Merry Christmas to All!

Christmas cards, matching jammies, gingerbread houses... none of those things happened in our home this year, but we did spend many moments together celebrating our favorite season. 

Visiting Santa (I spy Grandpa!)

Caroling with Santa around the nursing home- 

and visiting with him at the church Christmas breakfast- 

No matter how old, in our house we believe.

Games and carols with some of our neighbor friends was an especially fun night

And by a Christmas miracle, no one was burned or spilled the wax from the candles, despite their being lit for almost an hour.  Carols by candlelight equals magic.

 Another ugly sweater/white elephant Christmas party was a hit!

 My homemade creation didn't win any awards, but it got a lot of laughs!

 We spent a few nights snuggled up around the fire watching our favorite Christmas movies-  

Adam's drawing was selected as a winner to be displayed at the fire station, so we made a big batch of cinnamon rolls and delivered them to the firefighters one night.

They were kind enough to give us a tour of the station and let the kids crawl all over the different trucks and ambulances.

  Checking out "the Santa house"- 

 Class Christmas parties- 

and Christmas concerts- 

Emma did a great job singing along with all of the songs, and acting like a duck in between.

She got to help with the jack-in-the-box.

Her two best school friends- Lexie and Leah.

 And another visit with Santa-  

 Snowman pancakes on Christmas Eve- simple things can be so exciting at Christmastime!

 

There was a lot that we didn't do this year (the things I mentioned above never happen, actually.  I love receiving Christmas cards but I have yet to send one of our own, and my kids are too darn picky about their pjs to even attempt making them wear matching ones on Christmas morning).  I don't know if it was the Thanksgiving trip to Utah, Jason getting called as bishop, my being released from Relief Society, or the need to make plans for our upcoming trip, but the days in December seemed to fly by, and we did our best to chase the Christmas spirit all the while.  As expected, I felt it most when we were serving others and singing our favorite Christmas carols.  But no matter how busy we got or how many Christmas to-do's we checked off the list, it still felt like the most wonderful time of the year!