Christmas Eve

The traditional Christmas Eve festivities were held at the Young household. As always, the highlight of the evening was the Nativity. This year the stars included:

a Wise Man with bling,

a sheep,

the three Wise Guys Men

Joseph, Mary, Baby Jesus, and the Donkey,

and the Angels.

After a delicious meal, some piano entertainment by Kensie and Andrea, present opening, and lots of fun we headed home to open Christmas Eve jammies and put out cookies and milk for SANTA!!

Merry Christmas!

More random activities....

The kid's had their school Christmas Sing on the 17th. It's always so cute! Christmas spirit was out in full force that day....
I asked a 7 foot tall woman who was standing up in the front taking pictures during the Kindergarten's song if she could please sit down so I could see my child. She called me the "B" word. I love people who think the world revolves around them and they are better than everyone else.

I got to help with Lincoln's class party following the program. We had fun playing "Jack Frost's Not Lost" {think Don't Eat Pete} and Santa Says, and the kids got to taste foods that represented different December holidays- potato latkes for Hanukkah, tamales for Las Posadas, fruit for Kwanzaa, and a candy cane cookie for Christmas.

We took a drive through the Thanksgiving Point lights. The kids thought it was great! Jackson is at the best age. He gets so excited about everything! He was constantly yelling "look at those ones!". They had a really cool ice sculpture this year that changed colors. Luckily it was not busy when we went so we could stop for a minute and watch.

No holiday season would be complete without sugar cookies!

Temple Square

We had a fun night with Matt's parents seeing the lights at Temple Square. It was a perfect night, and hence the rest of the world was there as well! The kids loved seeing all the lights, the Tabernacle, the Nativity, the Christus, and even a tour of the Conference Center. Landon was a champ and enjoyed the view from his stroller!

The Christmas Card

 

This year I decided to venture out and take pictures of the kids on location {aka outside the market and inside the information center by our house} I had one day in which to do this, which just happened to be a day of frigid temps and biting winds. It took me FOREVER to get all the kids dressed and presentable and I was not about to go through that again, so we braved the elements. I think they turned out okay.

I wanted to do a front and back card this year, but didn't want to spend a fortune. Thank you, Vistaprint! I love them because you can upload your own card design & don't have to choose one of theirs.

It's The Holiday Season

I wish I could say that my lack of blogging as of late was due to all the fun holiday things we've been up to, but really it's just because my mind has been elsewhere. Don't get me wrong, we HAVE been doing a lot of fun things {which I will post about forthwith} but my life has been consumed the past few weeks with a MAJOR issue with our new next door neighbors. I have not been sleeping at night, my kids are not allowed to go outside, and I've been on the phone with detectives. I won't go into detail because it exhausts me to relive everything, but I'll give you three words that sum it up pretty well: Drugs, Prostitution, Beatings.

I have finally come to the realization that I can't let this consume me, or it will ruin my Christmas. I need to focus on the ways that we are being blessed and watched over, and not focus on what could happen.

Enough doom and gloom. We have been having lots of fun despite the drama!

We missed Santa's visit to our community center, but luckily he made another trip up for our Ward Christmas party! Jackson told Santa that he really wants a Polar Express train, which was news to us.....
his previous list is out the window and this is ALL he wants. He's killing me!

 

 

"scratch my previous list, Santa...."

 

We've finally been getting a little snow, but not nearly enough! I'm hoping we'll have a white Christmas this year.

Christmas Magnet Boards

I have a great group of friends. We've been friends since high school and still get together at least once a month for Gourmet Night. In December we combine Gourmet Night with a gift exchange. This year we decided that it would be fun to have everyone bring 8 of something. That way we all leave with 8 fabulous gifts! It was a BLAST!

I decided to make magnet boards for everyone. My handy father-in-law cut me 8x8 pieces of sheet metal and drilled holes in the top two corners. Then I covered them with festive papers and sundry bling. I made the magnets by gluing matching paper circles onto clear beads and adhering a magnet to the back. I decided to provide ribbon for hanging the board and a frame holder. That way they could choose to hang or not to hang {if they decided to hang it all they had to do was punch holes through the paper and tie the ribbon through}.

Christmas-time Is Here!

The countdown has begun! Yes, we even count down in the shower...bathtub crayons are the best invention. Matt and I write notes to each other all the time!! It really is the most wonderful time of the year! I love Christmas traditions {we have many} and decided to add a few more this year.

I covered a formula container with festive paper and had the kids write down a bunch of fun activities. We put them in and whenever we need a little pick-me-up we pull one out and do it. Some of the things they wrote down include- make a snowman, play a game, read a Christmas book, dance to Christmas music, make cookies, sing Christmas songs, throw snowballs.....I could go on and on!

The Job Jars have become the Good Deed Jars. I put 24 "good deeds" {let someone else go first, make a family member's bed, take a treat to a neighbor, tell a sibling something you love about them, etc.} in each of the kid's jars and every day they get to pull one out and do it. When they have done their good deed they put the paper in a box which is our "gift" to Jesus this Christmas. It's been great to see them get excited to do something nice for someone else.

We decorated the Christmas Eve Gingerbread House {thanks for the idea, Nic!}. Prior to decorating I snuck some toys inside for the kids. On Christmas Eve morning they get to break open the house and see what's inside! 

p.s. Thank you, Costco, for selling pre-assembled gingerbread houses. Genius!

p.p.s. The icing that comes with these things is less than ideal for actually decorating the house. Do yourself a favor and make your own:

Royal Icing

3 cups powdered sugar 

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

2 egg whites, beaten

In a bowl, sift together powdered sugar and cream of tartar. Using electric mixer, beat in 2 beaten egg whites for about 5 minutes or until mixture is thick enough to hold its shape. Keep tightly covered as it dries quickly. Use a pastry bag or ziploc bag with the corner snipped to decorate the house.

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving this year! We spent the morning decorating the house. It's always fun to pull out the Christmas boxes. The kids love digging through them and remembering all the fun things inside. Landon LOVES the tree and will sit and play with the ornaments forever.

That afternoon we packed up and headed to my parent's house for a delicious feast and good times with the fam. We watched old home movies, the cousins played, and we stuffed ourselves silly!

William and Landon

Landon enjoyed his feast...and apparently was even up for some post-meal karate moves.

That weekend we I enjoyed watching Utah squeak out a victory over BYU. What a game! Landon enjoyed me dressing him up in Utah apparel for good luck.

look closely and you'll see his first tooth!