Christmas Eve

With our immediate family getting bigger and us wanting to try and simplify Christmas so we can enjoy it more, we thought that this was a good year to change things a little!!

Usually we spend Christmas Eve at Gumpy and Gummy's house with the extended family and then come back to Grandpa and Grandma's house on Christmas morning to open presents and exchange gifts with my siblings.

This year, we had dinner with everyone at Gumpy and Gummy's house and then after dinner instead of sticking around for games and a program, we headed back to Grandma and Grandpa's house to have our own immediate family gathering (present exchange and program) instead of doing it Christmas morning.



We started off with a slide show that Clay put together of pictures of everyone from the last year. It turned out really great and was fun to see so many pictures and re-live some of our favorite memories from the year. The kids loved seeing pictures of themselves or funny pictures of their aunts and uncles on the TV!


After the slide show, Grandma and Grandpa had put together a nice program/advent scripture reading focusing on Christ and the real meaning of Christmas and gave us all blocks to make an advent calendar for our own homes.


Of course, then came everyone's favorite- presents! The kids were dying to rip into their presents! They got some fun presents from their grandparents and aunts and uncles! They were so spoiled! We are so excited to have another cousin joining the grandkids this year too!!! We are looking forward to some fun times in Branson next Thanksgiving as well!












Since this will be the last time we are all together for a few years, Grandma and Grandpa gave everyone matching PJ's for the traditional "on the stairs" Christmas morning (only it was evening!) photo. After many awful, hot, and not working attempts to take the photo on the stairs, we decided it wasn't worth it and took it upstairs where there was light and we could spread out a bit and breathe!! Some things just aren't worth it! lol.



It felt a little strange to change things up a bit this year but it was still a fun evening full of lots of family and that's what is most important!

Once we were done with all the photo ops...we hurried home to get the kids (and ourselves) to bed so Santa could come!!! Were they good enough for him to come this year?!?! Stay tuned....

First Dance Recital

Addie started her first year of dance this past fall. For the most part she's been enjoying it and we've seen glimpses of her dances here and there. She had her first dance recital a few weeks before Christmas and it was so fun to watch. She was excited to get to wear makeup and their recital costumes.

We weren't sure if she was going to end up getting shy last minute or if she'd go out and perform but she was awesome and did such a great job! Not sure where she gets her moves from but she's got some moves!

Here are the videos:

Hip Hop Dance- she's on the back row pretty much right in the middle of the screen and waves just before it starts.

I Want You Back Dance- she's the third one from the right on the back row and a little harder to see in this one- sorry for the shaky camera at the beginning!

Bennett was at the recital to watch his sister dance but he was such a sweet friend and brought her a rose after the performance and told her she did a great job. She thought that was pretty special (although, not sure Clay was too thrilled!)

We also gave her some flowers and she was so lucky to have so much family there to support her as well- thanks for coming everyone!





She gets to dance with a lot of friends from the ward and neighborhood- so that makes it even more fun!

After the recital, we headed to Training Table to celebrate her great performance!

Looking forward to the spring recital!

Christmas Activities

Here are some of the fun Christmas activities we did in December!

Visited Thanksgiving Point and their Holiday Lights (driving through- it was a rainy night)! Even got to see some real reindeer! Will loves seeing the "kikiss wights" (Christmas lights) wherever we go!



Visiting Santa at the mall! They took their lists to him so he would know what to bring them! This was the first time in her entire life that Addie has gone anywhere NEAR Santa- let alone sit on his lap! Will walked right up to him and told him he wanted a Thomas train for Christmas (we'd been talking about it on the drive over). He sat up on his lap happily for about 3 seconds- by the time I got my camera out (I didn't know I could take my own picture), he was done- thus the "classic" Santa pic with at least one kid crying!


Went to Gardner Village to see the Elves with friends. It was raining this day too! Lots of weird, rainy days in December this year!

Blackham Family Christmas gathering at Gaga's house. Yummy food, games, candy and lots of crazy kids (including "adopted" neighbor grandchild Macey)!!!





Went to Temple Square to see the lights with the Cullimore side of the family. We went down the night before Christmas Eve- it was super crowded and really cold! It was pretty though!






We also had a few Christmas parties and some gatherings with friends! We love Christmas time! It's so fun and magical! Wish it was longer than a month!

Gingerbread Houses

Decorating Gingerbread Houses was a favorite Christmas activity (and new tradition) this year.

Will and Addie each decorated their own graham cracker house one evening with Grandpa and Grandma. Addie's house was very neat and nice looking and Wills was a work of art! Will loved every second of it- putting the frosting on, putting the candies on, taking them off, eating them! He was very proud of his house and would tell everyone, "I build a house"!

Grandma also made some real Gingerbread houses for each of the families to decorate. Will got to decorate another graham cracker house and took it very seriously (both the decorating and the candy eating)! It was so much fun!!!