Countdown to Christmas 2014

I flew home from Pinehurst early on Friday morning, December 12,

and that evening we watched Eva and Sophie so Devin and Sarah could attend Devin's work Christmas party. 

 We took them to their favorite restaurant, 

Chick Fil-A for dinner. 

You got to love the cow hats,

and the free ice cream at Chick-Fil-A.

On Saturday morning it was our ward Christmas party.

The last few years we've had a brunch complete 

with a dance band and a visit from Santa Claus.

On Monday, I had my piano recital.  

I always take my students to an assisted living facility 

to play for the residents.

It is always a good experience for both the residents 

and the performers.

It is so fun having Eva as a piano student this year.

This was her first Christmas piano recital.

The following Friday I was able to attend the Hidden Springs Elementary School Kindergarten and 1st grade Christmas program.

 

It was a cute program all about Santa in the old west.

Taylor drove home from BYU on Friday and Whitney 

flew home on Saturday, December 20

so we waited to decorate the tree

until they got home.

Eva and Sophie came over and helped us decorate.

Sarah brought some cute Christmas crafts for 

Whitney and Eva to work on once the tree was decorated.

The finished product!

On Sunday, December 21, we celebrated Christmas 

with Devin's family since they were headed to 

Las Vegas to spend Christmas with Sarah's family this year.

We invited Charlie and Lucille to join us 

for a Christmas ham dinner.

Kind of a creepy picture of Taylor.

We opened all of the presents from and to Devin's family 

after the dinner.

Whitney made these cute aprons for all the nieces and nephews,

and then Eva and Sophie entertained us with a 

special Christmas song and dance.

On Monday, December 22, we invited all of the 

Gabrielsen cousins over for a family Christmas party.

We had a delicious baked potato bar with all the toppings,

We are all wearing our "elf" name tags.

After dinner we had a white elephant gift exchange.

It was pretty crazy!

Aaron ended up with the "dancing lion" slippers.

One of my favorite things about Christmas is receiving Christmas cards.

I had to take a picture of all the beautiful cards we received this year.

I love hearing from all our family and friends,

especially during the holidays.

 

 

We finally made it to Christmas Eve and in keeping with our tradition of doing a
"Christmas Around the world" dinner, we chose Spain.

We made these delicious "tapas", grilled apples 

wrapped in prosciutto, drizzled with maple syrup.

They were yummy.

We also had "top your own pizza",  a Christmas pomegranate salad,

and churros for dessert.

 

I thought this was a cute picture of Whitney and Taylor

under the tree on Christmas Eve.

After dinner, we watched some of the LDS.org Christmas messages, and 

had a devotional and then did our Secret Santa business.

We were surprised by a "horn" trio of our neighbors who came carolling.

It was awesome.

I didn't get a very good picture of them because it was so dark on our doorstep.

We also made Christmas cookies on Christmas Eve,

you have to have cookies for Santa.

Christmas morning we woke up to new fallen snow.

After opening all of our presents and a delicious Aebleskiver Christmas brunch,
we took a walk on the greenbelt along the Boise river.
It was a bright, sunny, day, but a chilly 20 degrees.

That evening we drove out to Charlie and Lucille's to wish them a
Happy Christmas, as the English say.
We brought all of our Christmas leftovers to eat for dinner, it was delicious.

We had a wonderful Christmas.

It was so fun being with Whitney and Taylor.

I love my family and I'm so thankful for the 

times we can spend together.

I am most thankful for our Savior, Jesus Christ, 

and his #gift to the world

What a blessing it is to celebrate his birth!