We had a fantastic Christmas (almost 5 months ago, but who's counting). It's a wonderful time to share with family and friends. David and I actually made candies for Christmas and gave them out to family and friends. We made Oreo truffles... mmmm... they were yummy! We'll have to make it an annual tradition. Here is a look back at our Christmas and New Year's Eve.
Decorating the Tree
We bought our tree the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I love picking out Christmas trees. Growing up, we would always go to a tree farm and cut down our own tree. I hope to share that tradition one day with my own children. For now, we just go to a tree lot. Not quite as nostalgic, but still wonderful. That night David got the tree set up in its stand. William thought the tree stand was a horse or something! He climbed right on like he was going to ride it. It was really cute and funny! We decorated the tree Sunday night with William. We then undecorated the bottom third of our tree because of William. It still turned out beautiful! Our tree lived longer during this Christmas than the tree we had the year before. But it still died and dried out with a week and a half to go. It's pretty sad when your Christmas countdown turns into a "getting rid of the tree" countdown. Oh well, better luck next year!
Gingerbread Houses
We decorated gingerbread houses again this year with David's family. We always have lots of fun and everyone always does a great job.
Christmas Eve
We went to the annual Neal Family Party on Christmas Eve. William looked so handsome in the Christmas outfit my mom bought him. We spent a great evening with my family, and then we headed back home. When we got home, it was time to open our Christmas eve presents. David and I decided the first year we were married to give ornaments on Christmas eve. Each child gets their own ornament that represents something from that year. The family also gets a new ornament, but it doesn't necessarily represent anything from that year. This year William received a dog ornament because of how much he loves dogs! After we hung our new ornaments on the tree it was time for bed!
Christmas Morning- Presents
Christmas morning was wonderful! David and I had found a Radio Flyer Car for William on KSL and we were SO excited to give it to him. We set it out in front of the tree so that would be the first thing he saw. He LOVED it! He climbed right on and wouldn't get off. We tried to coax him off with his other presents, but it didn't work. He ended up opening some of his other presents while sitting on his car. David and William spoiled me with really nice gifts. William and I enjoyed giving Daddy a few surprises too.
Christmas Morning - Stockings
I made everyone a stocking for Christmas. They all turned out great. Anyway, we all enjoyed going through our stockings. My favorite thing was the Sacrament book I made for William. He loves to go through it and look at all the pictures of Jesus and of the "protet" (his word for prophet).
Christmas Day
After a lovely morning, we headed up to spend the rest of the day with family. We had a great time with our families.
New Year's Eve
We spent New Year's Eve with my family participating in our favorite traditions - stuffing ourselves with WAY too much food, playing games, and watching movies.
On New Year's Day we had a Gowans family party with all my extended family. Afterward, David, William, and I headed to temple square. The year before we had gone on New Year's Day and the lights were still on. Well, not so this year. We walked around a dark Temple Square. A few lights were on by the Church Office Building, but when we pulled out our camera to take a picture by the lights, our batteries died. Moral of the story: visit temple square BEFORE Christmas. Oh well, we had a great laugh anyway!
Even though these holidays were a few months ago, we still hope you all had a wonderful Christmas season!
Decorating the Tree
We bought our tree the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I love picking out Christmas trees. Growing up, we would always go to a tree farm and cut down our own tree. I hope to share that tradition one day with my own children. For now, we just go to a tree lot. Not quite as nostalgic, but still wonderful. That night David got the tree set up in its stand. William thought the tree stand was a horse or something! He climbed right on like he was going to ride it. It was really cute and funny! We decorated the tree Sunday night with William. We then undecorated the bottom third of our tree because of William. It still turned out beautiful! Our tree lived longer during this Christmas than the tree we had the year before. But it still died and dried out with a week and a half to go. It's pretty sad when your Christmas countdown turns into a "getting rid of the tree" countdown. Oh well, better luck next year!
Gingerbread Houses
We decorated gingerbread houses again this year with David's family. We always have lots of fun and everyone always does a great job.
Christmas Eve
We went to the annual Neal Family Party on Christmas Eve. William looked so handsome in the Christmas outfit my mom bought him. We spent a great evening with my family, and then we headed back home. When we got home, it was time to open our Christmas eve presents. David and I decided the first year we were married to give ornaments on Christmas eve. Each child gets their own ornament that represents something from that year. The family also gets a new ornament, but it doesn't necessarily represent anything from that year. This year William received a dog ornament because of how much he loves dogs! After we hung our new ornaments on the tree it was time for bed!
Christmas Morning- Presents
Christmas morning was wonderful! David and I had found a Radio Flyer Car for William on KSL and we were SO excited to give it to him. We set it out in front of the tree so that would be the first thing he saw. He LOVED it! He climbed right on and wouldn't get off. We tried to coax him off with his other presents, but it didn't work. He ended up opening some of his other presents while sitting on his car. David and William spoiled me with really nice gifts. William and I enjoyed giving Daddy a few surprises too.
Christmas Morning - Stockings
I made everyone a stocking for Christmas. They all turned out great. Anyway, we all enjoyed going through our stockings. My favorite thing was the Sacrament book I made for William. He loves to go through it and look at all the pictures of Jesus and of the "protet" (his word for prophet).
Christmas Day
After a lovely morning, we headed up to spend the rest of the day with family. We had a great time with our families.
New Year's Eve
We spent New Year's Eve with my family participating in our favorite traditions - stuffing ourselves with WAY too much food, playing games, and watching movies.
On New Year's Day we had a Gowans family party with all my extended family. Afterward, David, William, and I headed to temple square. The year before we had gone on New Year's Day and the lights were still on. Well, not so this year. We walked around a dark Temple Square. A few lights were on by the Church Office Building, but when we pulled out our camera to take a picture by the lights, our batteries died. Moral of the story: visit temple square BEFORE Christmas. Oh well, we had a great laugh anyway!
Even though these holidays were a few months ago, we still hope you all had a wonderful Christmas season!
1 comment:
Looks like a great Christmas and New Years!! It feels weird writing this in MAY!!!!!!
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