{Christmas Eve}

 I realize that it is way past due for a post about Christmas but really this is the first time I have had a moment to sit down with nothing or no one pressing for my time.  So here is my Christmas Eve post a good week late.  We had a nice, quiet Christmas Eve this year.  We stayed home with our little family and chillaxed all day.  We tidied up the house so that our house wasn't a complete bomb when Christmas morning came.  We watched some football, I got my groove on in the kitchen with a nice ham dinner.  Before we knew it, it was time to do some traditional Christmas Eve stuff.  Each and every year we decorate homemade sugar cookies for Santa.  This year was no different, except that I only made a half batch (Santa doesn't need 25 cookies to eat)!!  The kids each got to decorate 4 or so and then they got to pick one to eat and one to put out for Santa.  Cookies are one of the kids' favorite things to do!!

The other tradition we do is new pj's Christmas eve night.  This year the boys got robes to go with their pj's and so of course a photo shoot was in order.  This is only one of many pictures that was taken and by far it is the best one.  I have some really "photogenic" kids!!  After our photo shoot we got out our scriptures and read the Christmas Story from the New Testament.  By that time it was ready for bed and the kids went to bed pretty well considering.  We had to threaten Wyatt a few times with Santa not coming if he got off his bed, but finally exhaustion took over and he gave up.  We also had to be ready for 9 o'clock church the next morning so we really tried to get to bed early.  So there you have it a nice, quiet Christmas Eve.

{O, Christmas Tree}

 The last couple of years we have not gone with our trusty fake, Charlie Brown Christmas tree.  Our kids have decided that they much more prefer the smell and experience of going out and finding our own very real Christmas tree.  We were lucky enough in Washington state to live literally up the road from a tree farm.  A short 10 minute drive, 30 minutes to select and cut down the tree and then hoisting it up on top of the van to be taken happily home.  Well this year, we still got a real tree but our options were a little more limited.  There are u-cut Christmas tree farms around our area but sadly they are a little bit of a drive from where we live.  That and the fact that they close at 5pm or dark, doesn't leave much time for us to drive there after work and our weekends have been full.  So up the road about 10 minutes away was a nursery that was selling already cut Christmas trees.  So that is what we had to settle for.  They only good thing was the trees were a really good size and really full.  They had them lined up like they were in a forest, so it kinda felt for real!! :)  The kids narrowed it down to three trees and I think I ended up making the final decision.  We hailed our trusty tree guy over and he untied the tree from it's stake and took it to re cut the bottom and to net it up for us.  They also put it up on the van and tied it down.  We took it home to soak in a bucket of water for a few days before we took it inside to decorate it.  We love how it looks and we LOVE the smell!!

{Army vs. Navy}

A few weekends ago, Ryan and I had the chance to go to a fun football game.  Back in August we had found out that the yearly Army-Navy game was going to be held here in Washington D.C., which isn't the normal venue.  Well we decided since it was just a metro ride away, we had to go.  We have a few couples in our ward that are also members of the military and we ended up going with one.  They happened to be rooting for Navy, since he had graduated from the Naval Academy.  

The cold December day dawned and we were thankful for no wind, rain, or snow.  It was a cold 45 degrees, but without all those other things it was bearable.  We just had to keep the supply of Hot chocolate coming.  We rode the metro down and walked from the metro stop, along with thousands of other people, to Fed Ex Field.  Our tickets were up on the top section, but while being high up, they were actually really good seats.  We had a great view, even though we were seated on the Navy side.  We arrived for the pregame stuff just in time to see all the Army cadets leaving the field and the Navy cadets marching on.  We also were high enough to see the snipers that were posted around the field due to the fact President Obama and Vice President Biden were in attendance.

After a really good game it ended sadly for us Army people.  We made it a round number and put up our tenth loss in a row to Navy.  Army made a good run for it but it just wasn't to be.  Ryan and I had a great time though and would go again in a heart beat.  It only took us three hours to get home.  Us along with some 81,000 others!!  Until next year....Go Army!!

{Lost....and Found}

 Normally when we go to bed, we make the rounds checking in on the kids.  Making sure they are in their beds, all tucked in.   Last night while making the usual bed check we found that one bed was empty.  That bed happened to belong to Wyatt.  We looked under the bed, which from experience with Miss Lauryn and her not-sleeping-in-her-bed-but-instead-hiding-in-strange-places phase, we knew was a possible place.  We checked under there but no Wyatt.  We looked in Ayden's bed thinking maybe he crawled in with big brother.  No Wyatt.  Then we just stopped to listen.  Wyatt sounds like Darth Vader when he is asleep, so we really had to only follow the sound of his snore to find him.  

 We followed the snore and stopped outside one of the narrow hall closet door which was shut.  We slowly opened the door, to low and behold, find our youngest blissfully sleeping.  How he got himself and his pillow inside the closet and then shut it is beyond me, but that is just what he did.  And why he thought of the closet as a great place to sleep I have no idea!!  If he is anything like Lauryn, this won't be the first or last time he is found sleeping in some other place besides his bed.  I just hope we can find him every time!!

{Christmas at the Temple}

The lights at the Washington D.C. temple turned on December 1st. We stopped by last night to see them. Oh they were so beautiful!! The kids loved them!! Ayden kept saying how wonderful it was to be there that night. It was a nice way to get into the Christmas spirit and you know what there wasn't a Santa in sight. It is an easy way for me to remind my kids that Christmas is really about our Savior and not so much about Santa and what he will be bringing on Christmas for them. It was the perfect thing to do on a Sunday night. We (the older kids and I) will be going back next week for one of the concerts that they have every night!