Chrismtas Fun

Some mornings are more exciting than others when we open our Christmas activity for the day. Gavin is usually pretty vocal about how he feels about the activity and Enoch is just excited to do something. On December 3, we sang Christmas carols as a family. This was not such a great time at our house. It was Greg and Tresa singing the carols, Enoch singing his turkey song at the top of his lungs, Gavin sulking on the couch and Kate banging on the piano keys. It was actually a relief when it was over. We also decorated our Christmas tree after finally finding some tree lights. We had a great time and Kate loved the lights.


On December 4, we drank Christmas wassail. It was very fancy with us stirring our apple cider packets into mugs of hot water. I know, not every night can be super great. It was still fun to be with our family.
On December 5, we remembered our favorite Christmas memories. While driving Gavin and his friend, Cayden, to the Space Center in Pleasant Grove, we talked about Christmas past. Greg's memory was getting his favorite Lego set. He was about nine when he got the space exploration set. It came with a cool rocket and he spent all morning putting it together. I remember the Christmas I had chicken pox. My family visited an outdoor Nativity scene and I had to stay in the car all by myself! I also remember the year my sister and I got matching canopy beds with Strawberry Shortcake bedspreads. Santa set up the beds in the family room and it was way fun. Gavin's memory was getting his Love Sac when he was about four. That's it - his favorite memory. I guess we need to do more. Enoch's memory was when we put blue lights on our banana roof and then we went outside and said, "Wow, that's really cool!". Okay. I don't remember that, but Enoch usually lives in a universe parallel to ours. Hopefully, our family has many great memories to come.
On December 6, we had a great time at the ward Christmas party. It's always a good time and I didn't have to cook. The primary did their traditional Nativity with songs and costumes and it went better this year since we banned shepherd staffs (aka deadly weapons for 10-year-old boys).
On December 7, our family watched the First Presidency Christmas Devotional together. It was a great program. I especially enjoyed hearing of Christmas memories from Presidents Monson, Eyring and Uchdorf. It was wonderful.
December 8, is Grandpa Dee's (Fowler) birthday. He invited the entire family to tour the Thanksgiving Point lights on the trolley. It was a blast. Enoch loved riding on the 'bus' and Gavin had a great time with his cousins. The lights were great and the trolley was a unique way to see the lights. Afterwards, we saw the reindeer (they are smaller than I thought) and then went to Grandma and Grandpa's for brownies and ice cream. Very fun night.
On December 9, our family braved Target to shop for sibling gifts. This is a crazy night but one of my favorite traditions. Each of the kids has a budget of $7-10 per sibling and parent. They can pick out whatever they would like and it is great fun to see what the kids bring home. I'm always impressed with the gifts Gavin picks out, he really does a great job. Enoch loves shopping with Dad and Kate did her shopping ahead of time with Mom. The next night on the 10, the kids wrapped their gifts. It is so easy with our fabric bags and the kids really can do it themselves. Yahoo! I think I'm tired just remembering all of this.