Christmas in Dixie

We decided to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in St. George this year. That way, we were present for the annual grand-kid's sleepover and we got to spend more time with my Mom and Dad before they leave on their mission to Cove Fort in January! We got there Wednesday evening, and on Thursday morning the festivities officially began. My mom went all out for the party, which had Noah's Ark theme. As the kids arrived and boarded the ark, we played animal guessing games, stuffed a homemade cardboard ark full of stuffed animals to donate, and snacked on ark foods like dried fruit and nuts. :)


Pretty soon we headed for Jenn and Mike's school where were played human Hungry Hungry Hippos and other animal games. The kids had such a blast!


The kids came home and we ate pizza, watched movies and the kids stayed up way too late giggling and talking.:) The next morning we made ark themed ornaments and ate breakfast before everyone had to head home.


Later on in the day we made it to Great Grandma Crosby's house to eat some ice cream sandwiches, play some skip-bo, and play with some of her other toys. She got to meet Mr. Benson for the first time and it was sweet for me to watch them interact. Ira was her father's name. :)


Christmas Eve, Russ and the girls came over for dinner and the nativity scene. My nieces are all growing up so fast!


We left some cookies and eggnog for Santa and took our Christmas jammies picture. The kids wrote some cute notes to Santa that I hope I saved somewhere. The kids went to bed, but Benson got a second wind and decided to fight sleep that night. He must have been too excited to open his presents. ;) He couldn't get enough of Grandma Crosby this trip. They were buddies.


Our kids have never done the whole, "wake up early, jump on mom and dad's bed" thing on Christmas morning. Thank goodness! We got up leisurely, Richie made us our traditional German pancakes, Mom cut up the grapefruit, I fried up some bacon and we feasted. We made the kids line up, youngest to oldest of course, before entering the living room. It's fun to watch my kids do the same things, in the same place, as I did. I think Christmas was a success. Miles's big gift was a massive art kit. He's been using it almost non stop since then. Gwen's big gift was a barbie car and Barbie. She wants to sleep with it and take it with her everywhere we go. Lindy's big gift was a scooter. Her brother and sister have their own bikes, but she's always had to used whatever was around. She's so excited to have something like that, that's just hers! (Gwen is a little jealous.) Benson's big gift was a teddy bear (for my Benson bear. :) I think the first gift they really got into that morning was their lego sets. Very intense concentration going on.


We headed to sacrament meeting at noon, came home to play with presents more and got ready for our Christmas Day feast. Everyone came over and we had such a great, noisy night :) Mom and Dad gave out some more gifts relating to the Noah's Ark theme, some families exchanged gifts then, but the "highlight" was playing "Pie Face", which our kids got for Christmas. The kids LOVED it. However, I should have thought it through before introducing a game with flying whipped cream in a house with people who are much more tidy than I am. :) (sorry Dad!)
And there's a few cute pictures of Benson in his new church outfit on his first Christmas, just for good measure.


Every time I walk into my old house, I can feel a physical burden lifted and I breathe a little easier. I think it has something to do with the 2 people who live there who help shoulder our load when we walk in the door. I get to feel like Richard and Louise's daughter again, and not "Mommy" 24-7. It was so nice to be home for Christmas. The house is so festive and warm and inviting. I know I can go back during the next two years while my parents serve at Cove Fort and stay at the house, but it will be different. Even so, I'm incredibly excited for my parents to serve in this capacity. It truly does seem "positively providential!" Merry Christmas 2016!