Rethinking CHRISTmas!

I really really want to do a great post about some of the crafts I did for Christmas or on Happy New Years but today it will wait.

Today I was looking back at some friends' Christmas Post and I found ONE that inspired me! It made me so happy! I love it! It is an idea that is both spiritual and giving! Check it out!
Click on the site and scroll down a few posts to Christmas 2009!

www.jenandjanz.blogspot.com

I love the 3 present idea. (I actually saw something like that on another friends blog!) But the dividing it into the 3 gifts from the Wise Men is amazing idea! I love it! I have added the Purple Wrapping Paper to my list of things to look for over the year! {I bet I can find it at EASTER time!} Also now I have a basic layout of gifts I can start to look and shop earlier. {it is always a goal of mine to shop earlier!}

The Santa gift has been on my mind too! I think that the best idea came from the other "3 present friend" of mine when she blogged about when the kids write their letter to Santa "they suggest 3 present ideas to him and SANTA "chooses" which one would be best to bring on Christmas Eve. I LOVE IT! This will elimante so much stress and save on money as well as making CHRISTmas more meaningful and memorable!

Yahoo! I love it! Let me know what you think!

loves, hugs, and CHRISTmas 2010 kisses,

emily

Merry CHRISTmas 2009

Christmas Day is always AMAZING at our house!

It is TRADITION for all of us to go downstairs TOGETHER! Here are the kids waiting to go downstairs!

Here is what was waiting for us!

We always start with adding our BABY JESUS to our Nativity

and saying a Prayer!

Then we open STOCKINGS!

After stockings it's present time.

I am so sad to say that I didn't get very many pictures of PRESENTS :(

I was to busy enjoying the kids opening!
We got video but that's about it.

Kids got lots of great gifts!

After presents the kids played and PARENTS slept!

Then we got ready and headed to

UTAH!!

We didn't eat before we left so we had

GAS Station food!?!?!

We spent the rest of the day visiting, talking, opening presents, relaxing, eating.

JUST ENJOYING our CHRISTMAS!

Here are some presents from the HALL family!

Once again only a few pictures were taken. But it still captures their EXCITEMENT!!

The day after CHRISTMAS we saw Ma T and Danny

before we headed home!
More presents to open!

FUN FUN FUN!

Then since mom got a cold for CHRISTMAS

we headed back home!

We had a terrific CHRISTMAS!

We are so blessed to be able to Celebrate our Savior's birth!

We are so blessed to have wonderful families!

We hope everyone had a wonderful Unforgettable CHRISTMAS!

loves, hugs, and CHRISTmas kisses,

emily

Twas the Night before CHRISTmas

After our friends left we did presents.

We always let the kids exchange presents between themselves!

Waiting but not Patiently!


Spencer gave Britt this!



Brittnee gave Carter this!

Carter gave this to Spencer!




Of course the Annual PJ's from the Parents!



Now off to bed so that Santa can come!

Loves, hugs, and visions of sugar plum kisses,

EMILY

CHRISTmas Eve PM

For Christmas Eve I cooked a ham, sour cream tatos, rolls, had chips, cookies, m&m's!

We invited some friends over for dinner and games!

First we enjoyed our feast!

The kids enjoyed some Bakugan.
We played a little Mario on the Wii!
Then we played Scene It!
All the while tracking SANTA on Norad.com!
What a fun night!

Loves, hugs, and Wii wishes,

EMILY

Cookies for Santa

I have a confession. I am so not the mom who rolls out cookie dough and uses cutters to make cute shapes and then bake them and then frost the cookies! That is so not me. I am the mom who goes to the store and buys the perfectly shaped, perfectly frosted and decorated cookies! Well not this time! A few weeks ago my boys went to a friends house and the mom let them do the real "cookies"! They bought them home and we were impressed! I decided to give it a try!

It seemed like a great thing to do on Christmas Eve Morning to pass the time! I kinda cheated..I bought the dough but we still rolled it our and used cutters (thanks Dollar Tree)!

There was flour everywhere! The kids were a mess! The kitchen was hot and a mess!

The kids loved each and every minute of it!

Finally 3 big pans and 2 little pans later the cookies are cooked!

We went to a matinee while the cookies cooled!

Then home to decorate the cookies! They were great!

Daddy joined in the fun of decorating too.....he decorated Brittnee!

What a fun thing to do.....once a year on

Christmas Eve Day!

Another task to cross off the list!

Loves, hugs, and floury kisses!

EMILY

Letters to Santa

This year the kids took it upon themselves to do thier letters!

We usually do it as a family but this year was crazy (again)!

They wrote thier letters and begged us to take them to the giant SANTA!

SIGNED and DELIVERED!

Another task done 1000 more to go!

loves, hugs, and Santa Letter wishes,

EMILY

Neighbor Gifts!

This year I decided on my Neighbor Gifts early! I decided to put candy in STAR dishes with a Great Christmas star poem. Every time I went to the Dollar Store and they had them, I bought a few star dishes. Now its the week before Christmas and I have to do the candy. I decided to do my Almond Toffee Balls. They take a lot of powdered sugar!

Add some butter and some sweetened condensed milk!


Scoop them onto a pan and let them freeze! Roll into balls! This is sticky!
Finally dip in chocolate. At this point I am in tears and wondering why I do this to myself!

Finally they are dipped (not beautifully of course!) and rolled in nuts!

More COLD time!

Finally they are divided out into their "Stars"

Wrapped and tagged!

All ready to deliver!

We only gave out about 9 dishes plus a ton of little bags of candy! The kids love delivering the treats! I love that they are gone and I don't have to think of them anymore. Seriously this year if I can find a chocolate fountain for cheap I might make candy next year!

Loves, hugs, and chocolate dipped kisses!

Emily