Christmas Memories

We had a great trip to Utah. It was a bit rocky to drive to there, but we are grateful we made it safely. (Why was it rocky? Check my first post.) It was lots of fun to see our families and friends, and it was great to have snow for Christmas this year! It was a big two weeks we spent, and here are a few highlights from Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

My family tradition is Christmas Eve dinner and party.

Danny playing "Hide from the camera behind the baby." I did get part of him on that shot!

My dad likes to put up and decorate a tree on Christmas Eve, the way they have done traditionally in Germany. (We have German heritage.) My mom doesn't know if it is her favorite tradition to wait until then, but the kids and I enjoyed putting up the ornaments.

Here are my mom and my sister Annie preparing the super feast of Prime Rib, twice-baked potatoes, veggies, salad bar, etc. Yes, my family is vErY into their food!

Nicholas loved opening this present from Grandma and Grandpa. I didn't know he would really be able to tear the paper, but he sure did!

Lexie is climbing on my brother-in-law Nate. The kids miss Nate and Annie, and it was a lot of fun to see them!

Here's Annie with her niece and nephews. She is their favorite fun aunt!

My dad shared scriptures with us that tell about the birth of the Savior. It is a neat tradition to keep a part of our Christmas Eve celebration, to keep things focused on Jesus Christ and the reason we celebrate Christmas. Also note: my dad has worn his Christmas vest for every Christmas as long as I can remember!

Here is my mom, Gavin, and my two youngest brothers, Luke and Nelson. What fun uncles Lexie and Gavin have to play with! It was a wonderful Christmas Eve.

Christmas morning dawned early, as we woke up at Omaha time instead of Utah time! More time to play with new toys! The kids were filled with wonder and excitement to see what Santa had brought.

Here is Lexie Christmas morning with a talking cash register she got from Santa. She can actually scan stuff. Lexie had such a great Christmas that she says "I got too much stuff."

Gavin asked Santa for many different things. The bit hit was the remote control airplane on a track. He is way into airplanes right now. He also got a new Batcave with little Batman and Robin figures to play with. Gavin was very excited about Christmas toys and kept going from one new toy to the next. He wanted to get plenty of playing time in on each item.Nicholas got a few things, too! He most of all loved the wrapping paper. He is very interested in how it rips and crumples and makes noise. It took a week to get the last of his presents opened, because each present took him so long that he lost his attention span and then was always going down for a nap! (Not to mention we had many activities going on.)This is the present that Lexie made me at school. She was very excited about doing it. It was a cute bracelet.Danny's family's Christmas tradition is Christmas morning brunch. Since we were staying there, we didn't have to go anywhere! All the aunts and uncles and cousins and great grandparents came over. Here are the older cousins: Kayley, Gavin, Dylan, Devan, Lexie, and Camryn.After brunch we just kicked back and enjoyed Christmas morning while the kids played.Here's Lexie with little Emi and Papa. Lexie loves her little cousin Emi so much!Dylan and Gavin are such good buddies. I wish they saw each other more often, because they get along so well. They played together several times during our trip. Here you see that Dylan likes the remote control airplane a lot too.

And if the toys weren't enough, how about spending the afternoon playing in the snow on the 4 wheeler?! Danny and his brother Chris took the kids out around the field and they all had a blast.

We also enjoyed a nice dinner at my parents' house that evening as well.

Gratefulness Post: What is there not to be grateful for?! We have truly been blessed this year to enjoy so many nice things and to be with the people we love and just to be happy.