Christmas is a special time! And, these are some special kids. I'm so grateful to be their mother. Grandma Kathy bought them all these awesome outfits. So fun to dress up on "Christmas Sunday!"
The best we could get with all five kids!
I love Travis! Always and forever.
I found an opportunity to do some service through Carrie's Cause this Christmas. They ordered 180 poinsettias and delivered them to my home. We in turn gathered lots of friends to deliver all the flowers to the Elms Haven Nursing Facility. We had so many people show up that we were done in about 15 minutes. It was remarkable. Such a fun way to serve others around Christmas time.
We took Coseth to see some of Denver and to donate to the Giving Machines that made their way here this year. We had a fun afternoon together on 16th street mall. We saw the random blue bear, explored the German Christmas Market and donated to the Giving Machines. Our donations were dedicated to Grandma Kathy as she is the most service oriented person I know. We then jumped like Elf through intersections and quickly toured the money museum followed by a stop at the local outlets near home for some energy release time on the playground for some hyper boys!
Ethan gave his 4yo friend Marcus some matchbox cars for Christmas. In turn, Ethan got two pictures and a tree ornament from Marcus that he quickly placed on the tree. Such a tender moment.
And Kedzie and Wiley...not sure what to say about this one. lol
Diana's gifts to Reggie and Kathy this year. They're beautiful.
On Christmas eve, we had the Bjorkman family and Sister Beck join us for dinner, playing and the nativity. We had a nice evening together. the nativity started off pretty great and ended with a dog pile! But hey, we tried!
After our friends left, we opened our secret Santa gifts and everyone was thrilled. shoes, Frisbees, a cat, games, infuser, loud sound maker and some jewelry. It's been a fun tradition for our family. We also got super hero pj shirts this year that everyone loved!
All she wanted for Christmas was a cat. This is the only way we could follow through!
This year, the kids asked Santa to wrap all presents and place them under the tree! Great request and Santa followed through. It made for a fun morning of opening many gifts.
The kids were all awake by 5 and came into our room. they're all just so excited. I didn't sleep that well either. I guess it's tradition to not sleep due to excitement. We started with stockings and opening one gift at a time. We couldn't keep that up for long, so it eventually became chaos of opening gifts. But, everyone was happy this year. Everyone! It felt great as a parent and by the end of the day, no one fought at all! Nice gift for Travis and I. Big gifts, cleats and a fit bit for Alex, plane tickets to LA for Coseth and Kedzie to go to Disneyland with Travis in February. Everything he had on his list for Ethan, except a video game and Triston got beats and a smart watch. We only had to make breakfast and then everyone snacked throughout the day. We got Disney + in addition to Get Out Passes for summer, ESPN + and I think everyone got at least one pair of shoes and a Lego!
Well loved kids for sure!
These four ladies went to see the Nutcracker on the 28th. A tradition my mom started moons ago. We had an extra ticket, so we invited Jill to go. We had a great time. The Nutcracker makes Kedzie and I so happy and Coseth had never seen a ballet before, so it was the perfect one for her. Jill hadn't been in years. We just had a really nice evening together. Love these ladies so much.
Grateful for the season of giving and of remembering the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. The new movie the church put out about Christ's birth was pretty impactful to me this year. A humble birth with humble parents in a humble town visited by humble Shepard's. I'm so grateful to have a testimony that my Savior and elder brother live and that He loves me and understands me and all that I do. What a treasure. I'm grateful for His gospel and the knowledge of exaltation...life carries on after death. What a comfort to me.
