The Cook's Recipe for Life: Merry Christmas!

DECEMBER 22

FAMILY NIGHT

I didn't think to take a picture of our family night lesson, but every year we hang a white stocking for Jesus with our other decorations. For family night tonight each of us put a slip of paper in it saying what we are going to DO as a gift for Jesus in the coming year. Since it's His birthday we are celebrating this time of year, we always want to make sure we give Him a gift as well. I always leave slips from previous years in the stocking as well so we can see how we did in giving Jesus his gift from the year before. The girls gifts this year were things like remembering to say morning prayers and being kind to each other. The whole family's gift was to try to be quieter so He can reside in our home more easily. I've noticed the past month that we get loud pretty quickly and it makes the house feel too small for all of us. lol. I'm really hoping that particular 'gift' goes well. So far we've had a hard time remembering. We'll see how it goes.

After our lesson, we made and decorated a rice krispy treat train!

DECEMBER 23

KV COMPANY PARTY

The company my parents run had their Christmas party, and they invited us to come! The girls had fun playing with their cousins who were in town from Twin Falls for the day!

ANNIVERSARY

I'm awful at remembering to take pictures of Ty and I when we do things without the kids. lol. Our anniversary was also today! We hadn't really made any plans, but a few hours after the company party (which we spent cleaning the kids rooms so Santa wouldn't pass us up the next night... yes it took that long... they were that bad) Ty's parents stopped by and took the kids for us for a few hours so we could go celebrate. We went to dinner, bought some sparkling cider and rented a redbox! After we all got home and put the kids to bed we sat and watched a movie together. It was nice to have a little date night with the hubby! For our anniversary he gave me an infinity heart shaped necklace! I love it!

DECEMBER 24

JINGLE'S LAST DAY

Crystal wanted to take a picture of where Jingle was on his last day with us this year. He wanted to hang out with the grinch today! While we were gone to Grandma Gordon's house for a small Christmas Party, the other elves came to get Jingle to go help Santa. They left pajamas for the kids! And yes those are Spiderman Pajamas Lily is holding. She is crazy about spiderman this year. I have no idea how it happened. Jay also got Spiderman pjs, and Crystal got monkey pjs!

CHRISTMAS EVE PARTIES

We first went to an early Christmas Eve Party at my parents' house. The grandkids played out the Christmas Story with outfits Grandma had bought on sale this year. Jay was Joseph; Crystal was a wiseman; Lily was Mary; my two nieces played a shepherd and an angel. It was fun for them and wonderful to hear my Dad read the story from the scriptures. (Pictures on my mom's phone. Just trust me. They were all adorable). We had a wonderful lunch and played a game. The kids got a pen flashlight, candy necklaces, and pez dispensers as prizes! It was gift cards for the adults! Then Grandma helped the kids make reindeer food for Santa's reindeer tonight!

While we were at Grandma Gordon's house guess what happened? It started to SNOW!!!!! We haven't seen snow in a while, and Crystal was VERY upset that there was going to be no snow for Christmas. She got her wish because it snowed all night and a good portion of Christmas Day. It was very exciting... just wish it wouldn't stick to the roads so much. lol.

After running home to see if Jingle and the other elves had left anything for us, we headed to the LaPray Christmas Eve Party. We had good food, and Ty's parents put together a fun game of Bingo for everyone! We also had a $2 gift exchange. It was lots of fun!

We put the kids in their new pajamas before we left and stopped to look at some Christmas lights on the way home! After getting home we put out candy bars, peach rings, and cokes for Santa and his helper elf (too bad they were both stuffed and couldn't enjoy an of it... lol).

We also put out the reindeer food. Instead of spreading it all over the lawn we decided to leave it in the reindeer cups and put it on the front step of the porch. The reindeer must have gotten to our house before the snow buried their food because it was all gone when we woke up the next morning! They really enjoyed their yummy treat!

DECEMBER 25TH

CHRISTMAS DAY

Santa left the kids lots of fun stuff! He even left a little treat for Roscoe (dog), Angel (cat), and Mom and Dad!!!! Grandma and Papa Cook came to see what Santa left too! After opening presents we got ready for the day and headed to Grandma and Papa Cook's house for a YUMMY breakfast. We opened more wonderful presents! (Thank you Grandma and Papa Cook and Uncle Todd and Aunt Brooke!!!) We then headed to Grandma and Papa Gordon's house where we played with cousins and opened more presents! (Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Gordon and Uncle Jason and Aunt Nicole and boys!!!) From Grandma Gordon's house, we headed to Gigi LaPray's house for a taco night dinner! By the end of the day the kids (all of us) had a ridiculous amount of new toys. It covered the entire couch and I didn't even bother organizing it for the picture. I just stuck the kids in front of it all and snapped a picture. lol. We are all spoiled spoiled spoiled!!!!

We had an absolutely wonderful Christmas this year but I think next year our festivities will need to end much earlier. The kids didn't even get to sit and play with their new stuff because we were running around all day. They were pretty cranky by the end of the night. I think we tried packing too much into one day, and they got worse with every transition. Next year we are going to try to leave a little time to sit back and relax... at least that's the plan. I'm sure once it comes we'll have forgotten and try doing the same thing all over again. haha.

For the perfect end to our crazy day, the girls curled up in their new Frozen bedding with their new Frozen dolls (and spiderman of course) and watched Frozen in their room.

Anna... and Spiderman of course. Haha.

A tool! Maybe he'll leave Daddy's alone now!

Elsa!!!!

Lily was so much fun this year. All Christmas season she would say, "This is the best Christmas Ever!" or "The best Christmas Eve ever" and then while opening presents, "This is the best present ever" or in this case "These are the best pants ever!" Its so sweet to hear such genuine excitement over something as simple as a pair of pants! Other phrases included, "Santa is the best boy ever!" "Mommy is my best girl ever!" "Daddy is my bestest boy!" and so on. It seriously never gets old. She melts my heart every time she says it.

Crystal is really the perfect age this year. She was old enough to really follow the advent calendar and count down the days until Christmas finally came. The anticipation as each day passed grew inside her. It was so much fun to watch!

She opened the case to her tablet before she got to the tablet. lol. She was just excited for a purse of some sort.

Jay was so much fun this year! He would get SO excited about a present that he'd push the next present out of his way so he could play with the first one.

("The best book ever!")

Trying out the new drill.

If you know Jay, you know this is the BEST gift a person could give him. LOL. He is OBSESSED with brooms, mops and vacuums. (Tools come in a close second so this was a pretty good day for him! lol)

Jay got a hold of the camera. lol.

Can I say spoiled?

Tea Set from Uncle Todd and Aunt Brooke! The girls LOVE it!

Daddy was telling her to shoot webbing at me ... haha.

Ready to watch Frozen in bed!

DECEMBER 26TH

THE DAY AFTER CHRISTMAS

The kids have never been so good. No really. They played and played all morning. No fighting. And Jay is LOVING all his new toys. They entertained him for a record breaking amount of time today. He loves his drill and his cleaning supplies. He has also had a ton of fun playing with the assortment of toy vehicles he received.

The girls played in their room with all their new princess stuff all day! Probably partly because the living room was too messy to play in. lol. I even spent a good portion of the day in my room just to avoid the mess. haha. But I was so happy they were actually playing with their toys. They got so many other things for Christmas that they have barely touched their new tablets that Ty and I bought them as gifts. lol. I love their imagination and creativity!

RANDOM PICTURES OF THE WEEK

On Christmas Eve while I was getting things ready for the festivities later that day Crystal wanted to play with her camera. But of course the batteries were dead and I didn't have time to change them so I let her borrow my camera. She's getting pretty good at it.