Craig's sister, Lisa, then came in town with her boys and we really packed in a lot of Christmas events. We went out to see the Christmas lights in Caldwell, had Grinch Night at Mark and Paige's house, went tubing at Eagle Island (even Nana took a few turns down the hill), and the adults went to the Nutcracker at the Morrison center. It was so much fun to have so much of the family together for so many fun things. The kids had so much fun with their cousins and luckily their was even some snow on the ground so their cousins from Florida even got to make a snow man.
We then had our annual Christmas Cookie decorating at our house. This year I made the cookies a few weeks ahead of time and then froze them and then just thawed them out the day before. It was one of the best ideas I've had in a while. It really made it so much less stressful. So all I had to do was make frosting the day of. We then of course had to decorate gingerbread houses. I bought a kit that had 4 houses in it, but they ended being way tinier than I had thought. Luckily the kids still had fun.
Normally we spend Christmas Eve morning and day with my Mom and siblings and then the evening with Craig's family, but this year my mom and brother went over to Rexburg to spend Christmas with my sisters family. So, we decided to go bowling in the morning and invited my two sisters who were still in town and Craig's brother and his Dad. The kids had a blast and then we headed over to Craig's parents for a nice Prime Rib dinner. We had prepped as much food before hand and then finished up that afternoon. We ate Prime Rib, ham, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, rolls, deviled eggs, shrimp salad and the works. It was delicious as always. After dinner the kids had prepared a fun little Christmas program. They had prepared a few songs and a short little skit, they did a great job. We then of course went through and acted out the nativity. It was a wonderful evening spent with family. Nana got everyone Muk Luks, so our toes were all roasty toasty. When we got home we got cookies and milk set out for Santa and then got everyone into bed to await Christmas morning.
Christmas morning came and it actually wasn't too early. I was afraid McKay would be up at the crack of dawn, but he made it almost to 7:00am. We headed downstairs to see what Santa brought. No One got anything too exciting, you know the usual socks and undies, candy and gum and a few small toys and games. We then ate our lactose free cinnamon rolls that I had made the day before. Not to toot my own horn, but I was quite happy with the way they turned out. It was the first time I had made them completely dairy free. After filling our tummies we went back to opening gifts. The kids got BSU and 49ers gear, hiking backpacks, books, clothes and a tiny tendo (think old school gameboy but smaller and the games are already downloaded on the gameboy). Craig and I got snow shoes that we are pretty excited about. That afternoon we headed back to Craig's parents house to eat leftovers from the night before.
Since my Mom had been out of town, we celebrated Christmas with her on the 26th. We started out meeting up in Idaho City to go sledding. We then headed back to my Mom's house for lunch a gifts and just to hangout. The kids loved celebrating for another day.
We then finished off our Christmas events a couple weeks into January. Craig's parents decided to gift an activity this year instead of buying individual gifts. They took everyone up to Garden Valley to have a ride in a horse drawn sleigh and to feed a herd of elk and then eat a yummy Dutch oven dinner. The kids had a blast and the dinner was delicious. It was a great way to end our Christmas celebrations. It was really a wonderful Christmas season with about as little as stress as I think is possible. I always love celebrating and remembering the birth of our Lord and Savior and what that really means for me. How grateful I am that He was willing to come to this earth knowing that he would end up sacrificing Himself for all of us. How I hope that I will always remember Him and keep Him a priority in my life.
