So I feel like Christmas came and went by too fast this year! Where is the time to just reflect on the spirit of Christmas, that wonderful, magical feeling that it brings each year...instead of the hustle and bustle and running to and fro...I still feel like I'm reeling from all the Halloween stuff! I think that having your own kids brings back that special feeling you have as a child yourself and I have enjoyed the simpleness of it all once again. We took the kids to temple square to see the lights, got us some hot chocolate at a little market across the street.
I love this picture of the Assembly Hall at Temple Square, especially the Jewish star that adorns the entryway!
We then drove over to Sugarhouse to read the biblical story about Jesus...this street is directly across from Westminster college and most of the houses on the U-shaped road have big wooden signs on their lawns, depicting the story about Christ from the book of Luke, which also have beautifully painted images along with the wording. We make this a tradition each year to remind our boys of the TRUE meaning of why we celebrate Christmas...CHRIST! Even though Jason wasn't raised as a Christian, we still have a great time being together as a family.
Then we head over to a little place called Christmas Street, which is just south of 1700 south, and on 17th east in Sugarhouse, as well. It's a little circle of houses which decorates and connects their Christmas lights to one another's homes and it's always fun to drive through there, as well. Afterall, my mom would take me and my siblings through these place as a child and it's a fun tradition to carry on with my own boys now!
We also get to celebrate Chanukah (Hanukah), whatever way you believe it to be spelled...I've never figured this out myself, as there seem to be all kinds of variations on the spelling, hehe. I think it's great that our kids get to celebrate the Christian and non-Christian side of the holidays...I hope that they can enjoy the Jewish part of their heritage, as well.
We get to eat one of the delicacies of this holiday, potato latkes, yummm!! My Jewish mom made them this year and boy were they delicious!
I didn't bring my camera to this years celebration, dangit! So if one of my wonderful jewish family members would shoot some over to me, I'd love to post them! The only one I have is of Payton sitting in his cousin Gage's new Lightning McQueen...the pictures speak for themselves!
Christmas Eve we have my family over to our house...years ago it was over at my mom's house, my childhood home. But over the years, our families have grown and so has our house, so we just decided it would be a nice tradition to keep that going where we are now. Plenty of room to accomodate all! We moved into our house 2 years ago, boy does time fly! We hope to stay here for many years to come...
We have since put in our yard, I just love this picture with the snow falling...fitting for this holiday season!
This year a lot of family members had to work Christmas eve, so the hard part was trying to work in a time to try and include most of them...my mom had to work until 7, my brother had to GO to work at 7, my sister Lindsay had to work until 8...boy, oh boy! So in the end I figured Grandma would have wanted to spend the evening with her grandkids the most so we opted for 5pm so she could make it after she got off of work. My niece came over a few hours early since her mom had to work, so she got to spend some extra playtime with her cousins. So all in all, we were missing my brother Bill, sister Lindsay and her little boy Daemian who was with his daddy :( My sister Laurie, my dad, my auntie Koo all showed up in the beginning and here are just a few pics from the beginning of our festivities...
Laurie and Payton
Jason talking with Dad
Teagan and my cute niece, Raynee
auntie Koo and Cameron
Jason and myself
Jaeden!
My mom excited about her canning jars...up until she realized they weren't the ones she uses!! my bad!
...ok, so I guess I took the picture too soon of Braxton saying "cheese"! He looks more like an Elvis impersonator...we all had a good laugh with this one!! LOL
Payton's 1st Christmas! Santa baby wants his turn, too!
Our feeble attempt at a Gingerbread house!
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