12.29.2012

Christmas 2012

i enjoy all the preparation and anticipation for christmas
i am always sad when its over
this year was no different

we had a quiet and relaxing christmas... just the way i like it
we've established some traditions with the kids that they look forward to each year

on christmas eve morning, we make lefse


 after lefse is made and the kitchen is cleaned up, we eat a late lunch/early dinner and get ready for church

i try to get a picture of the crazies all dressed up in front of the tree {which died early this year...boo!} before we head off to church

 candlelight service at church {my favorite}

 then we come home and the kids open any gifts they've received that are not from us



 then the kiddos put on a movie and snuggle in somewhere to camp out in the bonus room

this year after they went to sleep, i got busy creating a scavenger hunt for the next day
instead of putting names on the gifts, i numbered them
i created clues that went with each number
some numbers had significance {their age, landon's football jersey #, etc} and some were random so those clues were more like math problems
i loved doing the scavenger hunt for the gifts and the kids loved it too

 christmas morning, waiting to check out stockings and see if santa arrived

they're off.....

 the only thing on her list was bars and beam for her AG doll mckenna

 the one thing on his wish list was skylander giants

this girl had NOTHING on her list... she was pretty excited about what santa brought

lance had to go to work early, so he missed out on stockings and santa
we had breakfast and the kids waited patiently for lance to come home to open gifts
i was thankful they had time to enjoy their gifts from santa and look through their stockings

 once lance arrived home, around noon, the kiddos got busy on their scavenger hunt and opened their gifts
one of the things i loved most about the scavenger hunt was that it took time for them to find each gift under the tree and open it
i felt like it helped to prolong our christmas morning


 after gifts were opened and a quick clean up around the house, everyone snuggled in for some quiet time {movies and naps}.
a little later in the afternoon, one of lance's business partners and his family came for dinner and dessert.
it was super casual and a nice way to end our christmas night.
we all went to bed with full tummies and full hearts.




6 comments:

Susan said...

Sounds perfect. The numbers were great here too.

Denise said...

looks like you had a nice christmas season.

mama holly and papa dan did a scavenger hunt to find their christmas gift for our kids a couple years ago. it was a blast!

i am finding it harder to shop for my teens. they don't tell me what they want. i miss when they were little and were easily pleased.

give hugs to all your people!

grey rose (they/them) said...

hooray for a lovely christmas!
your family is so cute, look at those pretty smiles!

love you, happy new year, kristen!

Unknown said...

If you’re the one who will organize a scavenger hunt, the preparation process will be the hardest yet thrilling part for you. Of course, you have to make coolest ways to give clues and keep it a top-secret from the participants. Well, your kids looked like they really had fun! You must be an expert when it comes to this game, eh? :)

Rosalinda Hone

Linda Z said...

I'm finally back to blogging and catching up! Sounds like a wonderful Christmas you had! I love doing scavenger hunts for the kids... so fun to make the little clues and watch them scurry around! My mom used to do that with me sometimes! Hope you are all doing well now that it's spring! :)

Unknown said...

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