A Very Merry Christmas!

Here we were thinking we would be spending Christmas alone this year, being so far from family.  Mignon and Joel just moved to Connecticut (which is ONLY about a 10 hr drive from us).  Since they are on the same side of the country as us it seems so close. They drove down Friday to spend Christmas weekend with us. We are so glad they made the drive- we had so much fun and it was well worth it for us... We ended up creating a perfect blend of traditions that we had each grown up with.

Saturday Morning we had a big Christmas Eve breakfast. After breakfast we went out do to some last minute shopping for each other.

Mignon and I got a kick out of Jake's legs swinging around as he was sitting on the car singing Christmas songs for all to hear as he watched for Joel to come out of the store.

We came home, wrapped presents, made gingerbread houses and watched some Christmas movies. To make it feel a little more like home, we watched Scrooge (the old musical). We have watched this every Christmas Eve since I can remember at my parents' house. I decided it's kind of like reading the Book of Mormon... you notice something new every time you watch it, so it never gets old.

We opened our pj's (one of Jake's family traditions). I don't think I will ever take these off. SO comfortable.

And we tried to get some sleep so Santa would have plenty of time to make his entrance.

The next morning we woke up to a room full of presents! We must have been really good this year, because it was an impressive amount for 4 adults.

But, just like at home, we couldn't touch anything until we had breakfast, brushed our teeth, and got ready for the day... oh yeah, and went to church (Jake was dying- I can't wait to torture my kids like my parents did!).  After church we dove in.

Jake and I opening super cute onsies from Mignon and Joel.

I have been wanting a really nice picture of the temple for our home. Mckay took/edited this picture of the SLC Temple and Jake got it printed and framed for me. It's so beautiful!

Thanks for those who sent us gifts, too! Caleb and Hayley had us this year and gave us just what we wanted! A beautiful homemade blanket.

Our Christmas mess. A success.

Making lunch (Jake was playing with our brand new camera all day!).

One of the things Jake asked for this year was a Nerf gun.  Apparently at work they have Nerf wars when it's slow.. and even when it's not.  He wanted one for me, too so we could play with them, but I decided to spend the rest of my Christmas money on other things.

However, Joel had the brilliant idea to buy all of us Nerf guns to share one of his family traditions: Family Nerf wars.  This is was probably my favorite memory we created this year, and Jake and I will definitely be making this a tradition for our family.  I'm so glad we both married nerds!

We were sad to see them leave the next morning but we were so glad they made the trip down! Hopefully we have convinced them to move down here, or at least come visit again soon! Thanks Mignon and Joel for making this year so memorable!

Happy New Year everyone!