A Very Happy December!

December 2013 brought us SNOW! Lots and lots of snow with blisteringly cold temperatures. But that didn't stop us from getting outside to have a little fun...

 

Except when it did!

But those moments were filled with tree decorating, watching movies with friends, sewing and crafting presents, riding bikes through slush and ice, going to the theater to see HOBBIT: The Desolation of Smaug, playing at the Children's Museum, feeding early morning seminary students, caroling, and babysitting Monte (my sister's dog)!

And occasionally we spend our indoor time decorating for CHRISTMAS!!!

Later in the month we were able to get out to the ward Christmas Party! It was so fun to see the little kids sing, and eat and chat with so many of our friends.

We even got to see Santa Clause, which left the girls giddy for weeks! Yes, weeks...long after he was gone...

When Christmas came around, we spent Christmas Eve having dinner with our good friends, the Booths. We ate a delicious meal, played some games, opened a few presents, and had a fantastic time together. So much fun, in fact, that we forgot to take ANY pictures...which incidentally happened the week before when we celebrated an early Christmas with my sister Becca and her family as well!

The picture forgetting continued on Christmas morning while we were opening presents and enjoying a yummy breakfast, but Kevin remembered to pull out the camera again when he went on his annual Christmas Design run. Can you tell what it is?

When all was said and done, I did remember to snap a few pictures of the girls in their Christmas dresses. I had to laugh when I pulled the pictures up on the computer and noticed that Lily looks drunk in almost all of them!

Oh well! At least I got one decent shot!

After all the celebrations were over, we set up a gigantic tent in our living room so we could watch our new movies together and play with our toys. It was all fun and games until midnight when Lily vomited all over the pallet on the floor. Her puking continued on throughout the week, spread to the rest of us, and brought us all into January a few pounds lighter! Count your many blessings...right?!

Anyway, we DID have a fantastic December and a beautiful and memorable Christmas, despite the bug that followed :) And now, I leave you with the outtake video of our Facebook Christmas Video. We had asked the girls to tell the story of Christmas, and apparently, they got a little carried away!