Christmas 2013

Here's a look back at our Christmas Day...

Our Christmas Day was FULL going from one family to the other, but we really enjoyed being able to spend time with the ones we love most.

9:00 p.m. Christmas Eve

Setting out cookies for Santa.

Writing our letter to Santa so he wouldn't

forget what to leave. 

Opening one present before going to bed. 

New Christmas jammies and a family game. 

10:30 p.m. Christmas Eve

Santa arrives and gets everything ready for morning.

8:00 a.m. Christmas Morning

Mom and Dad can't wait any longer and

decide to wake Kyler up.

8:02 a.m

Kyler checking out what Santa left him. 

8:15 a.m.

Kyler and Dora opening presents.



 8:45 a.m.

Kyler testing out his new ski's in the backyard.

10:00 a.m.

Arrived at grandma and grandpa's house for

 a yummy Christmas breakfast.

  

11:00 a.m.

Opening presents. Kyler was so excited with the robot

that grandma and grandpa gave him. I was

excited to give my parents a scrapbook of my brother's mission

that I had put together. 

1:00 p.m.

The most anticipated and exciting part of Christmas

for me was getting to Skype with my little brother.

He has been out on his mission for a year and it was so good getting to see him and hear his voice.

By the looks of all of our faces, I think this was the favorite part of the day for most of us:))

3:00 p.m.

We gathered together with Jason's family for a

yummy turkey dinner and to exchange gifts. 

9:00 pm.

We arrived back home feeling very loved and blessed.



Merry Christmas!!!

May your Days be Merry & Bright.

xoxo

The Cook Family

Leading up to the BIG day...

No Christmas Season would be complete without

attending some family parties.

 

Our first party is always with my mom's side.

Growing up we got together weekly as a family.

My best friends growing up were my cousins. I have many memories

that include these people.

My sweet grandma Donna is one of the most

 loving, generous, and thoughtful

people I know.

 

 Our next family party was with the Grover's.

(Shirley's family)

This party is always high energy and full of laughs.

They defiantly know how to have fun.

This year Shirley planned a bunch of Minute to Win it games that kept us

all entertained and laughing.

 The last two nights were spent at the Walker Party and Cook Party.

(Pictures are still on my camera and it's too late to upload them)

Once again we enjoyed visiting with family and eating way too much food.

 

 

No Christmas Season is complete until we have made a gingerbread house or in our

case graham crackers hot glued to a box.

Kyler loves doing projects, so he was thrilled to be making a house

using candy and frosting.



 

 

We have had a wonderful Christmas Season and can't wait for all

of the excitement and joy that tomorrow will bring.



Our Time...

I love living close to both sides of our families.

But sometimes, especially during the holidays,

it can be hard to attend every party, share time equally, and

keep everyone happy:))

That being said I feel the need to create our own traditions and

memories with my own little family.

Yesterday was the Sunday before Christmas and the

perfect day to plan some special time with my family.

This Christmas Season has been such a whirlwind and I feel like we haven't focused

on the true meaning as much as we should.

We enjoyed a beautiful Christmas program at church.

Kyler decided to be stubborn and not sing with the primary children which was

 a bit disappointing. He also decided he didn't like his

new church clothes and had a major melt down when I made him wear them.



After church I worked on making a special "pre-Christmas" meal.

We enjoyed turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole, rolls, and fruit cocktail.

After dinner we watched a few Mormon messages on LDS.org and

read through this beautiful picture book.

I would recommend adding it to your Christmas collection.

It has beautiful pictures and it tells the story of the Savior's birth.

(You can pick a copy up at Seagull book for $9.99)



 To finish off our night we went and looked at the nativities at the temple and tabernacle.

I LOVE how beautiful and simple the one is in front of the temple.

I hope that we all can put "Christ" into Christmas

and remember the reason for the season.