Christmas and the End of 2013

This was such a great Christmas!  Everyone was healthy and happy.  Jason got most of the week of Christmas off and it was just so wonderful to have fun together.  By Christmas Eve I had decided everything was not going to get done, thanks to the car accident, so I could either fret about it and spend the whole day working to finish up last minute things or just forget it and have fun.  I chose the latter and we had a gorgeous day at Snowbasin, our fun new Christmas Eve tradition.  It really is a great way to pass the time for kiddos that are really impatient for Santa to arrive.

In the evening when it was time for the kids to act out the nativity, Kaitlyn was really sad Skyler had gotten too big to be the baby Jesus.  Instead he was Joseph this year and loved to kiss the baby.

Then it was time for Christmas Eve pajamas.  (I know this picture is a little silly with Skyler poking Andrew in the eye!)

And finally it was off to bed.  Unfortunately morning came way too early.  Even though we told the kids they couldn't get up until after 6:00, Andrew and Jared woke up around 5:30 and woke Skyler up so there was no sleeping after that.  Skyler was exhausted all morning and didn't enjoy the presents too much that day.  Everyone else seemed thrilled with what they got.  I never get very good pictures at Christmas.  Maybe because that amount of excitement makes it impossible for my kids to sit still for half a second.  Here are a few that turned out.

My brother Ethan and his wife sent all the kids marshmallow guns.  They were a hit for everyone, including Skyler and Dad.  A couple days later these hats came in the mail from them in Germany.  Cecilia crocheted the hat for Katilyn and Skyler's came from the Christmas market.

We spent Christmas vacation playing with all the new Christmas toys, skiing, going to movies, dinner and the Christmas Village downtown.  The kids loved the new movie Frozen.  Andrew spent the new year at a church youth party at Weber State and the rest of us enjoyed a game night at home with Jason's mom and step-dad.  All too soon the holidays were over and it was time for everyone to go back to work and school.