We had such an amazing Christmas break in Washington this year! We try to go out to my parents every other year for Christmas and this year everyone was home except Sarah and her kids. We had a house full but it was a lot of fun! We had about 25 people there in total. I absolutely love our family and love that we all get along so well. My sisters and mother are my best friend and I love spending time with them. It was a perfect couple of weeks to spend time with everyone! We had a calendar of our days planned out everyday but it was nice because there was usually only 1 or 2 things each day, so there was organization but you didn't feel like you were super busy all day. There was plenty of relaxing, game playing and movie watching. Spencer actually got a longer break this year so we went up early and spent an extra week or so before everyone else got there. This was nice for Charley and Bergen to get familiar with Gramma B and Bart's house before it got too crazy. My mom and dad are super easy going and relaxed and this makes it really fun and easy to be home. They are very generous as well and planned some fun activities for everyone which was super thoughtful. We also decided that each family would take a night to prepare a dinner and a morning to prepare a breakfast. This was fun to see what everyone else made and made it easier on my mom so she wasn't in the kitchen non-stop. On our night we made sushi which was a lot of fun!!
So we first landed in Seattle and my wonderful sister picked us up form the airport. We spent the night with her and then planned on getting a ride home from my parents who were also flying in from Denver. Their plane was delayed for the night because of snow so Rachelle and I went to their 5th Avenue play, The Little Mermaid. It was cute! We also went to eat lunch at this yummy salad place. That night we went to Costco for them and had TWO huge carts full of food to take to my parents house! We loaded up on the food! My parents landed around midnight, got to Rachelle's at 1am and then we all woke up at 4am to drive to my parents house! It was an early morning but our girls were actually still on East Coast time so that is when they woke up anyway!
It was soo nice to be home! I absolutely love coming home and being in the mountains for a few weeks. It's always nice to get away from the city life. Charley was most excited about seeing the stars and moon! You can really only see about 2 stars in NY and my parents house is so secluded that you can see the whole night sky full of stars! It's amazing. There was snow on the ground and the girls loved sledding and being outside! Bergen constantly wanted to be outside in the snow. Our branch had a Christmas get-together where we had dinner, a white elephant gift exchange and the kids acted out the nativity. Charley and her cousin Leatham were the angels. Also one night before everyone arrive, I surprised Spencer with a getaway night up at Sun Mountain. I told him we were just going up to have dinner and then after a yummy dinner, I told him we were actually staying there for the night! He was very surprised! I had packed our bags, a bathing suit and even his computer since he had told me earlier he had a call in the morning he had to take. It was such a nice and relaxing night! The rooms don't have TV's which is kind of nice so after dinner we went hot-tubbing and then just went back to the cabin to relax. The next morning we had breakfast up at the lodge and then went back to my parents house. I am sooo glad that we were able to get away for the night and thankful my parents could watch the girls.
One of the first activities we did was take the kids on a horse ride. Charley loved it and Bergen.. not so much. Charley and Koen got on the horse, Jesse, together and we took the kids down and up the driveway. They had a lot of fun. After Bergen woke up from her nap, we tried to take her but she didn't want to. So I sat on the horse with her for a bit.
Christmas Eve was a lot of fun. We laid out 4 huge mattress in the living room and let anyone that wanted to sleep out in there. I think it was actually my first time NOT sleeping in the living room. There were just too many kids this year! So we let all the kids sleep out in the living room and the parents still slept in their bed. Which made for a much better nights sleep but I was still a little sad not to be able to sleep out in the living room. Before bed my Dad read the birth of Jesus in Luke and my Mom read the Polar Express. Then we all went downstairs and watched Little One. It's a cute movie about the donkey who ends up taking Mary into Bethlehem. We also opened our sister/brother exchange gifts and all the cousins did a cousin exchange so we watch all the kids open presents from each other. We also got them Christmas pajamas to be able to wear that night. Then we set out a plate of cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer and went to bed.
This year it was a lot of fun watching the girls un-wrap their presents. Charley had asked Santa for a watch for Christmas. She was excited Christmas morning to see a watch in her stocking! We did very simple and not a lot of presents this year. I think it has to do with the fact that we just don't have a lot of space in our apartment. I am always thinking about that when I buy things which is nice because we don't have a lot of clutter. So Santa just brought them each one thing and a Christmas dress and then we got them 3 other presents to open, one being a book. It was a perfect amount and they weren't loaded with so many toys that they didn't know which one to play with. My parents and Spencer's parents also got them something so they were in heaven!
Charley loved being with my parents! I loved that she enjoyed being with them and wasn't shy. I think she warmed up to Bart super quick compared to previous years and loved having him hold her, which he LOVED! :)
One gift my parents got our family was a day of snowmobiling! It was so much fun. The girls really liked sledding behind the snowmobile too. We had a great system where 4 couples went out in the morning and then for 2 hours we brought all the kids and gave them turns and then then next 4 couples went out in the afternoon without kids. Spencer and I went out in the afternoon and it was so fun! There are a lot of backroads that you can take. We did have a few machine issues and one ran out of gas, but that made it exciting anyway. It's just fun to go fast and cruise on those things!! We also brought out hot chocolate and donuts for everyone to share between rides. We made a fire in the parking lot too which kept us warm. It was a perfect activity for everyone!
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