Oh man, how is it already February? I love Christmas time. I must admit I really missed being able to celebrate Christmas in Bavaria this year. I guess I got pretty used to enjoying all the outdoor Christmas markets and how festive all the little towns got for the season. I did my best to enjoy the drizzly Northwest Christmas here in Portland. One of the best parts was that Hyrum's mom (Oma) was here to celebrate with us and she spoiled us with good food and lots of chances to have date nights without the boys:) Here are a few of the things we enjoyed.
What better way to start the Christmas season than by decorating gingerbread houses? Each of the boys had a little mini house to decorate. They didn't last long, I think they were all eaten by the next morning but I'm pretty sure that's the whole point:)
Look at this little guy. He decorated his house all by himself!
Townsend spent the longest decorating his house making sure there were straight, even rows of alternating candy. He must take after Hyrum's side of the family:)
This is my little Jules getting ready to perform in his preschool Christmas concert. He is such a ham!
During the Christmas holiday from school I took the boys up to Washington to say hello to my parents. Look who we found at my parents ward Christmas party! Julian wanted absolutely nothing to do with Santa but my big boys were willing to humor me and stand next to him...if they got a candy cane for their efforts:)
Family photo the Sunday before Christmas. My boys don't often wear bow ties to church but I'm glad they got dressed up for this special day.
O Tannenbaum! I love sitting and looking at a lit up Christmas tree, so festive.
Cutting Down the Christmas Tree Story:
The morning of December 19th was sunny and cloudless. Hyrum has a half day on Wednesdays so we decided to go and chop down our Christmas tree that afternoon...I mean, at least it wasn't raining, right? By the time Hyrum got home from work it was sprinkling lightly. No big deal, we'll just bundle the boys up and go hunting for our tree, it will be a fun Pacific Northwest memory to get our tree in the sprinkling rain. Fast forward 30 minutes. We had driven up into the hills surrounding Hillsboro. There was now sleet and hail falling from the sky. By the time we got to the tree farm there was a strong, cold wind blowing. Each boy had two jackets but they were still freezing. It didn't help that the twins refuse to wear pants so they were out in that weather in shorts! Oh man, Emerson was throwing a fit and poor Julian was crying. I did my best to keep calm and happy. We searched for a few minutes and found a tree in record time. Julian was clinging to my legs and crying, Emerson was screaming obscenities at his father...only Townsend was our little trooper. Luckily the Christmas tree farm had a little cottage with free hot chocolate but even that hardly made up for our little afternoon adventure! Maybe next year we'll have better luck:)
We celebrated Christmas eve with the Doxey's (Hyrum's sister and her family) and guess who stopped by with treats for the boys. This time Julian was super excited to see Santa. He got a candy cane and a new little toy puppy dog.
Hyrum and I went to a small church for Christmas Eve services. The best part was right at the end. Everyone got a candle and then we all stood outside in a circle with our candles lit and sang Silent Night into the cold darkness around us. It was a beautiful little moment to be surrounded by glowing candles and to sing that song after midnight on Christmas Eve (so it was actually Christmas morning)
Our Christmas breakfast. Rolls, hot chocolate, orange juice and German stollen.
Merry Christmas morning!
