Christmas 2014

We don't have many Christmas decorations, (or any decorations for that matter,) which is nice in some ways. The large tree we had this year certainly compensated for that though, plus I proudly cut it down myself which I enjoyed very much. It was fun to take advantage of the high ceilings and have our space feel so festive.

We were lucky to have my parents come and spend Christmas eve and Christmas morning with us. We had a yummy meal with some Martineau classics like honey baked ham and sweet potato souffle as well as some new dishes like roasted brussel sprouts.

The kids became the proud new owners of their first pet, courtesy of grandma and grandpa Martineau. He has been named "fishy."

We worked on puzzles which I enjoy but rarely do:

Then we rolled, cut out, baked, frosted and ate some festive sugar cookies:

The kids enjoyed this. Thank you to grandma for making this possible:

My friend Ashley accused me of being the grinch since I had not made sugar cookies with the kids ; ) Let it be known that Christmas was saved by my mother, who provided the necessary supplies so our children will not be scarred for life:

There was no fireplace this year but this table was a nice cozy spot that worked out quite well for stockings. As I'm thinking about what we've done for stockings in the past, it dawned on me that almost every year we've spent Christmas in a new house. Check back next year for a glimpse of our current house - or maybe we'll break tradition and stay put for a bit:

After the kids were asleep, I admired the tree by taking pictures at various angles:

So tall and sparkly:

Next was Christmas morning- I was very excited to see the kids reactions. After J opened her first gift, she wasn't particularly interested in opening more. At that moment, I remembered last year when I thought to myself "we totally only need to get the kids one gift." Not that we had a million things but I truly think they would have been similarly content with less. M was excited about his climbing shoes and most excited about the gift that Santa had brought early; a new pair of skis. J got a rock climbing harness and the first thing M said was "we can share!" His remark was pretty cute and exactly what we were aiming for when we put J's name on it:

J was very focused on her new toys below. M had requested a bob the builder set and although his response of "it's not the full set" was quite a let down from last years response to every single gift of, "it's exactly what I wanted!" he seemed pretty happy once he started playing:

Erik's dreams of another semester of woodworking (my gift to him) and this ski jacket (courtesy of my parents) came true:

We loved having grandma and grandpa at our house! Grandpa even let us use his new Christmas present, a miter saw, to work on a little project.

I really enjoyed Christmas this year and it was sad to see the tree go when January came. Who knows, maybe this will be the year where we stay in a house for 2 Christmases. If so, maybe we'll do a repeat of another tall tree. We managed to transport the tree with help all the way from Idaho to Orem but after it was up, I never could figure out how it ever fit on top of our car! If we do it again next year, I'm taking pictures! Merry Christmas!