Christmas Time

We had some special visitors for Christmas this year, and no it wasn't Santa. Ryan's Dad and step-mom came to spend Christmas with us and boy did we have fun. So much fun I think we plum wore them out. They came Tuesday afternoon and bright and early Wednesday we were off doing a whole list of things. In no particular order this is what we got done in the five days they were here. We started with last minute Christmas shopping, went to "The Princess and the Frog", built an exceptional gingerbread house, made too much good food for any one person to eat and still live to tell about it, played game after game of Connect Four, stuffed ourselves on chocolate fondue, watched "It's a Wonderful Life", wrapped presents, went to the park to play, made and decorated sugar cookies for Santa, read the Christmas story from the scriptures, watched the "Joy to the World" dvd, took much needed naps, watched Christmas movies, had a slight mishap with the ceramic wise man and a ball (he will need plastic surgery to reattach his head but his prognosis is good), had a wonderful Christmas with many more gifts than we deserve and of course spending lots of quality time making memories. I didn't get pictures of the whole list of things, just some of them. We are very grateful that we had family near and could share this holiday with them. We even got to see Ryan's brother and his wife and Ryan's Mom and step-dad. It was a full few days.
One tradition we have is making homemade sugar cookies to leave out for Santa. This recipe is my Great Grandma Brown's and it is beyond good. The kids and Grandma Faith had a wonderful time frosting and decorating the cookies. The theme this year was LOTS and LOTS of sprinkles!!



Another one of our Christmas Eve traditions is having homemade pizza and chocolate fondue. The kids love both and we usually stuff ourselves to the point of no return with both.


Yet another tradition is getting pajamas on Christmas eve. This year Grandma Faith had a fun scavenger hunt set up for the kids to find their pj's. They thought that was fun. After they changed into brand new jammies it was time to read the Christmas story and then leave cookies out for Santa with their letters. Then time for bed, finally!!



This Christmas morning was the longest we have ever experienced. Only because we had to wait for Ryan to get home before the kids could open up the rest of their presents. They played with what Santa brought them and they were actually somewhat content to wait for Dad. Once Dad got home it was truly a free for all though. I guess we needed to have enjoyed the quiet while we had it.

It was a wonderful Christmas with many memories made. We are grateful for this time of year when we can stop and ponder the real reason for the season. We hope you and yours had a great Christmas too.