Christmas 2014

  

Merry Christmas 2014!

We were lucky enough to spend Christmas Eve with Uncle Bart and Aunt Gayleen at their home. We had a delicious dinner and then had a little nativity acting out. I asked Jordan and Natalie who they wanted to be in the nativity story. Natalie picked Mary (I think she picked her so she could hold the baby Jesus) and Jordan chose Joseph. It was adorable! Gayleen was a great angel and Bart, Preston, and I were all shepherds. We didn't get around to the wise men part of the story, short attention spans with a 2 and 4 year old. 

 Here is our Joseph and Mary. 

Christmas Eve is such a special evening. Jordan insisted on setting out milk and cookies for Santa, plus a carrot for Rudolf. He also put "The Night Before Christmas" book out. He said that Santa would like it because it's about him. 

Jordan thought stockings are literally his socks and so he got some of his and some of Natalie's socks for Santa to put goodies in. I love to see how our kids look at the world. 

 

 Santa has arrived and everything is ready for the tomorrow. Now to see if Mom can sleep... I'm always too excited to sleep well. Once a kid, always a kid. 

 

Natalie looking under the tree. 

It's Christmas morning! Jordan and Natalie were so excited to open and play with their presents they barely glanced at their little stockings. Jordan got Superman, Flash, and Legos. Natalie got a little kitchen with food and a little baby doll. It was so sweet to see the excitement in their faces!

 

We had a breakfast of scons and craps with Bart, Gayleen, Cam, and Nick. The food was great and the company was fantastic! So glad to have them all over. Plus if you can see in the background and out the window we had a white Christmas! It was a Christmas miracle that made the day all the more special!

Preston was soooo excited to have Jordan try using the whipping cream can and to eat as much as he wanted. Jordan thought it was pretty fun too and wanted eat more and more of it.

Here is a picture to document (for Preston's sack) that Natalie indeed likes Eggnog. Preston is always so proud of the kids when they like Eggnog... and I just shack my head and smile. Silly Daddy.

With the winter wonderland outside Nick and Cam were nice enough to let us borrow their sleds. This is sledding 101 with Dad. 

I forget how it came about but Natalie wanted her nails painted by Auntie Cam. Natalie chose the color pink of course. The dilemma came at nap time when Natalie wanted to suck on her thumb and it tasted kind of strange. But it was sure sweet to watch them spend time together.

 

Christmas dinner at Grandma and Grandpa Murray's house was full of excitement as well. As you can tell by the picture, Jordan was a thrilled to get Superman Legos. Natalie liked her little Belle toy and coloring items. Preston as usual got a bunch of hunting stuff and I got some style'n boots and curling cone for hair. It was a time of fun chaos.

On another snowy day we had a fun time taking the kids sledding. They really enjoyed it! Natalie was done before Jordan, so us girls warmed up in the van until the boys were done.

At the house Dad made a sweet snow cave for the kids while shoveling the drive way. 

Happy lady!

Jordan noticed the icicles forming on the house and wanted to check them out. Preston lifted him up to grab them and Jordan had an awesome time playing with the huge chunk of ice. Simple joys.

More sledding. 

Natalie got cold and was done. 

Fun times sledding as a fam. 

Cousin Clara and Uncle Nick making snow angels. We had a wonderful time in the snow. What a wonderful Christmas this year! We feel so blessed and full of joy! We hope your year wraps up with the same feelings.

Having A Holly Jolly Time

 

We bought a beautiful evergreen Christmas tree this year. It smells amazing and always makes me think of my happy childhood days in Washington. The kids were great helpers in decorating the tree.

Ta da! We had a fun time putting ornaments on the tree together as a family. This is what Christmas is all about... family times together.

Jordan and I made sugar cookies and we all decorated them together with frosting and sprinkles. Jordan did a marvelous job using the rolling pin and using the cookie cutters. Uncle Nick and Aunt Cambria even came over to decorate cookies. It is so fun having them live just down the street!

Here Natalie is showing us her frosting covered fingers. It was also neat to watch the kids decorate their cookies the way they wanted them. We enjoy seeing their personalities and what there favorite things are. Jordan liked LOTS of frosting and chocolate chips on his and Natalie liked the red aka "pink" (her favorite color) frosting with sprinkles.

Preston and Dad went with Grandpa Murray, Marissa, and Cam to see the Christmas lights in Ogden. Once Jordan started running around he was warm enough enjoy the sights more. They even went to get some Farr's ice cream afterwords. Those Murray boys will never say no to ice cream. (Natalie was sick, so us girls had a nice Tinkerbell movie night together at home.)

One of Natalie's favorite games is hiding and being found. Here is a time when she was hiding between the couch and the Christmas tree. She gets so excited and always said, "Hide again!"

We like to give goodies to our friends and neighbors. This year we went a little crazy and made a bunch of cookies. My favorite part is dropping the goodies off and wishing the recipients a Merry Christmas. It's especially cute hearing Jordan and Natalie say "Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!"

Time to be crafty. I've wanted to make this birthday craft for my Mom for a while now. I got the idea from Great Grandma Murray's house where her daughter and granddaughter made one for her. It has the months of the year and below her children, their spouses, and grandchildren's names and birth dates on it. It's a fun way to remember birthdays. I will keep adding to it as the years go and more spouses and/or grandchildren join the family. 

I have a lot of extra hearts from this project and so here is Natalie helping me paint some. Consequently the picture of me showing my Mom's gift also is a good prego belly picture. We are getting really excited to meet our second little girl in March!

Jordan and Natalie had some fun cousin time with Clara and Emmy this December. Here they are cooking in the play kitchen together. 

Left to right: Jordan, Emmy, Clara, and Natalie. It's fun to see these kids spend time together. In this picture they're watching a movie together. What a fun and jolly time the Christmas season is!