Christmas

It was a fun December getting into the Christmas spirit. The girls and I finally got to see the Nutcracker that they put on at temple square for free every year. I'd been wanting to go for years. One of our YW was in it so we went to support her. It turned out that one of Lizzie's friends from school was in it as well. It was a rainy night but I loved going out with them and it was actually a really good performance for being free:

We had our ward Christmas party. We made supply kits to give to the homeless this year. I was sad to only have one kid who wanted to talk to Santa this year:

The YW came over to our house to make Christmas ornaments one night. I loved this one Natalie made:

There was a ward gingerbread contest for a linger longer and we actually tried doing the kits this year. The kids teamed up to make theirs and did a great job:

We made our annual Christmas plates for neighbors and friends:

I'd forgotten how much work that is!

All dressed up for Christmas Sunday:

The choir Christmas program was really simple this year--we just sang some hymns and a song called Prince of Peace that the girls both had solos in. They did great!

Christmas Eve dinner:

It was a quiet year here at home by ourselves but it was a nice one. I didn't get any pictures of the kids opening presents so I just took some screenshots of our video:

I got the best gift:

I'd been wanting one of those for years and they were finally not crazy expensive. We've enjoyed it every single day since!

It was a pretty quiet day eating, doing puzzles, playing with toys and watching movies. 

The day after Christmas, we left for Tahoe to stay at the cabin with Chris and Lisa and their kids. We had so much fun up there with them for a couple of days. The girls got to go skiing with Uncle Chris, Emily, Isaac and Lily. They loved it! We'll have to keep taking them so they can improve more. I was impressed with how well they did. It was Natalie's first time ever and Lizzie had only been once on a 5th grade field trip.

The boys and I had fun sledding and playing on the golf course:

Joe was recovering from a minor surgery so he rested most of the time. After Chris and Lisa and kids left, we stayed a couple more days. We always love playing games, warming up by the fire, and hanging out in the spa. We also had fun going to Reno to see the last Star Wars movie.

We came back on New Year's Eve so we spent that night at home. I can't remember what we did so it must not have been too exciting. Goodbye 2019!