Christmas

 We got out Christmas tree up pretty late this year.  Chase happened to be at our house the night we had time to get a tree, so he got to come with us.  Daniella was out of town that weekend and the kids convinced Chase to spend the night.  He got to help us set up chairs for our ward Christmas party.  Liv pretty much decorated the tree herself this year and did a great job. 

 Christmas was super fun this year.  Nathan and Benazir and their kids and Mom and George all came up to spend the holiday at our house. 

 We took Nathan and Benazir to our little Orem city center and let the kids ride the train and walked around the little farmer's market.  

They all joined us at church for sacrament meeting on Sunday.  It was so nice to have them all there- Carter and Liv actually sang a duet together (the 2nd verse of Star bright in harmony) and did a fabulous job.  Liv convinced me to buy her a new dress for the occasion.  She picked this ugly couch dress which she loves.  

  

Monday I worked all day.  Benazir worked from home and Liv stayed home with her and made cinnamon rolls.  Mom, Nathan and the boys went up to Thanksgiving point they got the all events pass and hopped for venue to venue.  Mom had various crafts for the kids to participate in.  

We had lots of good food- D made smash burgers, George made a leg of lamb roast and we invited Ehab and Kim across the street to come eat with us- it was fun to visit with them.  Mom took the girls to lunch to celebrate birthdays.

  We went to Itto sushi.  Kylie sent us all a gift card for movie tickets and treats so we all went to see Moana 2 together.  Some of us liked that more than others.  

We had our traditional crab and clams on Christmas Eve.  It was fabulous just not so much for pregnant Benazir.  Christmas we actually had baked ziti made by all the boys because all the girls went to see Wicked which was amazing for the second time.  Santa brought the boys an air hockey table that they are pretty excited about, Liv got a new iPhone and tons of clothes she wanted, I got a new laptop, Derek got some new shoes, a camp chair, and sunlight wake alarm.  Derek made it a point to have a no screen Christmas- so no one got any video games.  They did however, get some cash from their grandparents and Camden used his to buy some video games he had been wanting. They also got amazon gift cards from their grandparents and Liv used her to buy fancy cases and accessories for her iPhone.  It was so nice to share in all of this with Nathan and Benazir and Mom and George.  

I got all the kids matching Christmas jammies and they were so cute together. 

 My kids were all such great babysitters and had so much fun playing with their cousins and aunt/uncle, grandparents- they never even asked to hang out with friends or outside the house once.  At night we played lots of games together- Wizard, Idiot, Left/Right/Center, Taco/Cat/Goat Cheese/ Pizza.