Christmas-ness 2011

Our Christmas Eve dinner table.

We had a nice Christmas at home this year.
Georgia and I were sick on Christmas Day. That was kind of sad for Georgie Girl. But kids manage to have a nice time, sick or not, when they are opening presents. Del took the boys to church and Georgia and I laid low. It was kind of nice not to have any obligations because we did not feel so hot. We ended up just eating left overs from our Christmas Eve get together, and we were all content to play with toys, watch new church movies from our families, and Skype our parents and siblings back in Utah.

In the weeks leading up to Christmas, Del and I attended a party thrown by a company that uses him for chairs. It was fun to get dressed up and hit the town with my date!

Our Christmas card door. Or as our babysitter put it. "Holy Christmas cards!" We LOVE it! Thank you for sending them!

I took the kids to the mall to see Santa. The mall is a drive for us. We got there, and the wait to see Santa was over two hours long. So... we took pictures with Santa in the back ground from the balcony as we walked back to the car. My kids officially laid eyes on Santa this season. So sad. They were very good sports about it. Georgia is holding up the list to give to Santa that she had Will help her write out.

We had our good friends, the Laws family over on Christmas Eve. We read through the Nativity program that we do every year with Del's family when we go home. His dad wrote it a few decades ago, so it has staying power! It goes through the Bible story, and includes Christmas Carols, so I played the piano, with the occasional help from Walker. Not so helpful really.

The theme from for our very simple table decor was inspired by the paper projects made by Buddy the Elf in the movie "Elf."

Opening a few presents with friends on Christmas Eve.

Ellie wearing the earmuffs Georgia picked out for her.

Yearly gift of pajamas from Grandma! We always love them!

Gifts under the tree after Santa visited. Our little front room can barley hold presents for four kids!

Oh yeah! Easy Bake Oven. (biggest waste of money on Earth.)

Playing with the light saber before it is even out of the box.

Some of my resolutions for the year are to be more on top of the assignments my kids need to do so that we are not rushed last minute. That includes school, church, cub scouts and on and on. I also want to get at least a few of the years of my blog made into hardback books, and get the annoying little home maintenance stuff around the house taken care of so that when we are ready to rent it out we are not doing quit as much paint touch up and such. I want to complete my more in-depth study of the Book of Mormon that I started in 2011, and then start over with a new study guide to add to what I have learned, and then add a detailed study of the Bible.

I told Del I should add a big health goal, like run a marathon.

But I don't want to.  Ha!

Church on New Year's Day. Will was not happy, hence the splochy sad face.

Del and I went out on New Year's Eve, so we had a little ice cream party with the kids on Monday to celebrate the new year.

Pretty exciting.

And that is what we have been up to this December! Tomorrow is back to school for everyone, and that is a good thing. We are all ready to get on with the new year! Happy 2012!