We spent Christmas Eve at our home this year and it was truly awesome to be with those we love. Russel was on-call and so my family was so accommodating and didn't want him to be left out and, therefore, made the trek to Logan. The cousins had a great time together and we made some great memories.
The nativity is always a highlight and without fail most of the kids fought over being the donkey. Believe me, that's not what I would be fighting for. Anyway, even though the nativity is pretty comical, I hope the kids really get the reason for the season and one day will have memories of remembering the birth of the Savior on this special night.
Then of course we had a very special visitor. Some of the kids thought he looked awfully familiar but I'm not so sure about that.
PJs and books are always a big tradition on Christmas Eve. This year Josh kept telling me he wanted a Thuggie instead of regular pajamas. If you don't know what a Thuggie is, it's basically a really long oversized sweatshirt. Its what you wear skiing and snowboarding.....that is, if you are cool. Since they are kind of expensive I told him not to plan on it. He already has one that he and his friends got together and made and I figured that was good. But then I started thinking about this being his last Christmas home for the next couple of years and I thought it might be fun to get all the boys Thuggies. I think I got the mom approval!!!
The girls looked super cute too in their "pretty close to matching" jammies. Something about kids in new cozy PJs just makes me happy.....and also want to squeeze them.
Grandma & Grandpa always give the grandkids something they love and this year was no different.....nerf guns all around! They were all so excited and the little girls truly felt like they had some awesome GIRL POWER!!!
They did opt for money for Josh and he looks pretty happy! Good call on that one.
And this little nifty cozy beautiful blanket was given to Abi by her good friend Carson. Yes he's pretty dang cute. And she LOVES the blanket. What a sweet guy. She has lots of good friends but the boys in our neighborhood have always been some of her very best friends.
We also broke from tradition on our service project. Grandma thought it would be fun for the kids to get out and actually FIND people that we could help. Grandma and Grandpa sent us out the door with some money and left it up to the kids to find those they wanted to help. We decided to head downtown and as we pulled into the Walmart parking lot, we ran right into the sister missionaries. It was great to just roll down the window and hand them some money and wish them a Merry Christmas. Inside Wal-mart the kids found people who looked stressed or not very happy and handed them some money and said it was their Christmas gift to them. They also bought a bunch of candy canes and handed them out to little kids that were shopping with their parents. We also bought some blankets and stopped at a couple of nursing homes to carol and drop by gifts. The kids really enjoyed it and the really neat part was to listen to all the different perspectives as the kids shared their favorite part once we arrived back home.
I was awful about taking pictures on Christmas morning but here are a few random...not very great....pics.
Christmas is my very favorite time of the year and that stems from the reason for the season. Without our Savior, Jesus Christ, this time of year would not have the special place in my heart. He is the light and life of our world and I love to focus on that during this time. This year felt a little crazier than in years past whether that was due to knowing this was Josh's last for awhile or just being too busy, it is definitely a learning process to find out what works and what doesn't for our family. But I know that's okay too as long as we stay focused and keep on trying to make each year more and more centered around our Savior. We are truly so blessed and are so grateful to our Father in Heaven and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. I pray and hope that my children feel that and can always look to the Savior and follow His Star.
And I will leave you with this picture as the last one of the day.....it really needs no explaining (cuz that is just so typical of my brother).
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