Christmas Part III...Just the 4 of Us

We had a great Christmas with the Wilson Clan and it was a blast to have the Trosper Clan travel up North to be with us.  But there were those times and traditions that we celebrated, just the four of us.  This blog entry documents those times that were precious to us as a family this holiday season.

 

Leah's class celebrated "Christmas Around the World" and part of
that celebration invited parents to come address the children about
Christmas in different countries.  I went to discuss with the class the
foods, traditions and the like associated with the holiday in Scotland.
It was fun to visit with my cousin, Liz, in Scotland about everything.
I learned almost as much as the kids and it is always fun to learn more
about the country from which my Mom's family hails.  Thanks, Liz!

Another part of Leah's class celebration of Christmas was their musical about
the Christmas Gingerbread Man.  She is such a cute little girl and it is always
so fun to watch her perform whether it be dance, cheer, singing or whatever.

 

Leah and one of her adoring fans; her proud Mother.

 

One tradition that keeps me grounded to my roots in some way is the
Della Robia Wreath made by Boys Republic in Chino, CA.  For me,
Christmas doesn't fully start until it's hung on the door. 

Leah, Dax and Marley posing for a quick pic after "putting up Christmas".

The year before my Dad died, he made these 4 stockings for us to display in
front of our house during the holidays.  I realize the weather will eventually
take its toll on these wood creations of my Dad and part of me wants to not
put them out in order to preserve them, but on the other hand, I think he would
be disappointed if we did not. 

A fresh layer of snow always makes Christmas feel a it more like Christmas.

One of my favorite ornaments.

 

We took some time to visit the Tree of Life after taking the train home from
downtown.

Sarah, Leah and I went and saw an amazing version of Tchaikovsky's
"Nutcracker Suite" in which one of my Primary students was performing.

Sarah and I carved out a night from the holiday season to watch Jim Gaffigan.  A funny man.

Us at the Jim Gaffigan show.

Jim Gaffigan at the Jim Gaffigan show. 

 

This kid.  Anytime there was even a single flake of snow on the ground, he was begging his
Mom to let him outside. 

This is what Sarah looks like when she's Christmas shopping.  She looks
annoyed.  They must be out of stock. 

I could have titled this, "Just the 6 of us".  We are so lucky to have my Mom
and my Grandmother close to us and we try to involve them in much of what
we do.  This year was a bit difficult as it seemed one of the 6 of us were always
sick.  We did manage to drag all of our sick selves to Jim's Family Restaurant
one night so we could celebrate my Grandmother's 92nd birthday!  Here is
Dax taking it upon himself to open her present.

Christmas means Polar Express.  Thank you Reed family!  Dax was super stoked!

This kid loves trains. 

 

The kids look forward to building a gingerbread home every Christmas.  It
is a fun tradition.  We turn on the Christmas music and let our creative juices
flow.  Everybody helps...for the first 2 minutes, then it's pretty much Sarah
and I while Leah and Dax are most interested in eating frosting and candy. 
You can see in the photos evidence of that as Leah has her finger full of
frosting and in her mouth in both pictures.  Marley is prowling in the back
waiting to pounce on any construction scraps. 

 

Another annual tradition is to enjoy the Festival of Lights in Spanish Fork.

Donuts, Hot Cocoa, Christmas Music, Cool Air and Lots and Lots of Lights!
Who wouldn't enjoy that?!

Every year we visit 7 Peaks Water Park which transitions itself into a Winter
Wonderland every Christmas.  They have lazy river which turns into a tubing
ride through a great display of Christmas lights.  The kids love it.

Dax was not amused with any unsafe shenanigans.  Here he is with his hands
at 10 and 2. 

No doubt Dax's expression is in disgust of my shenanigans in the boat ahead
of him.  Every time Leah and I would make our boat spin in circles he would
scold us and tell us to stop. 

 

 



They turned their tallest water slide into a sledding ride by freezing the
channels so you can go down on sleds.  Unfortunately it is very dark and
the sleds zip by so fast that we didn't get any cool pictures.  There are other
things to do there as well.  To end the night the kids visited Santa. 

 



 

 

Santa must have said something Dax liked hearing. 

 



Sarah Claus, her elf, Dax and her reindeer, Leah.

A nice family in line behind us took this pic of us waiting for the North Pole
Express ride.

Based on the kids' expressions, meeting Santa for the third time in one holiday season is
getting old. 

 

 We love our holiday traditions.  These were just a few of them.  Add those to the traditions we celebrate with the Reeds and we keep ourselves pretty busy.  Some of our most fun traditions are not really documented by picture.  Those include daily reading of the scriptures, reading from our 101 Discussion Questions About Christmas with family and friends that visit, making cookies and doing service for others to engage the Christmas Spirit.  It's a wonderful holiday and not without its work, but it's all worthwhile.