We, Ryan & I thought it would be fun to take the kids on the Front Runner Train down to Salt Lake & see the lights on temple square. Which they LOVED riding the train, & getting McDonald's for dinner. Word to the wise, make sure you know the train schedule otherwise you end up waiting a hour to get home. It made for a long night but a fun one. 
Ethan had to take a camera w/ him as he had an assignment for school that entailed him to take pictures of what he did on his Winter Vacation. They don't call it Christmas Vacation anymore as the schools have to keep everything PC or they get into trouble these days. He was snapping pictures of anything and every thing. It's a good things we had an extra digital camera because I think he had taken over 100 pictures by the end of the night. You can see Ethan holding the camera in this picture of the kids in front of one of the fountains on temple square. 
The lights were as beautiful as always & there were people everywhere. I thought we had lost a child more than once over the course of the night. We tried to get into see the Christus but there were so many people the line to get up to it was taking about a hour. That is just too long to wait with three kids so we had to skip it. We didn't even get to see the Nativity presentation. I think if we do it again this year we will no go on a Monday night, everyone must of had the same idea we did. 
We went down to Ryan sister Katie's on Christmas Eve & had breakfast for dinner. We also played Christmas Carols on so pipes turned chimes. Everyone had a different note w/ a number on it. Then followed a number pattern on a poster board and WA-la a song came out that everyone got to play. It was fun but the highlight of the night was Uncle Dan, our brother-in-law singing & playing the guitar with a huge sombrero on his head. He had the kids laughing so hard...Ethan was crying. It was a fun night but I was very glad that we didn't have to get up and go all the way back down to Midvale for Christmas day. We went to Ryan's sister Liz's as she had moved to Kaysville, just down the road from us a few months before. 
Christmas morning was early, as usual but we do make the kids wait until 8 am to get up. Although they are up was earlier than that. Mason got a Thomas the Train set, which he loved because he can fold it up and take it anywhere in the house. 
Holly got her Princess kitchen so she could play house & have tea parties w/ her friends. She had received a Tinker Bell table & chairs for her birthday so now with the kitchen she had the full set up. She couldn't wait to have her friend Ryley over. 
Ethan got the Lego's he so desperately wanted, much to his mothers disappointment, but Santa convinced her that Ethan was only a kids once and that it would help him with whatever learning. Why is it that Lego's are like sand, you keep finding them everywhere although you were sure you got everyone of them put and put away, but stepping on one is still the worst. Oh the things we put up with for our kids...That afternoon we went over to Liz's for dinner and to finish putting together to school bags we had made earlier. Ryan's family had decided to take the money we would have spent on Christmas gifts for each other & get everything for school bags to donate to the church's Humanitarian Center. It was fun for everyone to put together & to teach to kids that there are other things more important at Christmas than getting gifts.
All in all we had a great Christmas.
