Christmas Collage Overload

It's already the new year so I figured I'd better get around to my Christmas post. Of course, I have a billion pictures so prepare yourself. At least I condensed most of them to collages so it's not quite so overwhelming.

One of the first things we did in Washington was go see the Christmas lights at the Botanical Gardens. Only my Mom and I really wanted to go so we thought it would be just us and the kids, but we ended up with almost the whole group together.

I love the lights here! They make flowers and other garden-type things out of Christmas lights. They also have an aquarium display where fish are made out of lights.

We had a great time this year!

Next on the agenda was baking day! We make lots of goodies to give away and eat.

As you can see Ammon's contribution was staying out of our way with a sucker. He kept trying to mooch EVERY SINGLE THING. So we gave him something to keep him occupied so we could bake without whining.

We ended up with a decent amount of goods. And they were delicious.

We always make the gingerbread house on baking day too. I'm usually put in charge of the gingerbread house, and assigning the kids a side, and helping with frosting. Luckily, that means I usually get to help decorate too. I think I'm the only adult that actually wants to decorate and that's why I get put in charge...works for me :) Here's a picture of each of us with the side that we decorated.

I was "helping" Ammon decorate his side (which means I pretty much did it all and he just sat and ate candy). And Sadie helped Lydia. Ryan and Kayleen did their own.

Another thing I was assigned this year was costume manager for the Nativity re-enactment. Last year we had some pretty crazy costumes and this year we had guests coming over, so I guess my parents wanted more realistic looks. Therefore all costumes had to pass through me before they got the go-ahead. That doesn't mean that we didn't have some fun when we pulled out the costume box.

Kenny and had a little too much fun, and Kayleen liked sitting on the couch in her mask. And Lydia always loves some dress-up.

Don't worry I was forced to be responsible so our Nativity turned out pretty fantastic on Christmas Eve.

If you notice I was a wise-men women with Kenny and Brigham, Sadie was Herod complete with a lion draped around her shoulders, Kyle and Katrina were Mary and Joseph with Brigham doubling as the innkeeper, Sadie also doubled as a shepherd with Kayleen and Lydia, and Ammon was the older baby Jesus when the Wise-men came and bestowed gifts. We're politically correct like that :) My dad narrated and not pictured here were Kenny as the angel who appeared to Mary and Joseph (he had to memorize crazy long parts), and Ryan who was the angel who appeared to the shepherds (he also played Away in a Manger on the piano).

After the Nativity, we enjoyed a birthday ice-cream cake that my Grandma Busby bought for Jesus' birthday

What no one expected was that the frosting stained everything it touched. Including lips and teeth. I must say we laughed at each other's blue mouths the rest of the night. I was just happy that it matched my earrings and shirt. I wanted to look nice for company after all.

Christmas morning was wonderful. I had been stressing because Lydia kept asking for a princess computer for Christmas and that was one thing I wasn't going to get her. I had asked her if she would rather have a pillow pet (since that is what I DID get her) but she said she just wanted a princess computer. However, Christmas morning the very first thing she did was pop up in her bed and randomly say (all squeaky since she has been sick and lost her voice), "Mom, I decided I don't want a princess computer, I want a pillow pet instead. I changed my mind."

I couldn't stop laughing because it was so random and so funny. We hadn't talked about it in ages. Well she did get her pillow pet. And she loves it! So much in fact that when she fell off the piano bench, instead of worrying about getting hurt, she cried because she dropped her pillow pet in the fall.

Everyone had a great Christmas and I love opening presents with my family!!

Ammon was a bit cranky all Christmas because he was tired. I expected it because that's generally what toddlers do on Christmas morning, for some reason.

There was also a hit gift for Ammon that everyone laughed at. It was a dinosaur hat from his Aunt Kayleen that she personally picked out for him at the dollar store. He personally doesn't like it, but I LOVE it on him (mostly because I'm a mean mom and I like to laugh at him) so I try to make him keep it on as much as possible. It resulted in a few tantrums.

How could you not like that hat? I especially love him with his new spiderman slippers, that he loves, and hat together. It's the essence of little-boy.

So there's our Christmas. We've a great time trying out everyone's new games and movies and toys. Sadly, I return in a couple days but happily, it's after a great vacation and getting spoiled rotten. I loved celebrating Christ's birthday and I'm grateful for the true and everlasting gifts that I have from Him. I hope everyone's Christmas was wonderful too!