Christmas in Color

"We went in the back of a truck.  And we went to see Christmas lights.  And Christmas lights that are tunnels.  And it was cold.  We were bundled up in blankets.  The music was pretty.  My favorite part was going into the longest tunnel, it said, "Ho!  Ho!  Ho!'" Kelton

"We just got back home from ice skating and were exhausted.  But Papa mentioned going in the back of the truck to see Christmas lights and we were up for it, a tiny bit.  When we got out of the long line leading to the Christmas lights it was a winter wonderland.  There was music, and the music matched the lights.  There were snowmen and lightbulbs singing with the songs.  I was really cold so I went to the front of the truck to watch.  There were tunnels, sticks, snowflakes, and everything you could imagine.  One of my favorite parts was the forest of lights.  It looked like an Elsa forest.  There was a huge Christmas tree.  It was really fun.  I wish it wasn't so cold." McKenzie

  

At the Oval

One of our traditions when we visit the Rogers is to go ice skating at the Olympic Oval. Cambrie was the most excited because she's been practicing all year with a rollerblades so she was very comfortable on the ice. She was also very excited to show off her new stylish jacket that Dantley and Cydney gave her.

 All of the kids were excited on our way there and were good sports until their rumps started protesting from their falls. 

 Daxton learned that the best way for him to make it around the oval was to have one of the walkers. He liked that he didn't have to fall down. 

Even Pippa put on ice skates this year, and Alysha skated around holding her up right.  It was pretty impressive.

Christmas crafts at Nana's

The kids had a lot of fun at Nana's house.  She had so many crafts for them to.  They made fuzzy Santa's and penguins.

  

They painted Nutcrackers.  

And they sewed little elves and gingerbread men.

When we weren't crafting we were playing lots of games.  Kelton's favorite was Oregon Trail where it was possible to die from dysentery just like the old video game!  

They really loved watching movies in Nana's bed.  Her bed had buttons on remotes that made the bed rumble and go up and down.  "Her bed is really cool and lots of fun when you put the leg part way up high.  You can't stay with that very long." Kelton

Sandwiches by the library

We have been blessed with so much that we decided to do something a little bit different at the Rogers family gift exchange this year. Instead of getting cousin gifts and sibling gifts we decided to take all that money and put it towards a service project instead. We put together sack lunches at the Rogers' home. We had an assembly lines to decorate the bags, made sandwiches and filled the bags with drinks, granola bars and treats.  

We loaded the cars and drove into Salt Lake to see if we could find some groups of homeless people who looked like they could use a little lunch that day. We ended up near the county building and the library where there were a lot of homeless people camped out. I was a little nervous, but I couldn't have been more proud of my kids. They each took a bag in each of their hands and without question without hesitation and without looking to me to give them some courage, they dashed off to start giving sandwiches away to everyone they saw. They ran up smile and a "Merry Christmas" before handing the lunch to them. Then they quickly came back looking for, more anxious to help as many people as they could. 

When we ran out my kids were really disappointed.   When we talked to the kids afterwards about how they felt I think I was most touched by Kelton's answer. He said it made him feel really good inside.  I know that's a very simplistic explanation but I was really touched. I'm proud of my kids for being anxious to serve and help this season, as well as being a good example to me.

Breakfast with Santa

Breakfast with Santa speaks for itself this year.  Not much changes from year to year, so you know the drill: breakfast of muffins, eggs, hash browns, chocolate milk and orange juice.   Cambrie helped cook this year.

 A visit from Santa.  Hearing a Christmas story read by the red elf.  Sitting on Santa's knee.  Pictures with Santa.  Cousin gifts.  Then top it off with the mismatched Nativity story.  It is a loud and crazy party.  There were 62 of us there this year, more if you count the extra dogs that came.  The highlights of the day for me are watching my kids' faces when Santa walks into the room.  I love the magic in their eyes.  They always have the biggest, truest smiles when talking with Santa.  Cambrie is getting old enough now that she's getting a little bashful, and I love seeing that too.  

Santa's here!

Daxton asked for a fish

Kelton asked for a fish too.

McKenzie asked for an American Girl hedgehog toy.

And Cambrie asked for a real, living snake.  That definitely drew a reaction from the crowd.

It's a wonder that Santa doesn't grow tired from smiling all the time.  It's time to build some family pictures.

Santa with the great grandkids

Bruce and Leesa with their grandkids

The whole Rogers clan

Just our little family

Louses with grandkids and spouses

This is me keeping my little guy entertained while we waited for all of the pictures to be taken.  They can definitely take awhile.

After Santa left we had the cousin gift exchange.

I absolutely LOVE this!  It's the awkward cousin hug.  Oh these kids are getting so big!

Gifts from Louesa

One of the most carefree parts of the morning actually came when we were cleaning up.  Louesa pulled out the vacuum and tried to vacuum up the little boys toys.  Kelton is now asking for a vacuum for Christmas!