Merry Merry

 

(Somewhere I am missing all my pictures of Christmas Eve)

anyway...

Christmas Eve was lovely at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Because of an expected snow storm, the kids and I rode the new Front Runner to Provo.  They passed out candy canes.  Perhaps a new tradition?

 

Maybe not.  

I left my car keys in Provo and didn't realize it until we got off the Front Runner at 10:00 pm in freezing cold conditions in Lehi, with no shelter.  We all were shivering and nearly in tears wondering what the freakin' freak were we going to do! 

 

It was SO cold!!!

We danced and sang while we waited for our ride.

 

We had a nice man from our ward come and pick us up on Christmas Eve, in the snow, at 10:30 at night and bring us home.

 

I felt terrible but SO grateful!

 

Santa came to our house at a VERY late hour of the night.

Christmas Eve I had a feeling that my children would appreciate having their dad around for our holiday traditions so I called Jeff and invited him over.

He was grateful.

 

I love that the kids are getting older and can sleep in a tad on Christmas morning.

 

Jeff arrived at 8:00 to join in on the festivities.

Love our morning breakfast.

Our presents were few but an awesome few!

A bedroom basketball hoop for Kaden.

Maryn loves getting older cause then she can help pick out her presents.

Cute boots.

Bow and Arrow

Ady's stereo

footie pajamas.

Emmy's Kindle

Maryn's Camera

Ady's hair supplies

A hamster for Emmy and Kaden.

Kaden's hamster, Alvin.

Emmy's hamster, Peaches was a big biter and hisser. 

Yes, it was scary for anyone to hold it.

So, a few days after Christmas we went and exchanged it for a new one, Cocoa.

These 2 have been begging for hamsters for SO long.  Santa finally agreed.

I was anxious to see how the responsibility of caring for a living thing would kick in...

cleaning cages, feeding, playing with, loving etc.

 

(Just to fast forward a few months I'd give it a C+.)

We drove to be with the family for our dinner and gift exchanges.

 

Marty is doing baton twirling with his gifts from us.

Tickets to go see the Broadway musical SHREK!!!

Marc is a clever gift giver.  He gave me a few months worth of Organ lessons.

Who woulda thunk?

Awesome!!

I think Marianne and I scored the best of the day

A CAMEO!

Yippee!  Just gotta find the time to be creative now.

It wouldn't be a party in our family without some dancing! 

Blast the music, move the chairs back and boogy!

Doing some Christmas music with our chimes to end the day.

Loved Christmas!

Loved being with my family!

 

It was a happy happy day with tons of food,

crazy scavenger hunts that lasted nearly the whole day,

lots of presents,

great laughs,

millions of hugs and kisses!

 

Feeling grateful, blessed and sustained in my life right now.