However, this Christmas marks a change in tradition for our family that was difficult to accept at times. Every Christmas Eve that I can remember (except for one when we were all traveling together) has involved going to my Grandparent's house for dinner, however this year that wasn't an option. My Grandpa passed away last January and, unfortunately, my Nana has faced some health challenges this year that had continued to keep her in the hospital throughout the holiday season. I have loved spending Christmas Eve at my grandparent's house so much over the years and it was hard accepting that things are changing this year. I am so grateful that my parents, all of my siblings, Aunt, Uncle and their son were all in California with us this year for the holidays. It was nice to know that no matter what happens, we are a family and we will support, love and help each other forever. It was also nice to reminisce and talk to people that share some of the same wonderful memories from years past.
These are some pictures from our Christmas Eve this year and the time we got to spend with family and enjoy each other's company!
Anders had a lot of fun scooting around my parent's house and chasing people.
My Dad, Erik and Maren preparing some food for Christmas!
I just enjoyed spending the holidays with my wonderful little boys.
Alden had a ton of fun getting Xander to play Ker-Plunk with him!
Then they had fun building and creating things together. (I just asked Alden what this was that he made and he told me that it was a mountain that is next to a volcano.)
Anders loves riding on people's shoulders and pulling their hair while he is up there.
Erik and Dad working on making apple pies together!
Drew and I went out for lunch together and we brought Alden this bread turtle back that he thought was really cool. However, he had no interest in eating it, he just wanted to look at it.
Drew and Anders had fun running through the house together. I am pretty sure they were chasing Alden, but I don't actually have a picture of Alden.
Alden got to open one present on Christmas Eve and he was pretty excited.
He was much more careful with the wrapping paper than he has been in the past.
He was so excited when he finally opened it and found Christmas Snoopy PJs. He wanted to go put them on right away!
Once Alden got his PJs on we read the Christmas story from the scriptures. We gave Alden a little nativity that he could see while we read the story. It was fun to see him identify all the nativity characters as we read the story. It makes me so happy to see Alden carrying around baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph and telling people who they are. I hope that I can continue to raise him so he understands that Christmas is really about celebrating Christ's birth and his life here on Earth.
Anders thought that some of the nativity pieces were fun to play with and chew on. That is why we used a plastic nativity set.
Drew and I also got Christmas Snoopy PJs and so we could all match. Anders wore some Christmas PJS from when Alden was a baby because we couldn't find any Snoopy ones for him. It was fun to all have Christmas PJS to wear!
We actually managed to get one picture with everyone looking at the camera! I really love my kids and I get so much joy out of seeing them at the holidays and how happy and excited they are about everything!
After the kids went to bed we had fun playing a game of Settlers! I love game time with my family because it gives us a chance to interact, relax and have fun together!
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