Christmastime

The Christmas festivities were wonderful this year! We participated in the Light the World initiative with the kids and tried to keep the Savior in mind all month.

We decided to do a hotel night in SLC to enjoy the temple lights, Macy's windows, Grand America gingerbread house, Santa at City Creek, etc.  We stayed at the Radisson and the kids enjoyed swimming (too cold for me!), and getting matching pajamas (we actually thought Rachel would be ticked because she hates matching with the little kids, but she was a great sport), and sleeping in the same bed (Kendall slept sideways at the foot of the bed and the other two slept up top).

We saw Christmas Carol at the Hale Center Theater with Val & Nancy.  They treated us to Chuck-a-Rama afterwards, since the kids just love buffets!  Brandon & Rachel loved the show.  Andrew, Kendall and I were a little restless.  We'll probably alternate that and the Nutcracker show.

Brandon took Rachel skiing for the first time this season, and it finally clicked for her!  Brandon said she did great!  I was thrilled for her, because all the other times they have gone, she has wanted Brandon to hold onto her, and hasn't felt confident enough to do it on her own.

There are two December countdowns in our house - one is to Christmas, and the other countdown is for the Grandma/Grandpa sleepover with cousins.  It is so greatly anticipated, and always lives up the hype.  Us adults went to Tsunami for dinner and then watched "Masterminds" together, while Gma & Gpa put 11 kids to sleep for us!

We had an early Christmas Eve celebration with the Parker's since we are with the Hale's this year for that night.  We decorated gingerbread houses with Nana and had fun being all together!  We also had the annual Thompson/Parker Talent Show.  It is always hilarious!  This year, I convinced Sheena & Shalauna to come as a big surprise and we lip synced to Destiny Child's, "Independent Women" in Christmas aprons and spatulas/wisks as our microphones.  We even had choreography and matching outfits.  Everyone in my family knows Sheena & Shalauna, since we all grew up together on the same street, so it was a special treat!  They stayed to watch my mom, Rachel & Cindy do their baton routine, and my dad and brothers sing a Christmas song acapella.  Brandon also re-wrote the words to the song, "My Grown Up Christmas List" to include things we really wanted for Christmas.