Date with Dylan

This year Scott and I gave Gifts of Time for the kids' "need" gifts this year. Dylan has been asking to go on a date with me for quite a while so that's what he got. We went to see the movie "Where the wild things are" and then had cupcakes at 25 Main. It was really fun to spend time with him. He's the middle child and doesn't always get the time he needs or that i want to give so it was a special treat for both of us. We both really liked the movie too which was a plus :)! I'm so glad I got to spend time with you Dylan, it was a super fun date! I love you!

Merry Christmas cont........

Santa even came to grandma & Grandpa this year, I guess they were good!
The rest of these pics are of the "want" gifts this year....

baby legos for Ean

Camo and Band of Brothers for Braeden

gym membership for dad

4 Musketeers Barbie and movie for Cate

all Dylan wanted was his legos back (taken away for not picking them up almost a year ago) so he did in cool new drawers "just like Aunt Arica's"

Star has wanted a head with real hair (not sure what they are actually called) for quite a while now so she can fix it all up, we finally found one!
As usual, mom was taking the pictures and not in any. I did get several things I wanted this year too but the big one has to be this laptop, thanks Ryan for not wanting it anymore!

Merry Christmas!

The kids were so anxious to see what Santa brought that slept in and then waited in their room for us to get them at 8am. We thought this was so thoughtful that we hoped Santa brought them something extra special and wow it looks like he did! A New Trampoline, Yeah!!

P.J.'s & Ornaments

I think the kids were just as excited to open their pajamas and ornaments this year as their other presents. For a week they have been talking about what kind of ornament they would get this year and have been dying to get into their pajamas. This year we again tried to choose ornaments that had fit each child this year. We gave Braeden some antlers, a year late we know but we couldn't find them last year :). Star got a girl playing softball since she was the softball star this year. Dylan got a baseball ornament to go with his first year of playing baseball. We gave Cate a cute girl with candy because she just loves candy soooo much, we couldn't resist! And Ean, well it was hard to find something to fit Ean this year so we gave him a car with Santa in it. He, of course, just wanted to drive the car around and not hang it on the tree but eventually he did, I'm not sure how long it will last up there though. Everyone's p.j.'s were super cute and I even got some, thanks Scott!

Christmas Eve

This year Adrienne and I decided to have the kids perform the nativity story while we read it from the Bible. The kids were very excited! So after dinner at mom and dad Alexander's we tried it. There were a few hitches but what performance doesn't have them :)! All in all it was darling and we all enjoyed it. The dancing angels, Rachel & Cate, were probably my favorite, oh and Ean , a shepherd, who just had to hold the baby Jesus too. They had a so much fun and I'm thinking they are going to want to do it again. We may have just begun a family tradition!

Christmas Eve Aebleskivers

Scott made us aebleskivers this morning, maybe we need to make this a tradition, YUMMY!For those of you reading this who don't know what an aebleskiver is, it is a Danish food that both Scott and I grew up eating since we both have Danish heritage. After we were married and his mom made them one time they were so surprised that I knew what they were since most don't and I couldn't believe that someone other than my family made them either. Clearly, we were meant to be together :)! My kids call them pancake balls which is a pretty good description.

Tuacahn Live Nativity

Our annual tradition of going to the live nativity was a little colder this month but still lots of fun. Dylan, Cate and Ean sat on Santa's lap and asked for whatever their little hearts desired. This year Dylan wants legos, Cate couldn't think of anything but later at home asked for a trampoline and Ean asked for a garbage can (he means a garbage truck) and baby legos (he has big ones but wants the little ones like a big boy).
I guess Braeden and Star are too old for Santa's lap, when did that happen :( ?
Anyway, after Santa we went to watch the live nativity. Ean loved seeing the real camel, donkey and sheep. We hope he didn't disturb anyone too bad with his constant talking about them :).
Although we see this every year and it is the same every time I just love it. I always feel the Spirit as it reminds me why we celebrate Christmas and I hope that my children can feel it too. I am so thankful for those who put this together for my family to enjoy, I think this is my favorite Christmas tradition we have.

Cate's "Fancy Nancy Christmas"

Cate was sooo excited that Barnes & Noble was doing a "Fancy Nancy Christmas" story time, she asked every day for 2 weeks "is it today". She invited two of her friends to go with her, Abby and Brinkley, and couldn't wait to get all dressed up in her "fancy" skirt and take Frenchy, Nancy's dog, with her. (A big thank you to Aunt Arica for introducing her to Fancy Nancy and giving her up those darling things for her birthday, she loves them.) She did look super cute if I say so myself!

Knight's Club Feast

For Knight's Club this month we sent the boys on a quest to do service for others and then gave them a royal feast. Connie's sister-in-law lives in huge, well huge doesn't really do it justice, it really is a small castle and she graciously let us hold our feast there. The boys were in heaven! After a royal meal and knighting ceremony they enjoyed jumping on the trampoline and climbing the rock wall both of which are inside the house. They are great boys and deserve a little special treatment, it was so fun to be able to give it to them!

Little Women Christmas Play

Star's club has been working on a short play the past few weeks written by a mother of one of the girl's. The play was A Little Women's Christmas. They decided to do this as their service for the month of December and perform it at an assisted living home. They did a great job and the people there were so excited to have the girls there they didn't want to let them go home. They also did an evening performance for their families and friends in our basement. Star played the part of Meg and gave a fabulous performance in her first ever acting part. It was really fun to see her go from being really shy and nervous to becoming a real performer. Well done Star, we loved watching you!

Family Night

Grandma Campbell had a great idea for all of us to get together for dinner andfamily night this week. She brought all of us dinner and afterwards we each took a turn sharing a Christmas story. Our family told a poem about keeping Christ near us all year long and then Trish shared a story about the similarities between Santa Claus and Jesus that was really cute. Then Grandma shared a little about her childhood Christmas memories. She grew up on a farm in Emmett,Idaho. She says that she never thought of her family being poor, they were the same as everyone else, but now she knows how poor they really were. One of the stories she shared was when she was about 11 her brother and her would walk through the one toy store in their town, that was about the size of our living room, and look at the 2 dolls that were there. There was a big one and smaller one and she really wanted the bigger one. One day she was looking around and saw that her parents had bought her the smaller doll. She was so disappointed that she said something to her mother about really wanting the big doll in the toy store. On Christmas she got the big doll. Knowing that her mother had felt bad and returned the smaller one made grandma feel so horrible she couldn't enjoy the big doll. She told the kids they should always be grateful for whatever they got. She told how excited she was when she got fruit in her stocking because it was hard to get in the winter time in Idaho where she grew up. It was really fun to hear about her life and the kids enjoyed the evening with her as well.We ended the night by singing Silent Night, thanks braeden for playing it for us :). Thank you Grandma Campbell for the great idea and the wonderful evening, We Love You!

Polar Express Story Time

Our first Christmas activity was a special story time at Barnes & Noble. We've never been to one of their story times before, I didn't even know they did it (I guess they have it every Saturday). They read The Polar Express, had hot chocolate, in super cute little cups from their cafe, and cookies and then after the story they made ornaments and gave them all little bells to ring. Super Cute!!It was so fun that the kids begged to go back the next day, which we did, and they can't wait for next Saturday!

Christmas Traditions

I thought I would start off this month by sharing our Christmas Traditions. I'm thinking if I actually document them I will never hear my kids say, "we didn't have any traditions growing up". We'll see if it works.
1.I'll start with probably everyone's favorite that we have adopted from my family and that's Christmas Tacos. My parents started this tradition when I was pretty young, maybe 7 or 8. Instead of the usual traditional Christmas meal similar to Thanksgiving they decided to have tacos and not just any tacos but special tacos with marinated, steak, chicken, shrimp, and all the fixings you can imagine. We looked forward to this almost as much as presents and so we have decided to carry it on with our own family. It's definetly a highlight of the day and to add to the deliciousness the next tradition is Raspberry Glace' Pie. I'm not sure when my mom first made this and it became a tradition for our family but we have also adopted the "secret" recipe pie as a Christmas tradition. This has become a treat for extended family as well and we all look forward to it since I only make it on Christmas. I'd give you all the recipe but its a "secret" :)!
2.Another tradition in our home is the 3 gifts that we give the children on Christmas. I read a story (I believe it was in the Friend magaizine) a few years ago about a family where the parents decided to give the children only 3 gifts that year representing the 3 gifts that the wise men brought to Jesus. I loved this idea for many reasons so we have adopted it. We give them each 3 gifts, something they want, somethign they need, and something that they can learn from. This seems like such a natural approach to gifts since we give gifts at Christmas to symbolize the gifts from the wise men anyway. I like that this limits the amount of gifts that is expected. The kids know they will get 3 and thats it. This is also helpful to Scott and I as we look for and plan gifts to give them. We know that we are limited to three and we try to make those 3 very meaningful. We also are not so quickly caught up in the spoiling factor. This tradition has been a blessing for our family. It makes our Christmas gift giving much more meaningful and the kids are so excited to see what their 3 gifts will be. They look forward to trying to guess what they are (we write clues on the outside of the wrapping paper)and have never complained about getting only 3. I'm so glad we started this while they were still young.
3.Going to the Live Nativity at Tuacahn is another favorite. we try to go the family night before Christmas. I'm always so impressed by the live nativity and it always helps me to feel the Spirit and remember the true meaning of Christmas. I'm so thankful we get to have something so special right here where we live. The kids are excited to see Santa at the same time.
4. Christmas Eve gifts are always the same but are highly anticipated. Opening new pajamas and an ornanment on Christmas Eve is done with the same enthusiam as the presents on Christmas Day. The kids wonder what ornament they will get and try to guess but are rarely right. We try to get them one that relates to something they did or like that year. We aren't always able to find just the right one but do our best. We will definetly need to invest in a bigger tree soon as wee are quickly running out of room for all the ornaments.

Each year we do some different things but so far these few are yearly traditions for our family. I'm sure we will be adding to it as mom gets all those weird ideas the rest of the family are always thrilled about:)!