We look forward to this night all year long! I'm so glad the Stringhams keep hosting this year after year (this was our 10th year!). Margie spent who knows how many hours compiling dozens of family pictures, Christmas party pictures, and other trips we've taken together and made a DVD for all of us to take home as a gift. We have the greatest friends; we love these guys so much.
Live Nativity in Draper
Ever since we've lived here quite a few families in our neighborhood go to the live Nativity in Draper as a group. We all meet up and Fudruckers and then head on over to the Nativity. The line is always long but it's always worth it; we come prepared with hot chocolate! It really feels like a little Bethlehem.
Finding that Perfect Tree
We broke down and bought a fake tree a few years ago but we miss going out and bringing home a real tree. So last year we decided that we'd be a two-tree family; we have the Tai-Pan tree and the Kid Tree, and the kids so much fun decorating their tree with basketballs, golf balls, and hand-made ornaments.
And here's the family tree:
Making Christmas Crafts:
More Christmas Parties:
Visiting Santa @ SouthTowne:
Christmas shopping and lunch in Park City:
My Cute Boys:
Live Nativity with the Hasletons
Tom and Heidi invited us to go to a live nativity in Alpine. We all met up for pizza and then drove over to the Nativity. Again, the line was quite long - but so worth it! They got to see all of the people dressed in robes weaving baskets, carving wood, shaping clay.. again, just like a little Bethlehem.
Mike & Jana Pratt's Christmas Party:
And this is where we were tonight; we always love running into all of the neighbors and friends from our ward. In this picture: Jared/Lanae & Kathy/Spencer.
So tonight I got a wild hair that I'd hurry up and make all of my Christmas treats before Jared leaves to go out of town next week so that he can help me deliver everything. And that meant 10x's the recipe.. and that lead to a few trips to the store because I kept running out of ingredients. And there is still pumpkin spice bread baking in my kitchen at 2:45 AM. What's wrong with me? And yes, this is the 4th night in a row that I've been up past 2:00 AM. There's just always one more thing to do - how do other people get it all done? I can't seem to.
But Christmas is always busy, and I love it all, there's always so much going on and so much to do. That's all for now - more to come :-)
