Christmas 2020

 Christmas Eve festivities at my parent's new house consisted of the usual chimes, dinner, nativity and games.

Christmas morning. Bryson and Austin were up at 5:30 ready to open presents. We sent them back to bed till it was light outside. They went ahead and started on their stockings all on their own though!

After all the opening!

Matt got me some organizers for Wingspan and Terraforming Mars, 2 games that Caleb and I play often. I also got some glass containers. Matt's presents included 5 new work shirts, Oreos, and a new card game. My parents gave us a new Nativity set, white church shirts for Matt, and some Doctrine and Covenants study helps for me.

Christmas Eve 2018

As always, Christmas Eve is one of the evenings we look forward to the most. So much fun and family packed into one night! There was some tension over some details with acting out the Nativity, but it all worked out. 

Chimes

Nativity

Baby Luman was a very patient baby Jesus.

Gavin playing "Silent Night" in the background.

Caleb playing "What Child is This?"

Carter playing "We Three Kings"

Rolling the dice game

Kids' white elephant game

Austin ended up with some Hatchimals and skittles, which he was thrilled about.

Grandma and Grandpa opening up blog books of their mission to Denmark. My mom got very emotional! Lindsey and I took turns posting my parents' letters while they were on their mission to a blog for extended family to read about their mission experiences. I found a company that helped to make the process fairly easy to turn the blog posts into a book.

Christmas Eve 2017

Christmas is such a magical time of year. I love the Christmas season. We gathered for a Christmas Eve dinner and celebrations at my younger brother's house.

 After dinner the kids acted out the Nativity story.

Austin was excited to be a shepherd

The kids' white elephant game 

 followed by handbells

Short recital--Jared and I played "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel"

Then the kids were dismissed to watch a movie so the adults could do chimes, their white elephant game and dice/present game. After that we exchanged family gifts and ended the evening.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is always an event to look forward to! We love spending time with family. The evening consisted of chimes, a yummy turkey and ham dinner, talent show, acting out the Nativity story, white elephant, and present exchange. I didn't catch pictures of everything, but it was a fun-filled evening.

Waiting on the stairs for their part to be called.

Caleb kept track that it was his turn to be Joseph this year.

Shepherds and angels

The 3 wisemen

Christmas Eve 2014

One of my favorite days of the year...it was so fun to have all my siblings here for Christmas!

The kids playing some Christmas songs with handbells

Carter holding cousin Capri

Holding cousin Lili--there's an obsession with the babies

Acting out the nativity story--Bryson was a shepherd

Caleb as a wiseman

Carter was also a shepherd

 Chimes--a favorite part of the evening

Grandma's village is pretty fun to look at

Dessert!

The kids each get to open one present from Grandma and Grandpa

We ended the night with the adult white elephant exchange, which is always a blast!

Christmas Eve

We hosted Christmas Eve at our house this year.

The kids loved playing on the trampoline together.

We played chimes together as is tradition. Our goal as a family is to perfect "O Holy Night" which has a two part harmony plus the accompaniment. We need some of the kids to grow up a little first to really do it justice as we need more people!

After chimes, we ate a turkey and ham dinner.

Following dinner, any kids that had talents to share put on a little concert.

We also did the Christmas story before it got too late for the kiddos.

Caleb played Joseph this year and Sam played Mary

Carter was a shepherd

The kids taking turns and patiently waiting to open presents from Grandma and Grandpa

Bryson playing with his present from Grandma and Grandpa

Grandma and Grandpa opening tickets to see The Little Mermaid on Broadway

Drew playing "peek-a-boo" with Lili and Bryson

We ended the night with our traditional Christmas Eve games:

Dice/Present game

White Elephant game with missing family members Skyped in

I look forward to this night every year! My mom puts so much work into it.