A Holly Jolly Christmas

Got home late last night from our Christmas trip to Salt Lake and we had a wonderful time. The holidays really came and went this year and it makes me sad that Rosie and Evie have to wait for a whole year before Santa will come again. Christmas was better than ever this year watching them enjoy it so.
 
The Saturday before Chrismas we went on a sleigh ride with the whole family up at the Homestead. We  ended up at Santas house for a visit and cookies. Evie was a bit of a stinker on the sleigh and refused to go anywhere near the Santa but we still had a good time.

Christmas Eve brought tons of beautiful white snow which was fabulous. I can't remember the last time we truly had a perfectly timed white Christmas. We drove around running last minute Christmas errands and then packed up our gift bags to bring to the homeless downtown. This is my favorite Christmas tradition. We came home and left milk and cookies out for Santa and then were off to bed. Unfortunately poor Ben got really sick the night before and it slowly spread throughout the family. Sweet Evie threw up quite a bit that night but was right as rain for opening gifts the next morning.

Christmas morning was super fun watching the girls open their gifts and anyone else's they could get their little paws on. They made out like bandits as per usual. They got clothes and lots of new food for their new kitchen, zoobie pets, a darling Little People Nativity, super fun bandaids, and a lovely cloth alphabet set from their auntie. They also got big girl pants to start potty training because Rosie said that is what she wanted Santa to bring her. We started today and it is truly a nightmare. Not for the faint of heart.

 Later that day we went out and attempted to build a snowman in the front yard but it wasn't packing very well and also went sledding down the hill in the side yard. We came in for a delicious Christmas feast that people couldn't eat much of because everyone was feeling a little under the weather. I however never ended up getting sick and  regretfully (not really) ate my fill all week long.

The rest of the week the girls mostly just played with their cousins who they cannot get enough of. They played cowgirls, jumped from couch to couch, had movie parties, and chased each other all over the house. Grandma is a very good sport for all that goes on and all that gets broken. We took them to the McDonalds Play Place and witnessed an epic and hilarious brawl between Ava, Evie, and Ella which needs to be remembered. We also all went to Les Mis together which was awesome.

We unfortunately didn't see too many friends because it is such a busy, family week for everyone. We did get together with my favorite girls in the world from high school and went down to Lehi to catch up with some wonderful girls I went to New Zealand with for study abroad.
We had a wonderful holiday.