Christmas Eve

First, a few shots from December in general.  We've seen a lot of this:

 and this:

 as Owen LOVED to crawl under the tree and just lay there for a while!  So silly.  And then he'd crawl out and try to unplug the lights.  :)

Also we got to play with Lydia for a WHOLE day, it was so fun. Whitney talked to her in a cute high voice the whole time, and Owen loved her and kept trying to touch her face and hair, which she didn't love!  But she liked him in general.  

 We dressed up so cute the Sunday before Christmas, but these are the only 2 that would take a picture! 

 And here's Christmas Eve!  We went up to Elizabeth and Kjarom's so we could all Skype with Elder Kurtis Murray together!  The girls enjoyed a little air hockey and foosball.

 And here's the cuties, the girls are wearing the Christmas shirts I made for them!  

 And we acted out the Nativity with minimal props we brought from home:

 Mary and Joseph

 the shepherds

 the wise men

 and the little shepherd wanted to hold and kiss baby Jesus! 

and apparently he stole the gold too...

 Can't get enough of this boy.

We sang carols all the way home, it was really fun.  Oh and I should record the other joys of our Christmas season.  Katelyn and Whitney really got into the Christmas spirit, making little presents for their friends and cards for their teachers, wanting to go caroling to lots of people, wanting to sing every time we were in the car, it was great!  We also did this really cute Christmas countdown we found in the church's Friend magazine for kids- in involved giving a gift to the Savior each day.  Things like "include someone who isn't always included", or "do a secret nice thing for a family member" or "write a card for someone who is lonely" or "show your gratitude for our beautiful world by taking a walk and appreciating nature" and lots of other good stuff.  It was cool to focus on a different thing each day, and it definitely kept us thinking of Jesus Christ and why we have Christmas.  

The last couple of days before Christmas were especially good.  Katelyn was so cute on Sunday, I was doing my hair before church and she brought me a glass of ice water and a peeled orange, with the slices wrapped in a napkin tied with a red ribbon!  It was such a sweet surprise, and I just loved that she thought of it all by herself.  Then later Whitney and Katelyn decided to "shine dad's shoes" aka they took them all out and arranged them neatly and wiped them with baby wipes and left him a note saying "this is your Christmas present".  Also on Christmas Eve I walked into the toy room and Whitney was happily cleaning all by herself!  And then Katelyn said "I would like to sweep for you!"  It was so fun and made me so happy.  I wish it was always Christmas, for those reasons!  

Seriously, I have felt a true desire to have Christ in my heart more this coming year, and to approach every situation with Him in mind.  I know my life will never be perfect, but I really want to conquer my temper and my easy discouragement and speak more calmly and kindly to my children. Like I do when Eric's home. :)  So hopefully I can see progress in those areas for myself this year. :)