christmas eve.

christmas eve was spent with my family this past year and we did our usual traditions.  my parents usually rent a stretch limo for the night, this year it was a stretch hummer, (fancy shmancy) and we drive around the valley looking at all the lights.  we always make a pit stop at the mesa temple to see all the beautiful lights and displays.  it really seems to put us in the true spirit of christmas when so many other things are on the mind...(santa, presents, kids, candy, etc.) but really it's all about the birth of christ and i'm glad we are reminded of that especially on christmas eve.  and the temple is such a special place to be.

after we driving around some more and checking out all the pretty houses all lit up, we made our way back to my parents where my dad reads the annual story of twas the night before christmas while we all sip on hot chocolate.  then we hurry home to get all showered up and jammied up in new christmas jammies that our elf, charlie red, leaves for the kids.  they look forward to this every year.  once we leave reindeer food in the front lawn and a plate of some very sugary cookies with milk for santa, its off to bed.  after all the giggles stop and the kids slip off to dreamland its now finally time for santa to come and do his thing.  it was a perfect christmas eve.

caroling, hot chocolate, donuts, santa, etc.

^^^not sure why jack looks so grumpy here...^^^

^^^but this donut sure seemed to cheer him up.^^^

^^^another donut lover with some of the best eyelashes around.^^^

^^^i'm pretty sure eden believed that this was the real santa. she did't want to let him out of her sight.^^^

we continued the annual breinholt tradition this year with a monday night filled with caroling through neighborhoods aboard a hayride followed by hot chocolate and donuts.  (and lets not forgot conversations with santa claus.  eden spent a good ten minutes talking santa's ear off.)  my children look forward to this night every christmas season.  they get all bundled up and cozy up with their cousins as they bring christmas cheer to so many.  it really is a feel good experience and i'm thankful for jason's side of the family for all their efforts to put this thing together each and every year.  i know my kids will remember this tradition for like ever.  we heart christmas time.

decorating the tree.

with the thanksgiving being so late this year and with family coming in town and traveling to mexico for turkey day, we decided to get the tree up and decorated before the holiday weekend. this was only after my kids begged me for like a week straight the to hang ornaments and i caved.

it was quite an event at the breinholt home (as most things are).  we had the christmas music playing, ornaments strung out everywhere and kids fighting about who gets to hang which ornament.  it wouldn't be the same if they were all getting along :)  jonah was was very in to the tree trimming this year.  he wanted to hang every ornament on the same branch and would get frustrated when they all didn't fit.  and then when we ran out of ornaments, he would just take them off and start all over again.  he's the funniest kid.

after all the decorating was done, we had a tree that was fully decorated minus the top third which was completely bare since none of the tiny arms could reach that high.  usually this bothers me, but no this year.  i think being in nursing school and stressed out about that all the time has let me be less stressed about little things like not having our tree evenly decorated.  this could be a good thing :)

new year's day break-feast.

instead of having a new year's day dinner, we decided to have a new year's day breakfast.  i like this idea way better since breakfast is my most favorite meal.  i can't believe 2013 is here!  we like to take this time and talk about goals and what we want to do this year to better ourselves and each other.  well, i think we all came to the table a little unprepared.  everyone was a little stumped when it came to their turn to share a few things they wanted to do better this year.  for the most part, the kids all agreed that they wanted to be nicer to each other and listen better to mom and dad.  we will see how that goes.  then jason and i shared a few things but we both realized that we need to write them down and add a few more to the list.  i feel like this new year snuck up on us a little bit but we are ready for it.  it's always nice to have a fresh start and a yummy breakfast fully equipped with party hats and horns left over from the night.  although, our ears were hurting by the end of the meal from some horn blowing kids, it was a great way to kick off  2013.  happy new year!

decorating the tree.

our sunday night was spent looking at ornaments from the past. listening to christmas music, and making our tree beautiful.  it seems like every year, the same lower half of the tree always gets saturated with ornaments (for obvious reasons).  that's okay though, because when they aren't looking, my job is to move them to no man's land (aka the top half of the tree).   but they always seem so accomplished when it's all done.  jack and eden both helped out with the star this year...but jason had to help get it to the very top.  i have also noticed that jonah is very interested in playing with the ornaments on the lower part of the tree.  i may to have to watch that one a little closer this year.  ho, ho, ho.