Christmas

Christmas was so much fun this year! My sister-in-law came into town the week before Christmas with the kids so we were able to do a lot of fun stuff with them leading up to Christmas.  It was fun to have them at our house for so long because we don't get to see them very often. (Until now, but I'll get to that later) We had 4 kids ages, 3,2,1 and 5 months all under one roof.  It made for lots of fun and crazy moments.

These two boys became "best friends" and had fun playing together.  One morning Beckett barged into our room around 6:00 asking where his best friend Liam was.  It was so cute.

 We had a leaf raking party one afternoon.  The kids mostly just played in the piles.

 Super excited about the airplane they saw in the sky.

These boys played hard and most days didn't get a nap unless it was in the car.

We did lots of train things since both Liam and Beckett are obsessed with trains. There is an old man in Richardson that has turned his backyard into a train ride. He gives free rides and it was totally awesome.  It was pretty cold that night, but I think everyone had a great time.

We went to see the Trains at Northpark. I thought this was going to be kind of lame because it wasn't trains you could ride or touch.  It was displays of toy trains that you watched go round and round.  Beckett loved it though.  He could've stayed in there for hours just watching trains if I let him.

 And we also went to story time at a train museum.

Griff's shirt says, "On every lady's wish list."  He sure was on mine. 

 It was fun to snuggle this little one too.

 We spent one afternoon making sugar cookies.  Beckett wasn't so sure about it because it got his hands dirty, but it was still a good time.

 That's one good looking reindeer Beckett decorated.

 The finished cookies:

 We had lots of fun with GG and Grandude too.

We got all festive for the Sunday before Christmas.  We took lots of pictures and this was the best one we got.  Taking pictures with a 5 month old and a 2 year old is a little tricky.

Here's our ornament for Zach that hangs on our tree.  It's one of my favorite ornaments but it's always a little hard to put on the tree.  I definitely miss this little man.  I hate that I really know nothing about him.  I hate that I'll never see the anticipation and excitement on his face on Christmas morning when he sees what Santa brought him. I just can't wait to be with him again one day. 

Not napping really caught up with Beckett.  Multiple nights he would fall asleep as he was eating dinner.  As in there would be a bite of food in his mouth that he was in the middle of chewing, but then he would fall asleep. 

Since Beckett was so obsessed with the movie "The Polar Express", I thought it would be fun to put together a Polar Express night. We knew the kids would definitely want to ride the train so I thought it would be fun to start watching the movie at our house and then ride the train to Ned and Gena's apartment and finish the movie there with some hot chocolate.  GG and Grandude decided they wanted to have a sleepover with the kids which made the night extra fun for them.  I'm pretty sure Liam said, "This is the best night ever!" Here is everyone riding the train.

 Drinking hot chocolate and eating cookies.  Yummy!

On Christmas Eve, we did one more train thing.  The kids put together a gingerbread train.  Actually, the adults put most of it together and the kids ate all the candy.  Beckett didn't totally understand that he needed to put icing on the train before he put the candy on so he would just throw m&ms on and then eat them.

 Isn't this the cutest look?  Darcy knows how to rock the curlers!

 The finished product.

This was the first year we hosted Christmas and it was a lot of fun.  It's nice to be in your own home and start your own traditions.  My family always does a fondue dinner of Christmas Eve and it was a tradition I really wanted to carry on.  Tagg loves it too so he didn't need any convincing for this to become our family tradition as well. 

Everyone did a great job preparing their talents.  Unfortunately I didn't get pictures of everyone.  Here's Beckett singing his song "Santa Clause Is Coming To Town."

I think Ned and Gena stole the show with their talent.  They did a performance of "Walk Like A Man." It was awesome!

My family on Christmas Eve.  Words can't express how much I love each one of these people.  I am SO blessed.

And of course you have to read the Christmas story from the Bible.  Truly the most amazing story ever.  I'm so grateful that my Savior was born, lived a perfect life, and died for me so that I can live with my Father in Heaven again one day.  

We gave the boys matching pj's on Christmas Eve.  Griff was not too enthused about this.

And the night would not be complete without the reading of 'Twas The Night Before Christmas.  This book has such a special place in my heart.  A few years ago, my dad gave all his children a book where his voice reads it.  A gift that truly is priceless. This year Tagg read it for everyone and he did a fantastic job carrying on that tradition!

Santa came!

When it comes to Christmas, I'm a kid at heart.  I don't think I've ever slept through the night on Christmas Eve. I'm just too excited. We always woke up at 6 as kids (okay, we woke up at like 4, but we couldn't wake our parents up until 6) but this year we waited until about 6:45.  Then I couldn't wait anymore.  Luckily Beckett was starting to wake up so we just helped him wake up all the way!

There is nothing more magical than the house on Christmas morning with the lights dim and the Christmas lights on.  It's one of my favorite things about Christmas.

The boys favorite toy was this princess house that Darcy got.  Perfect for playing cars.

One of Tagg's favorite gifts!  A helmet I had signed by Bronco and many of the BYU football players.  Thanks for your help with this one Derek.

Needless to say, I think everyone was pretty spoiled!

Here's everybody with their gifts.  Notice that amazing shelf that Santa built for me.  He's pretty awesome!

It was such an amazing Christmas.  Hosting is fun, but tiring! We were blessed to have all of Tagg's family here.  Ned and Gena moved here a few months ago and Tucker and Amanda were here from North Dakota. Amazingly enough, while Tucker was here he interviewed for a job with a company in North Dallas.  About a week after they got home he was offered the job.  So, they will be moving here in a few more weeks.  We are excited to have more family close.  Tagg and I never would've dreamed when we moved to Dallas 3.5 years ago that all of Tagg's family would live here a few years later.  So crazy!  

Christmas is by far my favorite holiday and I love all the feelings of love, hope and charity that it brings out in people.  I'm already counting down the days until next Christmas!