Merry Christmas! (two weeks late...)

The whole Allen clan was in town, and the kids were so excited to spend this special time with their aunts and uncles and cousins.

The Allen family has a tradition of eating Christmas Eve breakfast at Market Street Grill, so we were there bright and early for some delicious eats:

And then we all went home to shower and get dressed for a family picture. It wouldn't be an Allen family gathering without an attempt at a group photo, and I thought this one turned out very well!:

We went down to Provo to visit with our dear Great-grandpa Yarn, and have a Christmas devotional:

And then headed home to open our special Christmas Eve present-- new pajamas for everyone!:

We went to bed nice and early, and awaited Santa's arrival. Each of the kids got a new toy, a dress-up costume, and a stack of books/DVDs:

London's

Siena's

Chelsea's

and Brighton's

Did he come?

Yes, he did!

After a breakfast of cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate,

And some more playing with new toys,

Grandpa, Grandma, Uncle Matt and Aunt Emily came and we exchanged some gifts:

What a wonderful morning

We got so many fabulous gifts this year-- our family really spoiled us! And here is a special gift from Aunt Lillian, new silhouettes of our whole family. Aren't they beautiful?

After a lazy day of lounging in our pjs, we went and had Christmas dinner at Grandma and Grandpa Allen's and celebrated Ellery's 8th birthday:

Another wonderful Christmas

Girl's Night Out

Last night Chelsea and I had the opportunity to see Ballet West's production of the Nutcracker, thanks to the thoughtfulness and generosity of Aunt Suzie and Uncle Greg. They had a couple of extra tickets, and were so sweet to think of us!

Just before leaving

It was perfect for Chelsea because she is very familiar with the story and the music, and I had never seen her so entranced by a performance. The dancers were magical!

She picked out a Snow Queen figurine to remember the evening

And one last picture with the giant Nutcracker

We had such a lovely time, and I think this is going to have to become an annual tradition. Maybe Siena will be old enough to join us next year!

Another Monkey Hat

And doesn't it just go so well with the princess dress?

Some more random things...

London is sitting up on her own now. Love it when they pass that lump-on-the-floor phase. She is much happier and more content to be able to look around:

I got a fun pattern for a sock monkey hat because I wanted to make them for all of my little monkeys. And then Brighton informed me that he was probably too old to be wearing an animal hat. But you've got to admit, it's pretty darn cute:

Being the germ-a-phobe I am, I am pretty proud of my teacher/neighbor/co-worker/visiting teacher gifts this year:

Christmas tissues, hand sanitizer, and Vitamin C drops

All with a tag wishing them a very healthy Christmas!

Random happenings from the last week

London started drinking out of a sippy cup by herself last week. Although it probably isn't worth mentioning to everyone else, we think it's pretty cute.

We decorated gingerbread houses. This year we had one for each kid so that they wouldn't fight over what goes where:

It was fun to see their individuality and creativity come out. I especially love Brighton's thatched roof made out of Chex:

From left to right, Chelsea's Brighton's and Siena's (with a little help from me)

Some random pictures of kids in Christmas sweaters. I still need to take some of London and Chelsea...:

And last Saturday our cute babysitter Allie, who is a fabulous dancer, invited the girls to come and watch her big Christmas recital:

I wish I had gotten a better picture, but there she is in the middle with her long, long hair

The girls loved it!

Christmas Outfits

Anyone who knows me knows that I have this ridiculous obsession with coordinating my kids outfits, especially for church, and ESPECIALLY for holidays. Well, I was pretty excited when I found these darling outfits on the clearance rack at Janie and Jack after Christmas last year. By then we already knew we were expecting a girl, so I was able to get one for London as well.

So I had to get a picture of the four of them before church. Thank goodness Dad was there to make them laugh.

Every Christmas tree you could imagine

The Festival of Trees is held right by Justin's office, so we met up with him after work to check it out yesterday. There are so many beautifully decorated trees there that it is almost overwhelming, but it sure gets you in that Christmas spirit.

This was Chelsea and Siena's favorite, a Wizard of Oz-themed tree

There were literally hundreds of trees

A rare picture of our four kids together

And I just had to add this picture-- only a baby could wear a head-to-toe sweater and look perfectly adorable!

It's Christmas at our house

I love how cozy and festive our house looks at this time of year. Last Christmas we went with a more minimalist approach because I had really awful morning sickness and it was the most I could do to get our tree out. And next year I'll have to keep the glass ornaments in storage since I'll have a toddler around. That's probably why I went a little over-board this year... but hey, you can't ever have too much glitter and glitz at Christmas, right?

I love to get a sniff of that wreath every time I open the front door

I bling-ed out the chandelier in our entry

Our family room

Our front room

We added a stocking for London this year

I LOVE this advent calendar that Grandma Allen gave us this year. Each of these darling envelopes has a card in it with a scripture that leads up to the Savior's birth

The one tree that the kids get to decorate all by themselves without any help from me. It has all of their hand-made ornaments on it. As hard as it is for me, I do not adjust or move a single one :)

It is always a treat when we pull out the Little People Nativity and our collection of Christmas books

I love that it makes the kids so happy

It will be sad to have to take it all down in January