the baby Jesus in the stable. It sets a great tone and gives a nice reminder what the purpose of the holiday really is. He is the reason for the season. |
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| This year, we spent Christmas with my family, but it was nice to see most of Sarah's family on Christmas day when they stopped by for dessert. Sarah, her Sister Molly and her Mom. |
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| Uncle Josh and Aunt Marie stopped by with some tasty pies. Yum! Uncle Jake, Aunt Erin and Reagan couldn't make it as it was too long of a day for baby Reagan. |
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| Imagine Dax's excitement when he learned we were having a 2nd Christmas a week after the 1st! Because we spent the holiday with my family we put offthe gift exchange with Sarah's family until New Year's Eve where we celebrated Emerson's birthday, Christmas and New Years. |
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| It was nice to have Grandma and Grandpa all to ourselves and didn't have to split the day with them between us and others. |
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| Leah loving her pillow pet that somebody gave her. |
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| Dax enjoying his pillow pet too. |
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| Dax still hasn't learned the fine line that divides annoying his Sister and showing her love. |
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| Molly and Duane recently moved into a new home that has given them more room. Cole and Elijah now have their own room for the first time. Here is Cole showing off some stuff he got for Christmas to decorate his room. Cole loves football. |
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| Elijah loves Minecraft so he got some of that stuff, whatever that is, to decorate his room. |
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| Marie showing off her new copper mugs. |
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| Josh opening a present. |
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| Uncle Duane opening a gift. |
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| Dax showing off his new train conductor hat that he got from Grandma and Grandpa. All Aboard! |
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| We all received shirts from Sarah. Another tradition we enjoy is camping every August as one big family. Now we all have matching t shirts to wear this year. "Wilson Family". Happy Campers, indeed. "Don't eat my chips" is something Emerson blurted out in a funny way last time we went camping. It immediately became something we all began, and still, yell at each other. |
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| Baby Reagan and her first Minnie doll. |
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| My Mom was going to come celebrate with us. She always feels loved by everybody in Sarah's family, but she thought it was best to stay with my Grandmother and she didn't want to take away from Sarah's Mom's family time. She did send gifts though. Here is Josh and Marie showing off signs they got from Mom for their new house that will be finished in July sometime. |
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| The kids showing off movie passes and gifts they got from Uncle Jake and Aunt Erin. |
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| I think Reagan wants the camera. |
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| Aunt Erin buried in gifts, bags and wrapping paper. |
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| A fun photo of this fun family of mine. I've heard it said before that when you marry the girl, you marry the family. I picked an amazing woman and got an awesome family to boot. |
Merry Christmas from The Trospers, Reeds, Wilsons, Wilsons and Ostlers!
