Christmas Eve 2010

A party just wouldn't be a party without a little Minute-to-win-it Christmas style! We had a jolley old time laughing at the chaos and stupidity of it all. Even the kids get into it...

Santa stopped by to hand out the pajamas. There were a TON of kids and after about the 13th name being called little miss Caymbree began to worry that all my threats of her being on the naughty list may in fact be true! Finally, her name was called. She could barely contain her relief.

Dinner. Games. Santa. Pajamas and now.....da da da dum.....It's picture time!




And then we hop in the car and make the 1hr and 40 minute drive back home to Riverton. It's late and cold but oh so worth it. After all, Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas if you can't share it with family.

SNOW DAY!

The timing was perfect. It just so happened that a giant snow storm hit the day before Troy and the girls both had school and work off. I swear the girls practically slept in their snow clothes they were so excited. First thing in the morning they hit the snow! After shoveling us out they headed to the park. FOUR hours later I wondered if they had turned into ice.

Traditions

I LOVE Christmas! I love the twinkling Christmas lights, the sounds and smells, and most of all the traditions!

Each year we usually do the store bought gingerbread house kit. This year I found a cute little kit that gave you enough supplies to do FIVE houses. How perfect is that! Um...apparently I didn't look at the fine print. Each house was about 1 inch high and 1 inch wide. Not exactly what I was expecting but the kids didn't seem to care.

We also started a new tradition this year after the idea was given to me in Relief Society lesson. Early in the month we had a FHE lesson talking about who's birthday we were about to celebrate. We also talked about how interesting it is that for Christ's birthday WE are the one's that receive presents. The only way that would make sense is that if we started a new rule that on your birthday EVERYBODY else gets gifts except for you. After all, that's what we do for His birthday. The kids didn't like that idea. So we came up with a solution. This year we would each give Christ a gift. I wrapped up a box and made a tag

{ To: Our Savior. Love, The Hodges}

Each of us then wrote on a piece of paper our gift. Things like "be nice to my sisters." "Not argue with my mom" "Take time to appreciate the season"....
The plan was (but let's face it. I forgot). Anyway, the idea is that on Christmas day after the kids have opened all their presents and experience the joy and excitement of receiving their gifts you then open up THE gift and have everybody read their gift to Christ. You can talk about how they felt when they opened up their presents and explain how Christ must feel when he received ours.

It was a wonderful idea and I can't wait to carry this tradition on with our family as we put Christ at the center of the season.

The month of December is the ONE time of the year that I actually can't wait to get the mail. I LOVE LOVE LOVE getting Christmas cards and seeing all of your cute families grow each year. Thanks to this cute Santa (a present from a friend) we now keep and store each and every card. One of our favorite things is to pull out all the pictures and see the changes in each family from year to year. So fun! So thanks for the cards. We love them!

Another favorite Christmas tradition is our yummy Christmas morning breakfast...sausage egg casserole and breakfast cake! Oh so good and oh so many memories.

And quite possibly my favorite tradition is our Live and Learn books that we do with my dad's side of the family. Every November each family member turns in a scrapbook page detailing the lessons they have learned that year. We then color copy every one's page and on Christmas Eve each family is presented with a copy of the Family Live and Learn. It is priceless! What an amazing family history and perfect way to reflect on the year.

Winter Wonderland

Thanksgiving weekend provided the perfect opportunity for fun in the SNOW! The kids where in heaven and didn't mind the cold at all! (I however enjoyed the view from inside the cozy house).

The pond froze over creating the perfect ice rink. Unfortunately, none of us have ice skates. Time to invest!

And no snow day would be complete without a nice cup of hot chocolate to go with it!

Shop till you Drop

A lot goes into Black Friday shopping. Prepare. Plan. Prepare some more (lots of diet coke and sugar). Then ATTACK...ATTACK...ATTACK!!! The crew heading out the door at 10:40pm. I still can't believe my mom backed out this year. First time ever!!! She missed out on a rip roaring good time. And just to give you a little idea we left around 11 and didn't make it home until 8am. Walmart sale started at midnight. Next stop. Kohls. 3am. Hmmm....2 1/2 hours to kill. Decided to go somewhere for late late night dinner/early breakfast and failed miserably. After driving from one end of the town to the other trying to find a 24 hour restaurant and finding NOTHING we ended up at a truck stop on the west side of town. Hot chocolate and stale donuts would have to do. As an added bonus we could have even had a free shower!

We laughed until our guts hurt as we desperately tried to keep our eyes open. Finally, it was time. Time to put on the game face!

We would describe this year as the luck of all lucks! The shopping fairies were with us! Too much to get into all the details but a small recap {the lady at Walmart price matching all of our stuff to Target while the group right next to us was out right DENIED a Target price match! Deciding not to wait in 12 degree weather in the Kohls line and just see what was left once people get in the doors ONLY to discover the Bed Bath and Beyond (right next door) offered EVERYTHING we needed and would price match the item AND give us an additional 30% off!! Holy SCORE OF ALL SCORES!! No lines. No wait. And screaming deals!

We also hit a few more stops before heading home. About a block away from my parents house our car ended up acting funny and we literally had to coast home. Next morning the car had to be towed and we received a nice little bill. Happy Thanksgiving to us! However, we still feel pretty lucky that it happened when it did. I would have hated to be stranded in town at 2am with 11 degree temperatures. I even documented it for proof.


I'm telling you, you haven't experience Black Friday until you have shopped with us! Open invitation to all.

Happy Birthday Hopers!

For Hope's BIG 6 birthday we took our little family to Classic Skating for a rip roaring evening of fun. It was a blast. On her wish list.... smashing a cupcake in her face. Ok. Done deal. One of the things we love most about Hope is her passion for life. She never disappoints in showing her excitement for her gifts. A few of her favorites were a gigantic pink diamond {ya know the ones at the check out stand at Hobby Lobby that you wonder who in the world actually buys them?} a scooter, and a cute balerina piggy bank.

Happy Birthday Hope! We love you!