The Moss Family: White Christmas

We were able to spend our Christmas up in McCall this year. The town had just got dumped with snow and was truly a winter wonderland. Brooklyn, Diane, and I headed up on Dec. 23 so that we could have all day on the 24th to work on Christmas Eve dinner. On the 23rd the 3 of us headed to the Pancake House for dinner. We were all just in awe of how beautiful it was with all the snow and the Christmas lights. The morning of the 24th Brooklyn and I played in the snow for a little while and then we all started on dinner. Mark and Paige got there about lunch time with their family and Brooklyn and Audrey were right into the snow with Mark. Craig had to work that morning so he and Stan drove up that afternoon in the middle of a snow storm. Luckily they made it safely, it just took them a little longer. That evening we had a super yummy dinner and then had the kids decorate sugar cookies to leave out for Santa. We then let the kids open up one present, their matching Christmas jammies. Stan then read the kids "The Night Before Christmas" and then we all read the nativity story together. We then got the kids to bed and got all of their stockings ready for the morning. I was so excited to see Brooklyn the next morning that it took me a while to fall asleep.

one went down and they all went down

Brooklyn slept in until about 8:00 Christmas morning, so by the time we came downstairs the other kids were already playing with the things they got from Santa. Brooklyn was so excited to see that Santa had come. She would get so distracted by each item that it took a while to get through the entire stocking. We let the kids play with their stocking toys for a while before we started opening up the rest of the gifts. While they were playing I got the breakfast casserole in the oven and started getting the monkey bread ready. We then slowly opened up all of the presents, taking breaks to play and to eat breakfast. We finally finished opening presents around noon and then we all headed outside to play in the snow. After the kids were all worn out and Brooklyn was down for her nap, Craig and I headed out in the backyard to do some snowshoeing. I had never snowshoed before, but it was a ton of fun and will definitely be doing it again. That evening we just took it easy and ate leftovers for dinner.

"Dr. Brooklyn" as she calls herself

our two Rapunzel's

enjoying her new paint set that Santa brought her

not sure what I'm doing here, but Brooklyn sure looks adorable

Saturday morning, the 26th, we headed to the tubing hill. Brooklyn was so confused why the tubes were on the snow and not on the lake behind the boat. We were able to go down together holding onto each others tubes. Brooklyn loved it and just yelled the whole way down, "this is so fun!!" She did get cold the 3rd time up. It was only about 10 degrees out and we had to wait in line for quite a while in between rides, so after the 3rd time down we went in and drank some hot chocolate to warm up before we went down one last time. That evening we went out to Pueblo Lindo for dinner. Sunday morning we went to church, cleaned up and then headed home with all of our Christmas gifts. The next day we headed over to my parents house so Brooklyn could open her gifts from Grandma and Grandpa. To say the least, we had a fantastic Christmas. We all got a lot more than we needed. Brooklyn loves her princess dresses and shoes, her doctor kit, her stuffed lamb, she can't wait to go to the zoo with Grandma and Grandpa, and all of the puzzles she got. Craig got some shoes and shirts for work and I love my new SoniCare toothbrush and Oakley sunglasses. I'd say that we are all pretty spoiled. Brooklyn is already seeing things that she likes and asking if she can get them for Christmas next year. I don't think she quite understands how far away that really is. She was at such a fun age and was just so happy the entire time. She constantly had a smile on her face. It was a lot of fun to teach her what Christmas is really about. I know she doesn't totally understand it but I think that she understands more then we give her credit for. I am already looking forward to next Christmas with our little family.