Christmas 2011

Christmas Eve:

We were on our own tonight, free to celebrate and enjoy the evening. We decided that a movie was the perfect way to spend it. Since we all had to agree, we decided on Tintin. Turned out to be a cute movie with great animation style. Afterwards we had dinner at Pasta Cucina, (in Aliante Station where the theatre is as well), and our meal was quite tasty. The night was growing late and the kids were anxious to open their one gift, so we headed home.

Of all the gifts nestled under the tree, they both surprisingly (not) opened their traditional Christmas Eve pajamas and soon were off to bed where visions of sugarplums most definately danced in their heads!!

Christmas Morning:

Santa was definately here!! Lauren and Jace raced down the stairs to find that their Christmas list had materialized in front of the tree. Lauren was pleased to see a beach cruiser, new clothes and a speaker dock for her itouch among her gifts. Jace awed at his electric scooter, Hero Factory, and Wii games among his gifts.

Christmas fell on a Sunday this year, so after opening gifts, we had to briskly ready ourselves for church at 9am. Our sacrament meeting was filled with the spirit of Christmas as the choir and congregation sang Christmas songs. After, Grandma and Grandpa Robb came by to visit.

Since Christmas was on a Sunday, we didn't have our traditional Nelson family lunch out. Instead we did a progressive lunch, which included some kind of food or drink at each family members home. All together we made six stops!! Our house was first and we served an appetizer of chips, salsa, nacho cheese, mini tacos, taquitos and burritos.

Our final stop was Grandma and Grandpa Nelson's where we all got spoiled!!

On our way home we made one last visit to the Minty & Micah's so the kids could exchange gifts. We chatted with them for a bit, then were homeward bound.

Christmas was a loooong day, but a wonderful one spent with family. My hope is that someday Lauren and Jace will look back fondly on these experiences and that these childhood memories will contribute to their Christmas spirit and joy as adults.

The End