Christmas

Christmas Eve dinner.  We always pull a cracker (a fun tradition we picked up while we were living in Scotland) and have Rice Tafel for dinner (something my Dad learned on his mission).

We sang "Christmas is Upon Us" when we were little, and now we continue the tradition with props that my Mom has.  The girls LOVED it, and we had to do it again the next day.

We sang Christmas songs around the piano.

Opened our pajamas (I make pants for all of us, but didn't get a family picture this year)
The girls also opened a new Christmas book for us to read before bedtime.

The girls woke up early- about 5:50!! So we were all gathering in Chris and mine room when the phone started ringing.  My mom answered it, although we all knew it had to be something about my Grandpa, who was near the end of life.  Her brother was calling to say that he had passed away at about 5am.  He had really been suffering terribly, so it was like he had received a Christmas gift to return to his heavenly home.  But it was still a tender moment.  We knelt and said a family prayer, and then we proceeded with Christmas morning.

Molly and her stocking stuff.

The girls got this train set from Santa!  They love playing with it, and Chris LOVES setting it up for them each time they play.  Each time he seems to say, "now this is the best track ever!"

Caitlin with her stocking stuff

Ashlee with her stocking stuff (this is the best picture out of 2, this girl is impossible when it comes to pictures!)

Ashlee gave Caitlin this head band and stick-on earrings.  Caitlin loves both so much.  I love seeing their excitement in giving to each other.

Molly loved the presents.  She found an alley way and crawled in to see what she could find.  I would have let her play with the wrapping paper forever if she didn't insist on putting everything in her mouth.

Chris got a new sweater and Bronco's hat.  He didn't have anything with the new logo, and it was high time he did since they only got their new logo 15 YEARS AGO!!!!  He had a hard time letting go of the old one :)
When he opened the hat (from the girls) he was thanking them for the hat, and Ashlee said, "and the shirt!"
He said, "nope, just a hat."
So she walked over and started ripping all the paper out of the box looking for the shirt, all the while I am trying to whisper to her that he hadn't opened the shirt yet.  He still acted surprised when he opened it.
It was funny.

The girls loved their new princess dolls.

 And their chef hats and pie pans.

Caitlin learned a Mexican Hat Dance at school, and saw that Grandma Berta has a Mexican Hat!  So she and Chris did the dance for us.

We had a tea (a.k.a. water) party with my Mom's new tea set that we all gave her for Christmas.  Everyone picked a hat to wear, Ashlee picked a headband.

We played Christmas BINGO.

And this cute girl was just along for the ride.  She was happy to participate or happy to nap.  She was a great traveler also!
She got most of this cute outfit for Christmas.