Christmas

This year was special since my mom, Mike and my dad all now live in Utah.  So we had all of them, my sister Suzy, my aunt Elaine and my grandpa all come to our house on Christmas morning.  We had a delicious breakfast..quiche, breakfast casserole, fruit, orange juice.  Then we opened gifts and visited and enjoyed one another's company.

This is what the girls awoke to on Christmas morning.

 My mom brought this really neat nativity scene made out of white chocolate.  We all really admired it...until the girls decided to eat it.

The girls are pretty spoiled between all the gifts they get from Alfredo's family, from us and from my family.  But more than that, they are blessed to be encircled by so many that love them.

Christmas Eve

December 23 was a Sunday and we had a beautiful sacrament program for Christmas.  Wonderful music, wonderful speakers, and the spirit was just so beautiful there.  I told the girls that they had to let me get a quick photo of them right after we got home from Church.

Christmas dresses on December 23

After the wonderful Christmas program at church on December 23

As is tradition, we read Luke 2 and opened pajamas on Christmas Eve.  We also lit our luminaries.  Alfredo has really wanted us to get luminary boxes for a few years now, so I did.  But the girls were a bit disappointed to not get to cut out designs in paper bags for our luminaries.  :) They just don't like changes in traditions.

Also, as is tradition, we went to Alfredo's family for Christmas Eve.  We had dinner at midnight and opened gifts.  It was a lovely evening.  I love Christmas Eve!

Because Darla's birthday is on Christmas Eve, we always celebrate her birthday earlier in the evening... a couple of hours before the Christmas festivities begin.

Street Party

For approximately 40 years, our street has had an annual progressive dinner/street party for adults at Christmastime.  Alfredo and I have gone 13 out of the last 16 years, I believe.  We love it!  We have appetizers at one home, dinner at another and dessert and a white elephant gift exchange at another.  I love that this is such a longstanding tradition.  I love that we laugh and have such a good time with our neighbors.  We had about 28-30 people attend this year.  If everyone came, it would be at least triple that, but we're thrilled that we get so many people.  And it really is SO much fun.

We all laugh so hard during the white elephant gift exchange.  Most of the gifts really are funny gag gifts and so it's a great time.  This year, one of the most sought after gifts was a signed photo of the Crosbys!  😊