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!
On Christmas Eve we had this darling family over for dinner. The Mogenson's are some of our favorite people in the world. They humor us and they are from Moab so the don't judge us either.
We hung the Chinese lanterns and ordered in Chinese food to save on the stress. It was a great idea. Very relaxed.
After a rousing game of Christmas charades, Carter read the Nativity and all this kids were very good sports as I made them dress up and act it out.
Isn't this the cutest little lamb you have ever seen? If only she would obediently follow her shepherd.
Poor Courtney, we continue to torture her with the role of Mary and a husband five years her junior. She's a great sport.
Here's our Cooper shepherd trying his darndest to keep Gwennie in the fold.
This is the very best group shot I could get. Bowen and Jack are the wise men. Coop is the Shepherd with Gwennie and Hayden as his sheep. Court is Mary with Hunter as Joseph, and Kinley as a darling angel.
I just had to get a shot of my two girls together. Gwen absolutely insisted on her brown baby for baby Jesus.
After the Mogenson's left we let the kids open their jammies from grandma and grandpa Bowen. Mom is great at picking out what the kids will like!
Another picture of our girls....that is so fun to say!
Carter and I continued our blanket tradition and gave the kids down blankets. They love one that I have and they are always stealing it. They were more than thrilled to get these.
Christmas morning was MAGICAL. Carter and I got Gwen up first and let her discover the presents. Non of my kids have ever reacted the way she did. She walked all around the tree gasping each time she discovered something new. It made every dollar, effort and hour spent worth it!
We got the rest of the kids up (they know it is time to get up when the hear the Santa bells ringing and dad yelling HO HO HO, just like my dad did when we were little.) and started the morning. We always wrap everything! I want the opening to take a long time. We take turns unwrapping from youngest to oldest. This year since church was at nine, we only let them open a few presents. We stopped and had our traditional breakfast of cinnamon rolls, quiche and juice. Usually we invite lots of friends over, but since it was Sunday we didn't this year.
Gwen in her church get up. I didn't get a picture of anyone else. BOO!
After church Gwen ran into the house yelling "Mo Pesents!!" All of the kids loved watching Gwen open her gifts. She totally got it this year. She loved everything she got. Babies make everything better.
Courtney got clothes, clothes and more clothes.
Bowen got airsoft guns, basketball gear, clothes and toys.
Jackson got DUKE everything (his latest passion), and basketball gear, a watch and cologne.
This is Gwen tearing into one of her gifts. She didn't need any help!
Gwenni got a baby, a stroller (which she had jammed lovingly into the back of my ankles more than once), clothes and toys.
Coop got toys, basketball gear, shoes and clothes. It was one of the most relaxing and enjoyable Christmas' that I can remember. My favorite thing about the holidays is the amount of time spent together making memories. I am so lucky to be making these memories with the most wonderful people in the world!
