Grandma and Grandpa Bowen's Annual Santa Party

This is one of our favorite holiday traditions. Grandma and Grandpa Bowen's Santa Party. We always make a special trip to northern Utah for this big event. Mom and dad always put so much time and effort in to this amazing party!

Where can we always find our three little ladies? Oh yes, that's right, fighting over their most favorite guy in the world.....grandpa. He has these beauties wrapped around his finger, and they have him wrapped around theirs. Gwen, Jane and Reese spent most of the day in this very spot.


Grandma Bowen and Grandma Richards joined the fun too. Here they are catching up. They are good friends. We love them both dearly.


All the kids disappeared for a few minutes,only to return in disguise. Grandpa always has the funnest surprises up his sleeve. He is still a kid at heart. Check out Cooper...always the ham.


Gwen even got in on the pirate action. Nothing says Christmas like mustaches and eye patches.


Grandma did a little better at sticking to the Christmas theme. "Don't Eat Santa" was a hit with the kids.


Here is our little Gwennie with our grandma Gwennie. I could just smother them both with kisses.


It was so fun to see grandma Bowen too. Gwennie loved her and spent the afternoon showing her every toy in the house. Grandma was a great sport.


We sang my grandma Richards favorite Christmas song. "Once in a Lowly Manger". Grandpa Richards used to sing it to us on Christmas Eve. As we sang this year, I could hear his voice singing with us. Oh how we miss him.



Courtney favored us with a lovely rendition of What Child is This. She is a beauty and a talent.



Grandma had the kids fascinated with her favorite storybook from her childhood, Jolly Old Santa Claus. THE BEST CHRISTMAS BOOK OF ALL TIME. Its the old one published in the 1950's. We found a few copies on EBay last year.






And then it happened.......SANTA CAME. I mean the REAL Santa. Just see for yourself.


Santa is always very interested in everything the kids are doing. They have all developed a bond throughout the years.


Santa REALLY wanted a kiss from Courtney. But who wouldn't..... right?


He was tickled!


On the other hand we had this. Oh Gwen, can't you even be nice for Santa? She was definitely not a fan of this jolly old soul.


Santa is letting Gwen know she better be nice....or else. Classic.




Good thing Gwen didn't ruin a great family photo op right? Stinker.


Garrett and Cooper getting in on the jingle bell action. Look at our family just oozing with musical talent!



So as I have already explained here , my parents always give us some Christmas cash. The very funnest part about it is that they always come up with an incredibly amazing way to do it. This was the year of the cake. Each couple got a beautifully wrapped package that contained a yummy cake.


Here we are wondering why the heck mom and dad gave us a cake (and maybe "where could the money be?" :)


So we started digging and squishing and.......



........eating. Look how cute we are reliving the glory days.


There was a lot of cake, but no money. I was feeling a bit stupid. What now?


Ahh, Carter, boy wonder, figured out that my parents had made a false bottom that looked just like the bottom of a cake box. So we had to tear up the bottom of the cake box, and there is was!
See, I told you, CREATIVE.



These two are Santa's very best helpers. They are the most amazing parents a girl could ever ask for. We had the best time and now we have the best memories. Another successful Santa Party. Thank you mom and dad!