Christmas 2017

We had a wonderful Christmas this year.  Christmas Eve was my favorite day because it felt so magical.  We only had an hour of church, Sacrament Meeting, but it was wonderful.  There was beautiful music and nice messages.  Kimball and Joseph played their respective instruments during the meeting and Rebecah was asked to share a short talk on what Jesus has given her and what she will give to Jesus.  I think we sometimes sing the Christmas hymns without really taking the time to ponder the words of the songs.  As I thought about the words as we were singing I could no longer sing.  We are so blessed to have a Savior who loves us enough to come to earth as a baby and atoned for our sins as an adult.

After church we made some deliveries to a refugee family in our area and to some single men from church.  These little acts of service were a wonderful way to start our Christmas Eve celebration after church.

Knowing the kids were very excited about Christmas with a long Sunday afternoon ahead of them we planned some special activities.

We made slime as a family.  Last year the fad was fidget spinners and this year it's slime.  I don't get it, but my kids loved making and then playing with the slime.  

The second family activity that we enjoyed was decorating gingerbread houses.  It was so much fun!!  We don't decorate gingerbread houses every year, but I think we might make it a tradition because it was a lot more enjoyable than carving pumpkins at Halloween time.  We bought a kit with four little houses which was perfect so the kids could each decorate one.  I figured the kit was the way to go so I didn't have to spend a lot of money buying bags of candy for the houses when we only need a small amount from each bag of candy.  Lincoln didn't want to decorate his house so he let me do it.  Next year when we decorate I'll have to use the tips I learned from Mary Barry from the Great British Bake Off so our houses look even better!

Rebecah's house.

The finished village.

We also read some stories.

In the evening we had our traditional dinner with cheese, crackers, meats, and fruits and veggies.  It's such a yummy meal.  We had the sister missionaries over to celebrate with us.  We acted out the Nativity as we read the Christmas story from the Bible.  Rebecah was very disappointed this year because I told her it was Annika's turn to be Mary.  

Our cute little Mary who insisted on dressing in Egyptian costume.

Kimball wanted to be the donkey this year!

Please note we had a lion and bear as part of our Nativity this year.  

I know it's only food, but I love having a variety of treats during the month of December.  I know I could make these treats all year long, but I keep them special and make them only at Christmas time.

Christmas morning we got up around 7:00.  Edie was sick so we didn't wake her up.  She ended up sleeping 13 1/2 hours and didn't care about Christmas at all.  I think she happily let Lincoln open her presents. 

I didn't take many pictures opening presents.  Taking pictures tends to get forgotten about in the excitement, but I did get one picture of each of the 4 oldest with a present that they were excited about.

Christmas dinner was simple but colorful.  (Colorful meals make me happy!)  I didn't want a lot of extra work in the kitchen and no one seemed to mind that it was simple.