Every year my family goes sledding on Christmas Eve. We took a break from tying the quilt to go sledding. I probably shouldn't have done that, but it was definitely a break that I needed. We went sledding at Donut Falls, had some coco, then came home and continued to work on the quilt. Finally at 7pm we finished it. We threw everything together and rushed to my parents house. The Mustoe's, (a good family friend of ours), have dinner with us Christmas Eve and do the nativity, so they were there. We made fun little personal pizzas and caught up on life and how everything has been going. We did the nativity with all the little kiddos, and sang some christmas songs before our guests left to do their own Christmas Eve traditions.
We got to open our ornament. (This tradition started with my grandmother before she passed away. She used to give us an ornament each year so we would have enough to decorate a tree of our own when we were all grown up. Now that she is gone, my mom gives us one every year to keep the tradition going). We also opened up our PJs before trying to corral my younger siblings to bed. Paul and I decided that we were going to spend the night at my parents house this year and do the big Christmas morning tradition with them at least one last year before we decide what types of traditions we want to start with our little family.
I still hadn't finished sewing Jace's stocking by the time Paul and Jace were ready for bed, so I got them all situated and then stayed up cutting, pinning, and sewing the rest of his stocking. My mom wasn't quite finished with a sewing project yet either, so we stayed up together. Tanner came upstairs hungry around 12:30 and cooked us some tuna noodle casserole. So we stopped and took a break, then kept on finishing our projects. Mom finished a little before me and headed to bed. Just as I was finishing Jace's stocking he started to wake up. I hurried and got ready for bed, fed him, and put him back to sleep so Paul wouldn't wake up.
Much sooner that I was hoping for, Paul woke up for the morning. I don't know if it was Jace that got up first, or Paul, but Paul was up and looking for his stocking long before I wanted to get out of my bed. But he came in and told me it had snowed. This was a big deal because we both had been dying for it to snow for Christmas, and we got our wish. There was lots of snow on the ground. I was excited, but not enough to get out of my bed for it quite yet. I went back to sleep for like an hour before I couldn't sleep anymore.
The rest of my family was pretty much up already. So we opened or stockings and talked with each other for a little bit before getting ready for presents. We always start with our homemade gifts, which is so fun. I love it. Paul got a Norwegian game called KUB that my dad had made. My brother made me a super cute picture frame. My dad loved his Beatles quilt, and Paul is making Yulia a greenhouse. She is stoked about it! Jace had a blast with all of the wrapping paper. I don't think he actually opened a gift all by himself, but he did actually play with his own gifts once they were opened. It was so cute to see him going back and forth between the paper, the ribbon and his presents. I can't wait to see how magical Christmas becomes for him as he continues to get older. After we gave all of our gifts out, things sort of mellowed out a little bit. We cooked some breakfast/brunch, and played a few games together. Jace and I took a nap while Paul played some other games with my siblings.
After my nap, we packed up all of our stuff and headed over to Paul's parents for their share of Christmas day. We got there just before it started snowing crazily again. We had a great dinner with the Burnett side of the family that came to visit, and we played lots and lots of games. We stayed so late that we decided to sleep over. Cottonwood heights had gotten easily 10 inches of snow, and we were told the roads were bad so if we could avoid them, that would be best. So we played games late into the night and just spend the night at the in-laws.
I was a little bummed because Rex and Julie gave us a nice set of sheets for our bed, and I had washed and dried them at their place so they would be all ready for me to use, and I didn't get to use them that night. It was fun to sleep over though, because in the morning we were lazy and just relaxed with all the family members and played games basically all day long.
I feel like Christmas came and went so fast this year. It was so different actually living near our families and not needing to stay with them for a whole week, but it was also nice being able to decide at a moments notice to spend the night at their house rather than drive home.
Oh by the way, the best/worst Christmas gift we got was that of Jace being able to speed crawl. He has be taking 2 or 4 crawling steps for the past few days, but literally, Christmas morning he was crawling all over the place. It has been so fun to see him in action. I am so excited for all of the developments that are to come.
Jace about to go sledding with Papa. He is definitely not as excited as Papa is.
Jace and daddy being lazy and not sledding with the rest of us.
Boom, they crashed into the shrubs, but they had fun on hill and didn't go too too fast.
He is giving us the, "I am ready to go home" face.
And this is the, hmmm maybe snow does taste okay face.
I was trying so hard to get a cute picture of his eyes, and the snow, and the light, and it just wasn't quite as good as I had hoped, but I didn't have a fancy camera, just my phone, so its as good as could be expected.
Jace and Paul beat the rest of my family back to the car. Jace had a blast holding onto the steering wheel. It was just too cute to not get a picture.
The annual Blatter/Mustoe Nativity.
Jace was our little baby Jesus, but he was much more interested in playing with the toys than in laying peacefully in a manger
My kid isn't cooperating, but I had to get proof that I was actually with my friend Erin.
It is WAY past Gloria's bed time. All you had to do was look at her and she cried.
Still has puffy red eyes, but at least she isn't crying in this picture. She did start crying immediately after I took it though.
Don't mind me, but Jace is opening eating his ornament from Mimi
Now Jace is trying to get into his PJs. I taped the bag shut though, so it is was tricky for him to open.
The cousins on Christmas morning. They are just so cute. And look, Gloria is actually happy for the time being.
Jace is actually interested in opening up his present
Yay! A book, he looks so thrilled
Jace is enjoying his loot from Santa
The Christmas tree at Mimi and Papa's in all its glory!
I think this is the only picture of us together that I got on Christmas
Yay, a present for Paul!!
Jace enjoying the box more than the toys!
Dad opening up his awesome Beatles quilt. His face was priceless, but even more so when he realized what the quilt actually was a picture of.
Yay! Jace is actually playing with one of his Christmas toys.
My cute niece Gloria. She is starting to get a cute little personality of her own. I can't wait until Gloria and Jace are crawling around the floor together.
Once we got to Paul's parents, we FINALLY got Jace to take a nap. Since he is crawling now, we couldn't just leave him on the bed. He just sort of sprawled out on his make shift bed, and it was too cute to not get a picture of.
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