The Best of the Season...

Some of what we've been up to this season...

We visited Temple Square early on in December.  TEC had just settled into his new office space across the street.  We're adjusting to the positives and negatives of the move, but it's pretty neat to be able to see the lights from his office window.

Gingerbread cookies found their place amidst our holiday busyness.  It's great how kids pick up on things we've done in previous years and help establish them as special traditions.

 And here was the kindergarten gingerbread house that SCC made (carefully pieced together for this photo after taking a tumble on the way home from school and then quickly devoured thereafter).

I took the 3 oldest kids skiing--all by myself, I must add.  We're hoping next time to move beyond the rope tow, although I'll probably need a few extra adult hands for that endeavor.

TEC and I were able to attend the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert with some friends.

We chopped down our very own Christmas tree again this year.  Hauled it all the way across the driveway to our house!

The kids performed well with their classes at the Rosecrest Holiday Sing Around.

Christmas Eve at Grammie's.  RVC performed "I Saw Three Ships" with some accompaniment from mom, TLC (dulcimer), SCC (glockenspiel), and CAC (F chime).

Meanwhile, little MEC learned how to clap.

The cousins all looked great in their costumes for the reading/singing of the Nativity story.

 And later in their Christmas jammies...

Christmas was a bit different this year, falling on a Sunday.  We had our Christmas morning...

Then we took a break and went to Sacrament Meeting at 11:00.  TEC spoke in our Sacrament meeting and did a great job.  The messages shared were a great reminder of why we make time for the Sacrament, especially on Christmas.

We spent a nice Christmas afternoon with my family before heading up to the cabin for a few days.  Games, lazy mornings, too many treats, homemade soda, 28(?) people, 7 dogs!  It was excitement all around.  I managed to be a bit anti-social in my attempt to finish reading Hunger Games. 

And, of course, even the little bit of snow allowed for lots of great sledding.  It was prrrrretty fast, I must say.

This week I've been doing my best to recover from the Christmas day cheer that was strung all over the house.  I successfully disappointed TEC by taking down the tree before New Years, as well.  There's just something about closing up the year--I guess I get a bit anxious to put it all away and somehow feel like I'm making a fresh start in more ways than one.  So, with boxes and bins stored away for another year, we look forward to 2012.