Christmas Eve

My Favorite Tadition for Christmas is our families Christmas Eve...

 I love going over to my parents, eating SUPER yummy food and sitting around and telling stories.

 We always do the Bible story of Christ's Birth, the Christmas ABC's and the Inman 12 days of Christmas...

 But there are always additions, like stories from the Ensign, or friend

A Swift Wedding

After all the Christmas fun there was No time to rest because we were getting ready for the Wedding..

 Andrew was feeling sick, so I stayed home and Malachi went to the Sealing at the temple...but he said it was beautiful- they are so stinkin cute together!

 

One of the best parts about them getting married is that we got to see all 8 Swift siblings together

 Andrew was too sick to come so he stayed at home with Granny and Grandpa- So Mallory got to party with Mommy and Daddy all by herself!

 She had a fun time dancing and playing- and eating cake and Ice-cream!

Christmas DAY...

Was SUPER busy...we woke up EARLY to open presents at home... Santa brought me and Purple Vacuum, Daddy a new Bike, Andrew a Hot wheels set, and Mallory a Swing/stroller/tub/cradle for her dolly.

 Granny and Grandpa came over to help us open our presents and drink Hot co-co and eat Orange Cinnamon rolls... It was a fun morning!

 Mallory's highlights were "Hello Kitty" stuff, Pink talking Tea pot, Princess Coloring thing, Cozy blanket, cute new puppy (Zu-Zu pet) and books

 Daddy's Highlights were this Jacket, Futarama, LOTS of super hero shirts, brushes and Flashlights for work, new boots and the new Batman movie!

 

Andrew's highlights were Tons of Cars- Hot wheels, stuffed cars, a new Mario shirt, movies, puzzles and coloring stuff.

 It was such a great morning just hanging out together and playing with all our new toys!

 around 11-ish we went over to the Swift's house for MORE presents... These kids are so LOVED!

 It was really fun sitting around with everyone- then all the "Kids" watched a movie while the Adults played a game

 Then we were off to Grandma and Grandpa Inmans house for Dinner- Very yummy and we were really excited to play and see all the cousins

 By 7 pm we were SUPER tired but we had to make one last stop at Rachael's house...

For even MORE presents- Hungry Hungry Hippo, A Spider man Skateboard and a Hello Kitty sparkly Dress- Thank you everyone for all the Amazing gifts, we love them!
BEST Christmas EVER- but we were ready for sleep by the time we got home!

Zoo Lights

I Took the kids to Zoo Lights tonight...

It was finally a dry night- Cold, but Dry!

 It was amazing! TONS of lights everywhere....it really was cool! The kids liked the Rainbow the best

 My camera- of course SUCKS-so the pictures are crappy, but look at all the lights!

 We waited in line to see the Shark Tank- We "herd" there was going to be a special surprize in the tank....What could it be???

 SANTA!!! Santa was swimming with the Sharks- it really was cool to watch!

 Santa had a really bad FAKE british acent- but he was very nice!

We LOVE going to the Zoo and combined two of our Favorite things- Christmas and the Zoo!!

Seasons Festivities

We are happily anticipating Christmas...

 This week we have watched lots of Christmas movies and ate Holiday treats

 On Thursday we went to a Holiday Ice show- it was full of Christmas Elfs dancing and scatting around.

 It was a really fun show, but was a little long

 Saturday we went to the Ward Christmas Party.

 Monday Night for Family Home Evening we decorated Christmas cookies...

 Grandma and Grandpa Swift and Auntie Talitha came over to help us

 Then we read Our Christmas books and went to bed!

Only 14 Days till Christmas.... we are getting excited!

The Christmas Countdown-24 Days!!!

Yesterday was the 1st of December and I was VERY excited to get all of our Countdown stuff started...We (of course) have the classic Advent calenders- everyone has their own and get the Chocolate for the day.

We are also doing a Scripture chain that follows Jesus Birth!

 AND we are doing 25 books till Christmas- I am really excited about this one because I wrapped 50 Christmas books so each night they will each choose a book to unwrap and we will read them all together. It helps them get more excited for Christmas, they get to do a lot of unwrapping and it's fun. I plan on doing this every year and I hope that as the years pass it will get better because they wont know whether they are opening a new book or an old favorite!

So Since Yesterday was the First we wanted to get it started with some Christmas Merriment! First stop was the Festival of Nativities! I LOVE this! There are Thousands of different nativities to look at, from different counties, handmade, different interpritations- truly beautiful and spiritual experience...I was Very happy we could make this our First stop because we want to keep a ballance at Christmas time of "Jolly" and Spiritual.

Next we went to the "Old Cannery" to see Santa, I had thought that this Santa looked more "real" then most Santa's you see at Malls and stuff so I wanted our kids to meet him- since we have never done this before....

so we went and waited for about 3 hours- but as I was waiting in line the parents were talking about how this Santa is so great and he doesn't rush the kids and really takes time with each child, and that's why it takes so long.

So, Malachi went and got lunch, the kids watched "Elf", Colored some pictures and we walked around the Cannery looking at all their decorations- it was decorated really cool.

When it was finnaly our turn it was spectacular. Santa talked to each Andrew and Mallory individualy and made them feel so special.

He didn't just ask them what they wanted for Christmas but he came up with other ideas they may want too, they thought it was great that Santa could "KNOW" that they liked coloring!!

 I know it was kinda crazy to wait in line for 3 hours- but it was totally worth it!

From there we went to a Baptism (again keeping it balance) It was fun to go and I try to attend as many as I can with my kids so they can see how special it is.

Then we RUSHED to the "Christmas Parade" It was about 5 O'clock and was dark already so the parade was lighted...all the floats we lit up and the cars had Christmas lights all over them. There were dancing Snowmen, penguins, and Christmas trees. Bands were playing Christmas music- that was really fun too! Then they had a tree lighting ceremony after!!!

Such a fun Christmasy day..... We ate lots of Candy canes, Sang along with Christmas carols and really got into the Spirit of the season!