Christmas 2023

Christmas Eve fell on a Sunday this year and we celebrated with our ward and enjoyed a beautiful musical program. I loved our Christmas Sunday outfits. The tartan print was so cute and the boys corduroy pants were adorable. 

I love these kids and I loved how adorable they looked in their Christmas outfits.

After church we said goodbye to our elves. Since the elves would be going back to the North Pole on Christmas Eve. 

We also did our gingerbread house smash. This is one of our favorite traditions. 

We also finished our giving manger and placed our baby Jesus on the hay. We did pretty good this year. 
Some acts of service were small and some were bigger, but all helped us remember our Savior and show love to those around us. 

Then we loaded up the van and truck with all our stuff and drove ourselves to Mountain Home. 

We drove two vehicles because Chris has to go to drill after Christmas vacation. 
Naturally all the kids wanted to ride with me in the van so my ride was less than quiet. But we made it work. 

Sadly, Tanner and I were both diagnosed with strep throat on Sunday morning so we weren't feeling great. But we got our antibiotics and recovered quickly. 

We eventually arrived in Mtn Home and it was so fun to be together. Everyone except the Allreds were able to come to Mtn Home this year. We missed the Allreds but had so much fun with the Drake cousins and all the other aunts and uncles. 

Later that night the pajama elves delivered our Christmas pajamas. We read our book and the kids put on their pjs. 

We also sprinkled the lawn with reindeer food and laid out cookies for Santa. 

Benson is all about the Christmas magic. It's so cute. 

We eventually got the kids to bed and the adults stayed up visiting. It was so fun to be together. 

Christmas morning found us up pretty early with our kids. They sorted through their stockings and were giddy with all their treasures. 

Then around 8 am, everyone else woke up and we opened presents. 

I always love watching the kids open their presents and getting to see their reactions. 

My favorites are the sibling gift exchanges. 

Sometimes Bailey doesn't love physical affection. Unfortunately for her, it cracks her brothers up and they love to make her uncomfortable. 

These kids did a great job on their gift exchanges. 

The kids loved their gifts and both Chris and I got some great gifts too. 

The big gift from Nanny and Papa were hoverboard go-carts. The kids were over the moon excited. 
It was cold but they didn't seem to mind. 

That night we had a delicious Christmas dinner and then Michelle made us Pavlova. It was so yummy and perfectly festive. 

Over the next week we enjoyed lots of snuggles, games, movies and quality time together.

Tanner immediately went to work on his star wars lego set. 

I love watching these cute cousins enjoy each other. 
We got so much good quality time together. 

One day the girls went to get pedicures. It was so nice and relaxing. 

Then on one of our last days we took the kids to see "Wonka". It was so cute and we all really enjoyed it. It was a super cute movie and I think we will have to buy it when it comes out on dvd. 

We've had a wonderful Christmas break and now we are preparing to leave for a new years trip to Wisconsin and Michigan. Stay tuned for that.

But until then, we had a wonderful Christmas break with our Drake family in Mountain Home. 
I'm so incredibly grateful for my family and how much we enjoy each other. There is never drama. There is just love and fun.  We had a great week. 

Christmas Fun

We've been having so much fun this Christmas season. It's as busy as ever but we are also working hard to be intentional with our time. 
We've spent nights at home together, watching Christmas movies and making pizzas. We've snuggled up to read Christmas books and spend time together. 
But we've also done some of our traditional activities. 

We mailed our letters to Santa early in the month. The cut off is always pretty early, so that the kids can get letters back from Santa before Christmas. 
I've finally reached the point where all my kids can write their own letters. It's a game changer and Benson's letter was particularly adorable. 

We drove to Lawrence Plaza to mail our letters at the cute little "North Pole Express"' mail house. 

I sure love these cuties!

We didn't get our traditional "Santa's Sleigh" picture on the Bentonville square because the "5&10" is being remodeled and isn't currently open. That's ok- the kids were totally find with one less picture. 

Another night we got to attend Tanner's Christmas band concert.
For some reason only the 8th grade had a concert this Christmas.
Bailey didn't seem too disappointed though.

Tanner did great and the band sounded great. 

 

I love this kid and his love for band. He loves the community he has built with band and has made some many good friends. 

Later during the month I got to attend the younger kids class Christmas parties. 
I am a room mom for both younger boys and so I always help put the parties together and run them. 
It's been alot but I like getting to be involved. 

Tucker is always thrilled to see me at school. 

Since I'm no longer serving on the PTO board, I'm not at school nearly as often, so when I do get to be there, the kids are so happy. 

For Tucker's class party we did gingerbread houses, Christmas bracelets and snacks. 

Tucker loved decorating his gingerbread house and did a great job. 

Benson's class had lots of fun activities too. They made photo frames and took polaroid pictures to put in them. They played bingo and made snow. Oh and they had awesome snacks.  

 

I think Benson's favorite thing was making snow. 
It was so fun that I ended up buying some for my kids to make during Christmas break.

Then on Saturday we attended our Ward Christmas party. It was a waffle bar and then it had a few activities and games for the kids. They encouraged everyone to wear Christmas pajamas and I made sure we obliged. 

After the party we helped clean up and I loved finding Benson helping to clean the floor.
It was so precious. No one asked him, he just found a mop and went to work. 

I sure love that boy!

Directly afterwards, "Fireman Santa" came around our neighborhood and we walked up to the corner of our street to meet him. This is one of our favorite traditions and I love that the big kids still indulge Benson by going and seeing him all together. 

Shortly after seeing Fireman Santa, we went to Wal-Mart to ring the Salvation Army bell. 
This is another of our traditions but I'm sad to say, my kids didn't seem to enjoy it like they use to. 
We use to sing Christmas carols and they would say hi and be friendly to everyone. 
This year my teenagers were more grumpy and Benson was tired and uncooperative. Only Tucker seemed to enjoy himself. Maybe it was just an off day, but I'm not sure how much longer this tradition will survive. We may need to find another service project for the holiday season. 

Then Saturday night we went to do the "North Polar Express".

This is an adorable "train" ride that the Kiwanis club puts together. 
It's actually a bus that they decorate to look like a train and they take you on a ride and then drop you off at the "North Pole" to visit Santa. It's so cute.

We had a great time and they passed out cookies and hot cocoa afterwards. 

The kids loved it! This is a free event they put together and we love it! It's so cute!

 

We also did our traditional "Minivan Express" and it was as fun as usual. 

We found a new neighborhood this year that had tons of lights and a house that lit up to music. Those are always our favorite.

We enjoyed watching the light show and listening to Christmas music while drinking our hot cocoa. 
It was lots of fun and this is one tradition that I hope my kids never outgrow. 
I love the quality time together and it's basically free. So fun. 

Then today we decorated gingerbread houses. 
I always buy the gingerbread village set and then each kid gets a small house to decorate. 
The kids always enjoy this and I love watching them work so hard on them. 

 

 

They finished them and they were all masterpieces.  

Now Christmas is only a few days away. We are going to attend church here on Christmas eve and then head over to Mtn. Home to be with family. It will be so fun. 
I can't wait to all be together.