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Thursday, December 24, 2015

Christmas Eve

 We woke this morning to snow gently falling outside. A blanket of white, fluffy snow had covered the trees and ground over night turning everything into a wonderland. We watched it fall all morning cozied up in blankets and surrounded by family. As I finished up some last minute wrapping I finally started to feel a bit of the Christmas spirit. There is something about wrapping, Christmas lights, and snow flakes swirling to the ground that makes me excited! 



Mr. Stannix spent the afternoon in the kitchen making up a batch of Grampy's tacos for our traditional Christmas eve dinner. We did up two double batches (over 50 little tacos) and ate the majority of them. It's a fun process, especially when everyone gets a chance to flip them in the air.

The evening brought chocolate making! My mom used to make these at the beginning of December and store them in the freezer. All month my siblings and I would sneak a few whenever we'd walk past the hiding place. We've all grown to love the taste of them frozen!

The kids rolled the fondant into balls and then we cooled and tempered the chocolate for dipping.

Everyone helped dip, and even though they aren't the prettiest, they are delicious!

Uncle Arland took care of this kid while we all got our fingers messy dipping!

Once we finished we went out to the pool room to enjoy the decorations and conversations. Soon after the children began playing we heard a bell ringing in the distance and jolly old Saint Nick himself arrived at the door!

The children were thrilled! They rang his bell and he called everyone by name to sit on his knee and open their Christmas eve present. 

Hyrum wore his shy little smirk and talked to Santa about his year.

Camilla was over the moon!

Finners was a bit worried at first. It was pretty cute watching him!

I got to sit on his knee last for a quick picture. I was pretty sure I had seen this guy somewhere before!

After we said good-bye to our favorite guy we put on our new Christmas jammies.

 With two talented photographers around I put away my camera and tried to stay out of the way! Thanks again for the pictures ladies!


 I love these goofy kiddos of mine!



Not long after they put on their jammies they ran downstairs and tucked themselves excitedly into bed so that Santa could come and fill their stockings. We kissed them each good-night and then played "things in a box" with the adults. 
 




Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Trimming the Tree

We chopped down the Christmas tree a few days ago but it took us a couple of days to get around to decorating. People were here and there and we wanted to do it as a group. A few more people trickled in last night so today was the day! We cranked up the Christmas music and pulled out the decorations, and cameras. Big thanks to my talented sister-in-law for sharing some of these!

 Uncle Arland strung the lights in expert fashion.

 The kids had painted their tree bases the day before and were so excited to finally decorate their trees too!

 The first thing they did was load them up with candy canes.

 Gramma Purdon came out to watch us string the lights and place the decorations on the tree. I feel lucky to celebrate with them this year!

 These two had fun hanging out on the couch together watching Uncle put the finishing touches on the lights.

 Next came the garland.

 This girl is getting so big!!

 The kids had fun climbing the ladder. I watched this boy with such love! I can hardly believe how big he is!

 Gramma stuck around for most of it and enjoyed some snuggles from the great-grands. 

(Thanks Naomi, this is a picture I will cherish forever.)

 We've missed this guy!!

 Joe woke up half way through and joined in on the fun. He scaled the ladder fearlessly and stretched to hang decorations on the highest limbs.

 He loved it!



 
 Part way through I went to the kitchen to help my Mom make some homemade perogies for dinner. Between batches I would slip out into the pool room to snap pictures and soak it all in.


 It was a pretty tall tree. Putting the angel on top required some team work!

 Once we were finished my Mom fried up the perogies and we had dinner!

 Dessert was birthday cake! We were late celebrating because we were away and also because we wanted to wait for more family to join us! Finley loved when we sang to him. It was worth the wait to be with everyone!

 The traditional birthday picture...

 It took him a while to dive into his cake. At first the plate was more interesting, but once it was gone and he had a taste, he ate quickly!

Happy birthday Finners!!