The Nutcracker Ballet

Grandma, Mommy and Karalyn

got all dressed up and went to the Nutcracker Ballet this year!

And was this little girl ever excited?

It's all we talked about for days before we went!

We ate at a fancy restaurant before the show!

Here's Grandma explaining all the characters to Karalyn.

She loved the whole thing!

Her favorite were the "hula hoop" girls!

And after the show Grandma gave her a present to open. . .

and inside was her very own Clara Ornament to put on the Christmas Tree!

What an amazing night!

After all the late night baseball games I've been to with the boys this was sure a change of pace!

Our Favorite Cookie Baking Day. . .

With our Favorite People. . .

Our Gift Exchange. . .

(Kara's first experience with curlers. . . You'll find out why in the next post)

We Delivered Neighbor Gifts, Looked at Christmas Lights, and had a Ward Party!

We were a little late in delivering our neighbor gifts this year. . .

but it got done!

We took a few nights this year and spent time looking at Christmas lights as a family!

The best find of the year!

We tried to go back and get a family picture taken out front. . .

maybe next year. . .

(would have been perfect with our ugly sweater theme this year huh?)

And we attended our ward party. . .

A Night In Zarahemla!

Gotta Love December!

Gingerbread Houses . . . Graham Cracker Style!

We somehow found a day to get together with our fun friends the Price's and make Gingerbread Houses!

Here's Kale hard at work!

Kris was bound and determined to do it all by himself this year!

Kara stayed at it the longest this year!

I love these two!

FINAL PROJECTS:

Kara made a tangled tower,

complete with Rapunzel's hair coming down from the top of the tower!

Kris made a . . .

well he did it all by himself!

And Kale's finished project. . .

(he ate a lot along the way)

SO FUN!

Before School Got Out For Christmas Break. . .

Kris had to give an Oral Report in class on

A FAMILY TRADITION!

He chose our Beach House Theme Nights

and took to class pictures of us all dressed up each year!

And later that day. . .

Karalyn had her preschool performance. . .

Cute little elves put on a mighty fun show for all us parents!

And she sat on Santa's lap!

It's a Christmas Miracle!

She must really have wanted that "Hello Kitty Phone" she asked him for!

Glee Club!

Kristopher got us all in the "Christmas Spirit" this year because he joined the

GLEE CLUB

at school this year and they put on about a million performances through the Christmas Season.

OK - maybe only 5, but that's a lot!

Here they are at the Town Christmas Tree Lighting. . .

They sang at the mall,

2 retirement centers,

and gave an amazing concert right before school got out!

They sang everything from "Frosty the Snowman" to "Oh Tanenbam".

Kris's favorite was "I'm Getting Nothing for Christmas!"

**We were driving in the car one day and "Oh Tanenbam" by Nat King Cole comes on and Kris from the back seat starts belting it out and informed us that Mr. Cole sings it wrong.

A Weekend and a Wedding. . .

My Sister got Married.

In December. . .

It was great to be with the family (minus my brother. . . curse you dental school finals)!

And the "whole" family with my step-mom's kids too!

My sisters. . .

Kyle did a great job taking care of everything while I embarked on this whirlwind weekend!

Christmas Came!

For Christmas Eve we ate an amazing meal and acted out the Nativity together.

Then we drove home and found that Santa had left us a book and a note telling us he had already been by but that we weren't home. He told us to hurry and get to bed so that when he came back next time he could leave all the presents!

We read our new Christmas Book with record speed and then we headed to bed!

And in the morning. . .

CHRISTMAS CAME!

We opened stockings. . .

And enjoyed the best Christmas Gift Santa could have left for breakfast . . .

SUGAR CEREALS!

And then the kids put on their new suits and new Christmas Dress. . .

And we headed off to church!

It was so fun to have Christmas on Sunday!

The Christmas Program at church was the perfect way to start off the day!

And when we got home we changed back into jammies and opened the rest of our Christmas gifts!

(and I guess I didn't get a picture of Kale actually opening a gift - he must have done it too quick each time. . . He must have received something good. . . cause that's a BIG hug being given to dad in the background!)

Hope your Christmas was as MERRY as ours!

I will get the month of December blogged by Sunday. . . .

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

We've had a "crazy" fun Christmas season!

Merry Christmas!

The Temple and a Tea Party

While Kyle's family was all in town,

we were all able to go to the temple and do work for some of Kyle's family.

(thank you to the babysitters who watched all 13 kids!)

It was amazing!

So neat to be there all together!

We also threw a

"tea party"

for Nana and Papa

and

all the girls!

We're still working on the proper pinky form for a tea party!

I have a feeling there will be many more tea parties to come in her future!