And Christmas 2011

Christmas Eve with the McDowell's. Started out with the sibling gift exchange- and found out Scott and Kara are expecting. Yeah for them!!! Then next on the agenda- Ginger Bread house decorating. That was a lot of fun- each kid got a house to decorate and if they had a family it turned into a joint activity. Then the adults went out for a game of Bocce ball. Next was Christmas Bingo for the kids.. And a surprise visit from Santa and Mrs. Clause... (and cool beanies from Aunt Devyn.)

Then off to the Skousen party. Our tradition is a Mexican dinner.. then a white elephant exchange. We used to do the nativity scene when we were little, but that died out and hasn't come back with the grand kids. My grandpa used to read out of Luke, but I think that also ended when he passed away in July. So it was a short and sweet party- good to see extended family that we never see!It is always a blast getting together with all our family, sometimes can get a little hectic. We loved being able to spend Christmas in AZ. Christmas Day itself was a little wierd having a 1 hr church block... and then a kid puking all afternoon/night. But it was very relaxing... just the way we like it! We got to play games with Uncle Matthew and veg out at home.


Here are some pics from the Flaherty Nativity night. I'm hoping this is an ongoing tradition (it is two years so far). The little kids get to be herded by the grandma's to re-create the nativity scene and also get fed dinner. We (parents) get to drop them off and be free for two hours which is the other fantastic part.

Merry Christmas. (almost a month ago...)