Pre-Christmas Activities

I didn't realize all the activities we did until I went through all my pictures. We jammed packed a lot of fun into the week before Christmas. 

(This picture took 15 minutes to get...)

We went to look at Christmas lights, one of my favorite things to do.

I take all my pictures on my phone, and I let Ellie take pictures on the camera. She loves it.

My handsome boys and beautiful little girl.

Had to get one of Tristan's jacket. 

We built gingerbread houses.

Segers

McIntyres

They're seriously the sweetest family!

I love this picture that I snapped without anyone knowing.

Haha, I love our makeshift gingerbread house. There are several reasons for this:

(1) I'm too cheap to buy the kit.

(2) I think graham cracker tastes better.

(3) I think the frosting tastes better.

(4) I picked out our own candy (m&ms) which also tastes better.

Ultimately, it came down to taste and cheapness. That about sums me up as a person.

We also went Christmas caroling around the neighborhood with these wonderful people!

Then came back for warm apple cider and cookies.

It was super fun, actually. Alec had his guitar so we were legit. 

One house liked us so much they took some pictures. (Low quality pictures, unfortunately). 

I think people were pretty surprised by us, but in a good way. It was so fun to spread Christmas cheer. 

Ellie was belting "jingle bells" as we walked around the neighborhood.

My little brother, Mickey, flew into California from BYU to spend his Christmas break with us. He's awesome, and I consider it a great gift to myself having him here with us. There are countless reasons why I enjoy having him around but one being he's awesome with my children. He can play with them for hours. 

When we went to pick up my little brother in Oakland, we got to spend the day with my older brother, Andrew, as well (he lives there). It was so fun. We got lunch and he walked us around his city.

The weather was beautiful.

We went to the lake that Andrew lives right next to.

He bikes and jogs around the whole thing often, it was cool to see it in person.

We did the nativity. And sang Silent Night. It was great to refocus and remember what Christmas is really about.

I think Ellie and Allye were shepherds. And Caleb was a very big, and non-cooreperative baby Jesus. 

Tristan was the narrator. He's the best.

And here's some of Mickey with his niece and nephew. Haha.

We spent our Christmas is Southern California with my side of the family and had a blast! 

A post on that coming up shortly (hopefully).