Holiday Fun!

Here in our house we have a few Christmas Traditions. Since the kids were all small, one of our favorites is acting out the Christmas story. Once assigned a part, each one of us would go find a suitable costume and then we would meet in the living room and act out the events of that first Christmas while someone read the story from the Bible. This was particularly endearing when the kids were small and wonder eyed. Our last few years in Alaska were rather challenging since it was usually just Scott, the twins, Luke and I. There were too many parts and not enough actors.

These last couple of years with all of the kids coming home for Christmas have been awesome!! This year was no exception. I decided it was my turn to read the story and Scott got into the spirit of the evening as you will see from the pictures below.
Here are a couple of little pink lambs that we found wandering around .
This must be in heaven as the angel Gabriel is seen holding the baby Jesus.
Mary and Joseph enjoying a quiet moment with the baby Jesus.Here is the donkey wandering around with the sheep.
The Angels just finished making their wondrous announcement to the astonished shepherds.
One of the Wise Men. (Wise guy? Hit man?)
The other 2 Wise Men!
Here is whole family after the story had been told. I love the precious angels at the top!


Another of our favorite traditions is making graham cracker gingerbread houses. We were so busy getting ready for Christmas this year that we didn't have time to make them before Christmas so we did it the day after Christmas. It was fun to be able to take more time and almost everyone got into the fun!

Luke was actually sick that day and so he spent the day in bed with a fever. He did get up toward the end of the activity and so we talked him into being the judge. He gave each house an award.

The most epic. Didn't Eve do a great job on hers? I love the ginger bread dancer in front of the castle!
The funnest looking. We can always count on Em to come up with a creative concept. Last year, the Gingerbread house of horrors and this year, the Gingerbread man takes a vacation!
The most homey. Esther had help with the basic structure, but did all of her decorating!
The spikiest. Not too much landscaping, but almost all covered in little spikes. Not quite sure why.
The most elegant and also the Grand Prize Winner! Sarah's was so creative! I simply LOVE her lamp posts!
The most outdoorsy. All those years in Alaska gave Ben some awesome inspiration! See the salmon running up the stream?
Unfortunately, I can't remember the award Luke gave Isaac's. He did his all by himself and did a great job!
Most Symmetrical. Didn't Scotty do a great job on his? He should be an architect.
Most Governmental. This was the Pentagon after an alien attack.
The most plain. Patrick's was a protest against the commercialism of Christmas.
Here is the whole town. We sure had a lot of fun!