For Christmas this year, my brother, Scott, and his family were able to come up for Christmas vacation.
Together we went and enjoyed the sunshine at Lake Wilderness Park.
It was cold but beautiful.
For our Christmas Eve dinner, we had a Cafe Rio night where we all made different parts of the sweet pork Cafe Rio salad.
It didn't taste exactly the same (something about the dressing was off) but it still tasted delicious!
We performed musical numbers for the Christmas Eve program and watched a video about Christ's birth. Lydia and Kayleen put together a musical number all on their own with Lydia playing the piano and Kayleen on her violin.
They sounded beautiful and I was so impressed they orchestrated it themselves.
Lydia and Ammon slept overnight at my parent's house, as is the tradition, and Brigham and I took the two littles home with us overnight.
I woke up Kendrick Christmas morning to go over to open presents at my parent's and he wasn't thrilled to get out of bed, "I'm still tired."
Once he was up, he got to put Baby Jesus in the manger. We had been working hard that month to do good deeds. With each good deed, we would get to place a piece of straw in the manger, hoping that we would have enough straw Christmas morning to have a nice soft bed to lay Baby Jesus in.
Everyone worked hard and we had all the straw ready on Christmas morning. I loved watching Kendrick sweetly place the baby on the straw.
Once we arrived at my parent's house, it was time for everyone to come down and see their stockings.
Some pretty fun surprises were waiting from Santa.
Kendrick got his beloved power rangers and Lydia had a Harry Potter party with all of the movies and the first two books, beautifully illustrated. Ammon got an echo dot, and Ivy a new bumblebee toy to help her crawl.
We each received a pair of cozy socks in our stocking and they are still loved and worn by each of us.
After stockings came breakfast and then presents.
My dad received an eye-massager as one of his gifts and it was a fun one to pass around for people to try.
We had a gift exchange when Sandy and family arrived later followed by good food and good company. We missed those who spent Christmas with others, but talked to them and sent our love.
After Christmas Day, we arranged some fun activities together.
We went to the aquarium and to the Science Center.
Though we don't have any pictures, the adults got all dressed up and went out to a fancy dinner in town. It was fancy, delicious food. But what was really delicious was the time spent together, kid-free! Laughing and eating and talking as adults without the distraction of the kids was sublime.
A finger food extravaganza was on the menu for our New Years Eve party.
Each of us picked a different finger food and made it or bought it to share. I made zucchini fries, Brigham made homemade mini corn dogs, Scott made a meat tower, Grandma Busby bought shrimp platters, Polyana made Brazilian cheese balls, Dad made yogurt parfaits, Kayleen and Lydia made apple rings with a peanut butter spread, and mom contributed cheese ball and creme puffs. Mmm, it was delicious. We played games and cursed ourselves for staying up so late when we hate it so much.
We had other fun times playing sports, other games, and the general Christmas fuss and fanfare. Just as Christmas should be.
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