Christmas Fun!

Decorating the Tree/Ornaments

We were a little slow with the Christmas festivities this year, because we were on our cruise when we would normally be getting things ready. We eventually got things decorated. The kids got their 2017 ornaments, and it's the first year they picked them out themselves. It's usually a surprise, but I wanted to get them something to represent our Western Caribbean vacation, so I let them chose while we were on the trip.

Bailey's ornament is a pretty shell.

Sawyer picked Santa riding a sting ray, since we loved our sting ray encounter so much.

Favorite Things Party:

Bailey had a performance the night my friends and I scheduled our annual 'favorite things' Christmas party. So, they all came to the museum to listen to Bailey play for an hour before we had our party. They're so great! Then we went to Michelle's for dinner, our gift exchange, and lots of laughs and talking until late into the night. We all look forward to this every year! So fun!

The fab five!

A Movie Night basket from Misty!

A cute snowman, Santa salt and pepper shakers, and an awesome planner from Becky!

Lesa is the crafty one of our group. She made a candy cane themed gift, and made these candy cane wreaths for all of us. The whole thing is made out of ribbon. So cute! 

Michelle gave us a basket filled with all the things she loves. So many great things!

I made my friends a crock pot recipe binder and got them aprons. I ended up loving them, so I'm gonna make one for myself and Bailey next. I love these ladies, and I love our party each year!

Laughing All The Way: 

Bailey got two tickets for the Laughing All the Way fireside for her birthday. We were so excited! It was John Bytheway, Meg Johnson, and our all time favorite, Hank Smith. It was so great! We laughed the whole night!

So excited!

John Bytheway was great!

Meg Johnson has an incredible story, and is such an inspiring person!

We love Hank Smith! We have every one of his CDs, and listen to them over and over! He is hilarious, and we could have listened to him for hours!

Such a great show!

Festival of Lights:

Bailey loves the Festival of Lights at Freeman Park! We took a carriage ride to see the lights, and met Santa Claus.

We love the sweet horses that pull us around in the freezing cold!

Carriage ride!

Bailey and her horse friends!

Good times with Santa! It would have been nice to have a family picture, but Sawyer wouldn't come.

Puzzle:

We always start a puzzle Thanksgiving weekend, and finish before Christmas. Since we were gone this year for Thanksgiving, we got a really late start on our puzzle. We finished it the day before Christmas Eve. 

Christmas Treats:

Bailey loves to bake treats at Christmas time. She usually learns a fun new recipe each year. This year they didn't get out of school until right before Christmas, so she spent all day Saturday making treats for her friends and leaders, and then delivered them on Christmas Eve. This year she made gingerbread cookies, chocolate chip cookies, snickerdoodles, Oreo pops, and cute little donut reindeer.

This is what she baked in all day on Saturday! Cute little elf!

Putting on the finishing touches!

Christmas Eve:

Christmas Eve was nice and relaxing. We went to church for an hour, then I took Bailey around to make her Christmas deliveries. We had a nice dinner, made a gingerbread nativity, read our Christmas story, threw reindeer dust, and went to bed early.

Cheers to a plate full of olives!

Working hard on our gingerbread nativity!

Sawyer had a cute little helper most of the time!

Ta-da! 

It lasted about 5 minutes before the roof caved in!

Sawyer read 'The Perfect Gift,' by Henry B Eyring for our Christmas Eve story this year.

Reindeer dust!

Christmas:

Christmas was great! I thought it would be less exciting with adult children, but it's still just as fun as ever! Bailey was up at the crack of dawn, but let us sleep in until 6:00 this year! Whahooo! We opened presents, ate breakfast, and then Elder Cannon got to call! So fun! His mission president said since they have I-pads, they can call and chat with friends and family all day! We also watched movies, and played around with our new stuff.

Santa came!

Merry Christmas!

Stockings!

The puppies get so excited for Christmas!

They get so many treats!

Sawyer got a green screen for his computer.

Bailey got the whole collection of Jane Austin books, and was so excited!

We knew once Sawyer headed back up to college, he wouldn't be able to afford to buy a lot of cereal, so we stocked him up.

This is my favorite picture of the whole day! Oreo isn't even allowed on the carpet, but she was sitting right next to Sawyer watching him open presents. When I said, "Say cheese," she looked right at me and smiled right along with Sawyer. She's naughty, but too cute to get mad at!

So happy!

Bailey's big present was Shania Twain concert tickets! She kept trying to win them on the radio, and I kept hoping she wouldn't!

Sawyer got a new suit!

The best part of her day was being able to video chat with her missionary! She didn't find out she was going to get to talk to him until Christmas Eve!

Sawyer trying to figure out his green screen.

Bailey got a lot of Boise State gear, and came up wearing it all at once. She's a dork!

She only asked for two things for Christmas....Jane Austen books, and a bathtub tray. She loves taking baths, and was so excited about her tray! She's used it a ton already!

She got to video chat with Mason twice! It was so fun for them to talk again! I hope his mission president lets him do that again next year. They talked for a few hours, and got all caught up.

We had a great Christmas, and a great time off of work and school! We told the kids this was their last really big Christmas. Since they are both adults now, we are going to tone it down. Next year we told them we are doing, "Something you want, something you need, something to wear, and something to read." Bailey was super excited about the idea! It will probably be harder for me then for them. I love picking out presents I think they will love. But I think it will be a good way to focus more on the Savior, and the real reason we celebrate Christmas.