Perfect Timing

How great is it that the MS truck is coming tomorrow morning? Everyone is a little more willing to part with their junk now that they've got some shiny new toys to play with!

We had a fun week-before-Christmas mainly because for once most of my shopping was done in advance. Remind me to do that again next year.
We ventured to our capitol city for a trip to the Planetarium. We walked on the moon.

And we found strange life on Mars.

Then we went to Temple Square for the annual cold walk. We also had a chance to wish Joseph Smith a pleasant birthday and give him a foot massage.

We also enjoyed a trip to the bookstore and a fancy restaurant courtesy of the grandparents. ('fancy' meaning there was no playland and a tip was expected. I was hoping that by calling the place fancy my kids would behave like it was fancy. Unfortunately we will always still feel the need to crawl under tables and dump salt and pepper shakers no matter the locale.)
We visited some relatives, went sledding, had our traditional Christmas Eve pizza and lit candles at the cemetery.  Finally the big day arrived and there was much happiness in the land.  Again, this Christmas was mainly sponsored by the LEGO company. (props to Hub who has the patience to help the younger two boys put their sets together)(but lets go ahead and give me props too for helping Ike do a big boy puzzle. I hate puzzles over 25 pieces.....)

 We'll go ahead and also thank the Disney Princess franchise for coming in a close second and providing lots of things pink this year. (Syd is holding out her sucker stick for me to throw away. Yes, that was her breakfast.)

We've had a wonderful Holiday season with lots of fun activities combined with celebrating the true meaning of Christmas.  I hope yours has been just as enjoyable. Merry Christmas a day late!