Christmas 23

The girls made clothes out of paper for their beanie boos. I love how creative they are!  

For the last several years it has been our tradition to do a nice dinner and nativity play with the Peterson Family on Christmas Eve, this year since Mom P was leaving on Christmas Eve to celebrate in PA, we decided to have that celebration a few nights early. The kids are all growing and its always so fun to see them pick costumes and dress up. Lucy chose to be an angel and really DIDN'T want her picture taken. 

Alana, Alexis, and Xander were the 3 wise men. 

 Luke 2:19 But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart Lizzie got to be Mary for the first time this year in our family nativity program. She took it very seriously and was the sweetest. I am so grateful for that precious pure baby, his life and mission, and his all encompassing gift of the Atonement. He has given me the gift of repentance, forgiveness, companionship, and love. He has made it possible for me to be with my family and loved ones forever. I am so grateful that he was born, that he lived and died, and lives again. I know that my Redeemer lives!

Brett was a wonderful Joseph

I was pretending to hold Brett like a baby. He is so grown up! 

Christmas Eve was on a Sunday and the girls actually got Christmas dresses this year. I wore a shirt that semi matched them =) 

On Christmas morning we all filed down to see if Santa had come:

He Came!

And didn't forget the pets:

On Christmas Eve we had a more casual get together with lots of food to munch on and lots of board games. Neil and Rebecca's family and Mom and Dad Z came for that. We had a great game of Disney Trivia where Brett and Kaden took home the win! 

Our annual in front of the Christmas tree photos:

Lizzie on Christmas morning opening her stocking:

Brett lining up his goodies and checking out his stocking. 

Alana giving me a funny face while she looked at her new whittling set from Santa:

Santa brought Oreo a giant rawhide! Oreo was very happy and possessive!

This year we went to Mom and Dad Z's house for breakfast. We had french toast, pancakes, potatoes, biscuits and gravy. It was delicious! 

I made new blankets for all the kids this year and Alana was content to snuggle in hers and eat candy:

Sean gave me a new kitchen faucet that has a sensor on it! Its pretty awesome!

After eating breakfast and opening presents we put up the mixtiles I gave mom last year for Christmas. They look great! 

Mom pulled out a new quilt she just made for Steve and Linda, it was beautiful!

We came home and started watching the first Lord of the Rings. We all enjoyed it a lot and really appreciated Sean abridging it for us!

I sat and read my new cookbook while watching Brett work through chess puzzles and the girls play with stuffed animals. It was a great Christmas day!!

Lizzie made us a darling ornament and wrapped it so cute:

Alana made Lizzie this card:

Santa always writes us each a note and he didn't disappoint this year:

Lizzie wrote Alana a card. 

I didn't take any pictures but on Christmas Eve before Church Mimi came and we exchanged gifts. It was a lot of fun. The kids also exchanged their sibling gifts. Then I took Mimi to the airport. 

Brett ended up getting a super nasty virus a few days after Christmas. He had huge canker sores in his mouth that hurt so much! It made it a good week for cleaning, playing, and watching all 3 Lord of the Rings movies. 

The girls have been sleeping together in Lizzie's room for several weeks now:

Cookie loves snuggles and squeaks for his salad every night. 

Comforting Brett in bed with Kiwi. 

Brett felt good enough on Jan 2 to go skiing with cousins. They all had a great time. Lizzie played with the Ellis bunch while I finished a meeting at school. Then Liz and I went to Kneaders and watched a movie and read a book together. 

Here's Brett's amazing bearded dragon that he made in art class. 

We helped put away Grandma and Grandpa's outdoor Christmas things and the girls had fun playing on the blowups while they dried. 

Lizzie made this time capsule project at school:

Lizzie will often set up spots on the couch and label them for her and I to snuggle in. 

We watched Incredibles and Alana showed us her elastigirl poses:

Cookie snuggled and pooped all over us:

We have had some extra stress with Oreo recently. On Christmas Eve he attacked Brett and bit him on the chest. We aren't completely sure why but i'm guessing he felt overwhelmed with ham on the counter and Mimi there. Regardless of why, it absolutely cannot happen. We love this dog so much, but we have to keep our kids safe. He seemed to calm down and then after one more incident where he snapped at Alana when Sean was in and out of the house on a Friday afternoon, we decided to see the vet again and fast and pray for answers. We were able to double his dosage of anxiety medicines, and she recommended some specific training to help us learn about his triggers. Sean and I also decided that Oreo is not allowed out of his kennel unless Sean or I am home. He also has to stay in while we have guests for a lot longer. He seems to be a bit calmer with the more medicine, but we won't know the full effects for a month more. For now though I feel peaceful about him being in our home and I feel like Sean and I especially are working hard to understand his cues so we can help him get to his kennel when he is feeling on edge.