December- Christmas Eve and Day

We got back from Mantua in time to have our own Christmas Eve traditions with just our little family.  

Such a sweet little laugh from Anna Gayle.  

Leaving treats for the big guy

New jammies

Then we acted out the Nativity.  Dad was the narrator and photographer.  Mom was the donkey.   McKenna was Mary and willingly wore her costume.  Ben was Joseph and really wanted a turn to ride the donkey too.   And Anna was baby Jesus.  It went about as well as we expected.  :)  Great memories!  We love the opportunity to focus on the true meaning of Christmas and teach our children about the birth of our Savior.  

Christmas morning!
I only took a few pictures of us opening presents so I could just enjoy our time together.  Anna slept through the big kids opening their gifts and it only took us all of 25 mins to open everything.  Santa thought Ben was pretty easy to shop for this year.  However, McKenna asked for some pretty obscure things; such as a mini golden trophy, a gold star, and a United States of America car. Santa did his best and she was still pleased with all that she got.  :)  We also Skyped with my parents for a few minutes and then ate our traditional German pancake breakfast.

A new car case 

Toy reindeer 

Foam swords

McKenna's "Christmas corner" where she played for many days!

Ben singing "Jingle Bells" on McKenna's new microphone

Cute baby sister enjoying some "new to her" toys

Other things to note about Anna during the month of December:

• She became very vocal
• Her runny eye finally cleared up
• Rolled from tummy to back and back to tummy
• She likes her Bumbo seat a lot more
• Feels things with her thumbs
• Wags her head back and forth when she smiles and gets excited, therefore has an awesome bald spot

We stayed in our jammies pretty much all Christmas day and played with our new stuff!  Dan's parents also came to visit for a few.  

My local siblings came over for Christmas dinner.  Later, we drove out to Christmas Street in Salt Lake and enjoyed some beautiful lights.  

After the kids went to bed, we Redbox-ed the movie "Turbo" and ate way too much junk food.  Such a fabulous Christmas day!