Every year the kids school does a Christmas program with all the grades at the same time in the High School Gym. As you can imagine it's quite the production with all those kids, parents, and grandparents. This year Carson auditioned for one of the speaking parts and got it. He did awesome!
This year we stayed home for Christmas and that meant getting our own tree again. The kids of course loved decorating the tree and Lincoln loved pulling the lights and ornaments off the tree.
Our ward had a Christmas breakfast again this year with a visit from Santa Clause. I keep waiting for Carson and now Alaina to ask the big question about Santa. I even carefully approached the subject with Carson. Making sure he knew that he would still get presents regardless of what he believed. He was still adamant that Santa is real and made sure that Alaina knew that too. Next year I may have to spill the beans if he doesn't come to the conclusion himself.
On Christmas Eve we had a breakfast dinner and then acted out the nativity while Tony read. It's a little hard to do the nativity justice with three active participates. Earlier in the week we had dinner with some friends and did the nativity with them. It was a comical rendition of their 3 year old daughter had a meltdown because she wanted to be Mary and stole the manger for her baby Jesus. Lincoln didn't like the idea of laying quietly while playing the part as baby Jesus. Ultimately we did a summery of the story and finished the evening with watching Star Wars episode 4. Anyway after our own nativity we all opened our new pajamas and watched The Polar Express. Next year we may watch the Muppet or Mickey's Christmas Carol instead.
Once our little ones were all nestled all snug in their beds Santa came. The three older kids all got new bikes this year. Carson also got a new video game, a case for his Ipod, Legos, and a model jet. Alaina also got new art supplies, lip gloss & nail polish, a couple cross stitches, and some new shirts. Charlie also got a remote control car, Legos, some puzzles, and a Lego Truck. Lincoln got a walking toy, a dump truck, a plane, a bath toy, and some books. The kids were all thrilled! It is a bummer though that we've had snow and ice since Christmas so the kids haven't been able to ride their bikes yet.
We traveled to Boise the day after Christmas to spend the rest of the break with our Families. The week was packed with family visits, playing with cousins. seeing the new Star Wars movie, yummy meals, going out to dinner, and the kids going to Jump Time. We got home Sunday night after some pretty sketchy roads because of the snow. As fun as all the Christmas festivities are I'm glad that things are settling down and I can catch up on some stuff.
