I guess I'm better late than never posting about our Christmas vacation. We had such a wonderful time spending it with Joseph's family in Star Valley, Wyoming.
Here are some pictures of our new 9' Christmas tree and some of our holiday decorations back in Utah. I gotta say, I LOVED having a pre-lit Christmas tree year.
Alicia and I upheld the tradition we started last year and made "gingerbread" houses with the kids.
Fanny's masterpiece. There is actually nothing on the other side. This is all she wanted. My sweet, simple minimalist :).
Nora's creation. She was more interested in eating the candy instead of decorating her house with it :).
Cutie pie!
Adding (and eating) a few finishing touches.
With the tree decorated!
Looking at one of Nana's many beautiful Nativities. Don't mind the room. Joseph's parents are in the middle of remodeling it. It is going to look amazing when it is done!
In their Christmas Sunday Dresses. Don't mind the blurriness. Their expressions were just so cute I wanted to include these pictures.
Sister Loves!
Holding hands :).
First attempts at getting a good cousin picture. Hehe, they are so funny.
The best one. To bad my girls weren't really smiling.
Nora. She is growing up too fast!! What a fun, adorable, silly little girl she is!
She has to show her belly!
Fanny. Getting a little tired of all the picture taking.
Christmas Eve tradition of going to Grandma Judy Shumway's house for pizza. The children acted out the Nativity and Fanny got to be Mary. Nora was a shepherd, Taysen was Joseph, and Milly was the angle. These pictures were taken on Joseph's cell phone and were super blurry. Sorry. Fanny was sure a beautiful Mary, though, and Nora made a pretty cute shepherd! The girls and I talked a lot about why we celebrate Christmas throughout the month of December. We discussed how a lot of the symbolism of the holiday represents Jesus and the life he gave for us. Fanny would tell me almost everyday that Santa comes with presents to bring the light of Christ into our home. I think it is a tough holiday for parents with all the decorations, presents, traditions, craziness, etc. to explain to children what the true meaning of it is. But, I think the girls, especially Fanny this year, really got it! I enjoyed hearing the girls sing all the Christmas songs throughout the holiday season. Fanny has the first verses of a lot of the Christmas hymns memorized. Nora was pretty good at them, too! Of course they also sang all the fun Christmas songs like Santa Clause is Coming to Town, We Wish You a Merry Christmas, Oh Christmas Tree, and Jingle Bells.
A video of the kids acting out the Nativity. Again, it was taken on Joseph's phone, and for some reason it ended up being very blurry.
Christmas morning! Opening up their stockings. Fanny wanted a "dress jammy nightgown" really bad, so she was pretty excited on Christmas Eve when Mommy and Daddy got her and her sister nightgowns for the traditional pajama gift that Joseph's family does.
All Fanny wanted from Santa Clause this year was Strawberry Shortcake stuff. Although she has hardly been exposed to her, she REALLY wanted a Strawberry Shortcake house, a Strawberry Shortcake car, Strawberry Shortcake dolls, and a Strawberry Shortcake movie. Santa brought her and Nora all those things and both were in heaven! Before Christmas I asked Fanny and Nora if they wanted to go SEE Santa Clause and tell him in person what they wanted. Both adamantly said, "NO!" They are fine with Santa Clause and all excited about singing songs about him and him bringing them gifts, but they did NOT want to have to be up close to him. Fanny said, "I already told him what I want in the letter I sent him, so I don't need to see him." Funny girls!
These pictures did not turn out good at all, but here are ALL the cousins together sitting on the bean bags Nana made them! Aren't the bean bags awesome?!
What a great Christmas! I know this seems like a lot of pictures, but there are so many other things I didn't take pictures of. We had a very eventful December filled with crafts, cookie decorating, parties, shopping, going to Temple Square in Salt Lake City to see the Christmas lights, etc. Gotta love this time of year! It was especially nice to be with family over the holiday. It was awesome because ALL eight of Joseph's siblings were home! The girls had such a great time. We can't wait to see everyone again!
Happy New Year!!!
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