December 17, 2013

Christmas Things

We got the tree up and decorated the day after we brought it home.

Kyler, Kacin, and L were really good about placing all the ornaments carefully on the tree. D was good at taking them all off, and tying to take the ornaments apart. Kacin put the first ornament on this year and Kyler placed the star at the top of the tree. L did a lot of rearranging of ornaments.



















We pulled out a nativity set to play with.



A group of ladies from my ward got together to prepare a 25 Days of Christ set for our families--an ornament for each day and a book that includes scriptures, quotes, and video links to correspond with each ornament. The kids love it so far, but it would help if we were better about remembering and not so busy in the evenings so we didn't have to keep playing catch up. Oh well.



Eric has been working late a lot lately. One of those nights I envisioned I'd have a magical moment with my four kids and feel the Christmas spirit while reading a few Christmas books to them. Kacin and I picked the books out and gathered everyone into my little's room before bed. Kyler was annoyed we interrupted him. L was in a bad mood and hit everyone who tried to sit next her. And D just wanted to play with the light switch. Do you know how hard it is to read a book with the lights flashing on and off? To say the least, our magical Christmas book reading was a little interrupted. I adore my four kids and my crazy life with them. :)



I feel more prepared for Christmas this year than any other year so far. Here we are a week before Christmas and Christmas cards have already been sent out, packages mailed, and last night I was wrapping presents. Have I ever wrapped presents this early? I guess I don't remember, but this is better than last year. I only have a few more straggling things on my shopping list. and I'm looking forward to a whole weekend to enjoy without worry and holiday stress. It helps that Eric and I don't even bother to secretly shop for the other one. We tell each other what we want/need and either purchase it together or buy our own stuff. It's a lovely system. We know we love and think about each other and this cuts back on holiday stress for us.

One of our favorite people in the world these days, who has blessed our lives so much since we got the two youngest kids, gave us this gingerbread man kit. Fun!







We went to the boys Christmas music concert. I love their elementary school because of the music teacher. She is fabulous.


Last night, we met some friends to visit the lights at the botanical gardens. Awww, Christmas lights.











We also attended a nativity festival last week. D played in the children's nativity room while the rest of us took shifts looking at all of the beautiful and diverse nativity sets. Three days later, L is still asking to go back and see more baby Jesus.



Those are some of the Christmas things we've been up to lately. The countdown til Christmas begins!