Christmas Eve & Christmas Day

We had a busy Christmas Eve. We went to Grandma and Grandpa's house for lunch. Grandma fixed a yummy lunch and Grandpa had us make fun mini pies with his new pie maker. We enjoyed visiting with them and talking about all the things we were hoping Santa would be bringing us. The big kids and Dad went to see the movie Arthur's Christmas. They all enjoyed it. We had been invited for Christmas Eve dinner by the Merchant family. They had prepared an amazing dinner and we all enjoyed the food and company. The kids especially loved being able to act out the Nativity with another family. (Levi didn't care to get dressed up or do any acting. Oh well, maybe next year.) After stuffing ourselves with delicious food, we headed home to prepare for Santa's arrival. We put out the cookies and milk, opened one gift (a new scent for their Scentsy Buddy) and then the kids went off to bed. Spencer and Benjamin woke up first on Christmas Day. They made sure that it was an okay time (6:30am) with mom and dad and then went and woke up the other kids. Our dad always has to go down first to make sure Santa has come. The kids wait on the stairs until dad says they can come and see what Santa has brought them. They all seemed to have been on Santa's "Nice" list. After opening presents and playing with all their new toys, we got ready and went to church. Grandma and Grandpa came over in the evening to see what everyone had got. It was a wonderful Christmas!!

Merry Christmas 2011

The Smith family wishes you all a very MERRY and BRIGHT Christmas!

December Festivities

Our December has been jam-packed full of fun festivities. (warning: some pictures were taken with nathan's iPhone) We drove to Wendell the first Saturday of the month to celebrate Great-Grandma Smith's 91st Birthday. We love celebrating her and getting to see many of the extended Smith family. It was especially nice this year as Grandma has finished the first 28 years of her personal history and published it in a beautiful book which she gave to us. It has been so fun reading about her! Thank you, Grandma!! After celebrating, we came back to Boise to get a live tree for our front room and a wreath for our front door. Nathan "fixed-up" the wreath beautifully!! I love it! A very popular family tradition is getting a new ornament each year. The cute kids made ornaments with Nathan one night while I went to a Relief Society Christmas party. We had several Christmas Music Programs. First was Sarah's Choir tour to the Capitol. Then she has a Choir and Orchestra concert at school. Benjamin had a Christmas program at his preschool and did a great job! Here he is singing "Jingle Bells". Here he is with his wonderful teacher, Miss April. Spencer had a wonderful Christmas program all about the colors of Christmas. Nathan hosted about a bazillion parties for work. This one was at the barn. He made it look pretty amazing! Nathan was asked to be "The Conductor" from The Polar Express for our Ward Christmas party. He did a wonderful job! Another favorite tradition with our cute kids is getting new pajamas that they can wear all season long. Aunt Katie, Uncle Rob and family sent us a very fun package. Thank you!! Sarah did an adventurous Random Act of Service for her classmates at 6:30am one morning. We went to the Barn once again for our Annual Christmas picture. We got Benjamin wrapped took a few candid pictures like this one and then the fuse blew out. I'm so glad that we got at least a few good ones. We took our letters to Santa. He took a lot of time visiting with our kids to make sure he knew what they had written on their lists. Levi only liked Santa from a distance this year. Our Dad won these at one of the many white elephant gift exchanges that he had. The month isn't over yet...and we anticipate many more festivities coming our way so check back in a few days!!!