The kids showing me their favorite Santa presents. Of course Tawny's is food!
Church was wonderful and again, all three of my kids were good and let me listen to the speakers. That is a very rare occurrence for me so it was much appreciated. I enjoyed having sacrament on Sunday. It reminded me of why we truly celebrate Christmas.
Tawny loved her hair for church and wanted a picture
Right after church. And believe it or not, but I only took one shot and they all happened to be smiling.
After church we opened gifts at our house. Ethan's favorite was the Nerf guns from Uncle Anthony. He thought the whole thing was so hilarious. He would run after every single bullet shot, bring it back to Greg and sit down on his lap so they could do it again. Brayden's dramatic acting when he was shot only added to Ethan's laughter.
Ethan also loved his colored pencils. For some reason he loves to dump them out, put them all back in and dump them out again. That is what he does at church every week for at least 20 minutes.
Ethan also loved his colored pencils. For some reason he loves to dump them out, put them all back in and dump them out again. That is what he does at church every week for at least 20 minutes.
Brayden and Tawny loved their pillow pets.
After lunch and Ethan's nap we went to my mom's house for even more present opening. Steven and Ashley were there (with Jordan) plus my mom, dad, Austin and Grandma Wanda. With all the people and crazy present opening Ethan was a little overwhelmed. I helped him open a few presents, which he drug to a far corner, sat down next to them and didn't move for over 20 minutes.
Of course Brayden and Tawny were excited for even more presents. I'm glad I didn't get them much because they got so many presents from everyone else. It's going to take them weeks to get around to playing with all of them.
This is a picture from the day after Christmas. I had a lot of cleanup to do, and was busy in the other room when I suddenly noticed it had been quiet for way too long. That usually means they are doing something they know they shouldn't be doing. I had mentally prepared myself for something naughty, but found this instead. They were all curled up on our chair and Brayden was telling Ethan and Tawny stories. It's a memory I never want to forget.
To all those who sent cards and gifts, thanks for remembering me and my family. The greatest gifts are those that are received all through the year- a kind word from a friend, a hug from my children, a knowledge of who I am, of my Savior and the ultimate sacrifice He has given me. I love having an extra reason to attempt to make my home Christ-centered. This year for Christmas I made a Christ book. It has scriptures, simple explanations, pictures and songs that chronicle our Savior's life, death and resurrection. Every night in December we read a section, discussed the pictures and sang the songs. It served as a daily reminder of why we have Christmas. I wasn't sure how much my kids were retaining, but when we read the Christmas story in Luke on Christmas Eve Brayden and Tawny were whispering little comments to me that we had discussed all month. It is definitely something I will be doing next year too.
decorating our tree
Ethan huggin his doggie ornament 
chowing down at the parade
Tow Mater, without the "T"
watching the parade (notice BRayden has on)
Ethan just loves to eat it. Actually he likes to eat pretty much everything!
This is one of his favorite places to hide when he has something he really likes and doesn't want anyone to take it away from him. It's the bottom shelf of the vanity in our bathroom (obviously homemade so the underside isn't stained.)
Ethan faithfully guards his "snacks" (food on the floor under his high chair) every time the 
We have an elf this year that reports to Santa nightly on the behavior of the kids. They named her Jingles and she is quite 
One night she took the kid's letters to Santa. The next morning she had written 
Last Thursday Tawny asked what her Christmas dress was going to look like. Somehow I hadn't even thought about a Christmas dress for her. So with a little quick thinking and resourcefulness I altered the flower girl dress I had made her this summer. I took off the lace and blue accents and added red ruffles, bows and a waistband. She loves it so I'm happy. I think it turned out pretty cute.
We decorated "gingerbread houses" made out of graham crackers, which was a huge hit with the kids. Tawny piled so much candy on her roof that it caved in at one point. But we were able to fix it before she completely fell apart.
Ethan's favorite part was again eating them. In this picture he's telling me how yummy they are.
and 
We decorated my mom's tree after that. Since I didn't get any picture of our tree I snapped a few of them decorating my mom's.
I'll finish out with a picture that's a little bit random, but worth including. After baking so much this week, my flour container was pretty low. Tawny decided she would be helpful and fill it up for me. This is what I found when I walked into the kitchen.
The mess wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but even if it had been I wouldn't have minded. It was so sweet that she was trying to find ways to help me. And you can tell from the picture, she was so proud of herself!