our christmas.

the girls, most especially brooklyn, could hardly wait to get their letters off to santa. brooklyn had her list very thought out for months. she also wrote out many rough drafts before she settled on her final list. everything spelled phonetically and i loved it!

kendall was a good girl and had her list down to exactly what mommy 'guided' her in telling santa.

we had no tears again this year and we didn't wait in line! this was our third year visiting santa at farmington station and i don't see us going anywhere else as long as he's going there!

it was especially fun to decorate for Christmas this year being in our new house. i use the term 'new' loosely. new to us. we live in a little old cottage here in bountiful that i absolutely love. more about that later.

instead of just putting out Christmas books in the girls' room, i put out books about snow. our Christmas book collection is huge and it sat out in the family room in a basket. the books about snow were fun for the girls because that's all they wanted to do in the month of december. they wanted to play with the snow, eat it, build snowmen out of it, make snow caves, and all the other things you do with snow. it also brought on a lot of hot cocoa requests. i can't believe, and am a little embarrassed, by how much hot cocoa was consumed.

we put together a bunch of goodie bags for james' co-workers and a few people here in town. we stayed up late doing it together and actually enjoyed ourselves. next year i think we're going to go a little more simple.

almost every night, we'd all gather in the family room to watch a Christmas movie. james and i loved it and it made us giddy when all five of us were snuggled up on the couch watching something that almost always james or myself picked out. but my favorite couch-cuddling-by-the-tree-sesh was during the first presidency broadcast. the girls were good to just sit, listen, and sip on their hot cocoa. i loved having that special spirit in my home and it always brings back memories of being a young girl and going to the church with my family to watch the broadcast.

we also did a lot of driving around looking at lights. we found a fun house in centerville that could entertain the girls forever! we'd park, everyone would hop in the back of the van, snuggle in a blanket, and enjoy the show. the girls might say this was their favorite this year!

i didn't put up half of my usual Christmas decor, because like i mentioned above, little cottage. but brooklyn and kendall loved every little piece of decor and detail. 

hanging five stockings felt surreal. it might have been my favorite thing about Christmas this year.

getting Christmas cards in the mail from friends and family is a very close second!

i'm so glad i put this big print up this year, as it became kendall's favorite song. she still sings it every once in awhile and it just melts my mama heart!

going to temple square was another highlight. we ended up going on a warmer night and the girls were in good spirits. no whining, no crying. they just flat out enjoyed themselves. 

a few days before all of the festivities started, we met dev and kayla at pirate o's to get some Christmas goodies. it was dev's first time and the girls loved having their uncle and aunt (and judson!) there too!

having three kids and trying to carry a camera around proved to be too much for me by the time we headed to coalville for our annual family party on Christmas Eve Eve. i didn't take any pictures there, nor did i take any on Christmas Eve. luckily, james got a few! mostly you should just know, that we had a blast with family and ate way too much delicious food!

we had our annual fancy Christmas Eve dinner at my parents' and i ate way too many of my mom's homemade rolls. we opened matching jammies and the kids did the nativity. hilarious rendition! mostly just chaos, but the kids are already asking to do it next year!

Christmas morning was magical. snow falling all morning, and the girls were so excited about their gifts, and waking up at grandma and grandpa's house. we loved being able to dress in our sunday best and attend sacrament meeting on Christmas day. 

we stayed at my parents' for a couple days after and the girls loved spending time with cousins, aunts & uncles, and their grandparents. my mom had a few activities for them to do, and they loved any chance they got to just be with the adults.

james was a trooper and got a sledding hill going out back for them all to sled down. they were outside for over an hour just having a blast! i know that 'night sledding' will be something they remember when they look back on this Christmas.

this one was for the record books. three girls to bring three times the magic. i loved seeing Christmas through their eyes. i loved teaching them the true meaning and listening to them teach each other and retell the story in their own words. it is always sad to see the season go so quickly but i think we enjoyed every drop.