Christmas Festivities

December is always such a busy month - so many parties and get togethers and such. Thankfully, despite feeling sick most of the month, I was able to make it to many of the festivities.

The first Friday of the month, Ashley and I went to see Molly play her violin in a fun Christmas orchestra performance. 

The very next night, Lucy and I took a small road trip with Katie and her son, Robbie, to see a play.

Hillary and her three oldest kids were in a performance of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever in Fountain Green.

The play was a lot of fun and Hillary and the kids did great!

A week or so before Christmas we decorated our usual gingerbread house.

The kids love doing this and half of the candy usually ends up in their bellies instead of on the house.

I love this funny expression!

The final product!

This year our Christmas party at the church was an adult party. Our program was the nativity told from the point of view of women involved. I got to be the narrator.

The other talented ladies from the program. Thankfully, I didn't have to sing like they did!

The Manwill party was fun but weird. Hardly any of my cousins were there, which was really disappointing. Almost all of my aunts and uncles were though, which was nice. My kids were the only great-grandkids. They got lots of attention but not anyone to play with.

The reason we were willing to take the kids with us to Temple Square on our anniversary was because just a few days later, we got to see the Christmas concert put on every year by The Mormon Tabernacle Choir. I've tried to get tickets every year for the past 4 years and finally got some! It was amazing and we enjoyed ourselves immensely.

We got together for lunch and a cousin gift exchange with the Van Hoose side the day after Christmas. The girls had fun with a craft project.

A few days after Christmas, we had the opportunity to go see Zoo Lights at the zoo.

It was super cold but pretty and fun.

There were some animals out to see and lots of light displays.

We had an extra kid with us too. Our friends, the Fields, were in town for a couple of weeks and we got to spend lots of good times with them. Their daughter, Lucy, had a sleepover with our Lucy that night and she came along with us. 

There are so many photo ops at the zoo!

Our cold, tired little one!

This was one of my favorite light displays.

hehe!

We treated the kids, and ourselves, to dinner out afterward!