Christmas 2015

I can't believe another Christmas has come and gone!  This one came quicker than in the past and was just a lot busier!  I love Christmas so much and I hate to see it end.  I love everything about it.  Being with family and friends, the decorations, the traditions we all do around Christmas.  It is just comes with feelings of love and peace.  And among all of the hustle we stop and try to fully take in that a baby so innocent and pure was born and that baby was our Savior Jesus Christ.  The older I get the more awesome that is!  So many feelings go into that and I could go on and on about it.  I would ramble because there are not enough words to describe such an awesome event.  But thank you Jesus that it happened!
I will start our Christmas celebrating with Christmas Eve.  I had one last errand to run that morning which always seems to happen.  I think I shop up until the last minute.  But it was quick and we enjoyed our afternoon at home.  That night we went to the Christmas Eve service at church which is always one of my favorite.  I love the candlelight service and being surrounded by so many people that I love so much.  Bryce lasted about 5 minutes in thanks to snacks then it was out he went with Kelly.  It was quite cute seeing so many Dads taking their kids out.  After church we went to Sug and Pop's house for our Christmas Eve dinner.  As always Lydia pulls out all the stops to deliver a 5 course meal.  I look forward to this meal all year!  Pop reads us all "Twas the Night Before Christmas", and we all get to open an ornament from Aunt Vicki.  She shops to find just the right ornament for everyone.  She puts so much time into these ornaments and we appreciate her doing that so much.  Our tree is beautiful and a lot of that has come from our ornaments from Vicki, especially our GA tree!  She has provided 95% of those ornaments!
Afterward we packed everyone into the car and headed home.  We had reindeer food to put out along with milk and cookies for Santa!  The girls were so excited.  We had to also say goodbye to our elf, Emma, because she would be heading back to the North Pole with Santa.  Cohen said she didn't know how she would ever fall asleep but 5 minutes later she had it figured out and was sound asleep!

sitting with Pop while he reads

Cohen reading to Pop

Spreading reindeer food

On Christmas morning Kelly and I actually woke up to our alarms at 7:00.  I was surprised we actually beat the girls but we went in their room and they jumped up ready to see what Santa had brought.  We got Bebe up and then went to see all the goodies Santa had left.  I didn't get pics of each kid because I was taking a video but I did have one of Kate surrounded by all her animals!

 We spent our morning at home but then we were on the go to Bebe's house for breakfast.  We had Christmas there with her and with Auntie P, Brock and Devin.  Both girls got new suitcases from Bebe along with more animals and animal books for Kate and a Lego pop star tour bus set for Cohen.  They both had coloring books, markers, and all sorts of stocking stuffers!  Auntie P gave Kate some ponies and Cohen a new outfit from Justice complete with dangle earrings!  She also got an outfit for her AG doll that matched the one Santa brought her!  Kate got a puppy with a bath robe outfit for the puppy.  Bryce got new shoes and clothes, just what he needed!
After Bebe's house we all headed to Pop and Sug's for more presents!

 Uncle Davis and Kayla gave the girls big sis/lil sis necklaces.  I was trying to get a picture of the girls when Kate decided she wanted no part of a picture with Cohen and was crying having Cohen next to her...a typical sister moment for these 2.  Savannah and Addison came over and all the girls had a group hug making Kate feel better which clearly worked as you can see.  She is such a mess sometimes!

After all the hugs she was willing to get a sweet picture!

Around 5:00 we left Sug and Pop's and made our way to our last stop at Suzy's house.  This one can get a little crazy with all of the kids.  Luckily this year Christmas was a warm 75 degrees and we spread out including eating outside.  I'm not sure why we thought we could get a picture of all the kids but we attempted to and this was the best I could get.

 When everyone was leaving it was also time to take Nanny home.  Bryce got in Suzy's car ready to drive her home!  He did not want out of that car and gave some good screams when we finally pulled him out.  This boy has a set of lungs on him when he wants to use them!  I never knew boys could be such good screamers!

Back at home we settled in for some last present opening.  Bryce had a gift to open from Cohen that she had picked out all by herself.  It was a stuffed dog.  We put him to bed with his new dog and then we all opened presents.  Bryce was worn out!

Later that night he woke up screaming!  We gave him a bottle and he laid in the bed with us but still was pointing toward the door screaming "Duh, duh".  Kelly finally took him into his room and he was pointing at that dog!  WE got the dog and laid him back in the bed with us and never heard another word.  We couldn't believe he remembered that dog was in his bed and that he screamed so much over that one toy.  He has quite the little attitude sometimes.  I snapped this picture too of Bryce using Cohen's new American Girl desk as his own!  These American Girl toys are just his size!

What a good Christmas it was!  I'm sad to see it go but we are enjoying the remainder of our Christmas break and we look forward to more great memories in 2016!