Christmas Eve

 We spent Christmas in our home in Sandy with just our little family. It was wonderful, lovely, and everything great.  I love being with my extended family during Christmas; I love the parties, the entertainment, the craziness of it all, but now that I have my own little family I really just like being with them.  It's not very often that we are able to sit back and just relax and enjoy being together without an agenda or to-do list hanging over our heads.  It was peaceful, calm, and exciting.  The kids were so nice to each other. There was a special spirit in our home the couple days leading up to Christmas and I am so grateful for that.

Last year we went home to Boise for Christmas so we could bless Kate with all the family around.  Reece was so mad we couldn't have our own Christmas with our family in OUR HOME and so we promised him we would spend this year at our home with no one else.  I am actually thankful we made that promise to him-- it was a beautiful and unifying couple days.

Here are some of the things we did:

*Spencer took Reece and Benson snow skiing

...Tanner and Kate napped while I wrapped Christmas presents while watching a Hallmark Christmas show-- my favorite!!

*Spence took Reece and Benson to the new Star Wars movie (huge success!)

----Another afternoon of Kate napping, Tanner watching movie downstairs, and me wrapping the rest of the Christmas presents while watching another cheesy Hallmark Christmas movie!

*Went on a night drive looking at beautiful Christmas lights while eating McDonalds in the car for Dinner.  People here in Utah have some amazing shows with lights that dance to music. We ended at the Draper Temple. My favorite part of the night was when we were at the Temple talking about the real meaning of Christmas.  The kids were all saying how Christmas is really about Christ and the gospel.  They had such sweet things to say-- it made my heart burst.

*Delivered Cookie Dough to neighbors and friends

*played in the Snow and found a SWEET sledding hill where the boys got a ton of air.  Some twenty year old guys thought the boys were so cool.  They were taking picture of them sledding off this crazy jump-- they were loving the attention.

Here are some pictures from Christmas Eve:

The boys have all loved the train set that goes around the tree.  We started putting presents under the tree and so we moved it to under the Piano.  That train has entertained my children for countless hours over the years.

Kate was her usual sweet self.  She just "bum scooted" around the house and then when she wanted to be picked up she would put her hands up in the air and look at me with this darling face!

After the boys came home from the Star Wars movie we opened our presents from Grandma and Grandpa Miller.  They each got a lego set and pajamas from Canada that had a book that matched the pajamas.  The boys quickly started on their lego sets which gave Spencer and I the perfect amount of time to put together our traditional Christmas Puzzle.  This year our puzzle was of the BYU stadium which is fitting for our family-- our boys have become avid fans since moving to Utah.  We watched one of our all time favorite cheesy Hallmark movies "It's the most wonderful time of the year".  It was a perfect afternoon.

We then made a delicious dinner with ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, rolls, jello, corn and a delicious drink mixed with juice and sprite. We cleaned up and then had our Christmas Eve program that included singing Christmas songs next to the piano and then reading and acting our Luke 2.  It was a beautiful night.  Spencer read "The Mansion" to the boys while they were laying in bed.  It's one of President Monsons favorite books to read around Christmas time.  It had a beautiful message. 

Good news! The kids were awesome this year and Santa Came! See next post for details.