Christmas Day 2012

Dave, Alex, Andrew and I opened presents together then drove over to see what the grandkids got from Santa.

 

Jack was loving his Jeep.

 

Lily loves her four wheeler.  There isn't a lot of room in their house to ride it, though.

Livie liked the candy in her stocking best.

Playing "Hungry, Hungry Hippos" the game Roo game their fam for Christmas.

The Mason boys got glowing Star Wars light sabers.

Ash made the boys these really cute gingerbread men that live in Altoid tins.

Logan calls his remote control car a "commercial" car.  Not sure why.

We went over to Dad Grose's for a couple of hours in the early afternoon.

Then later, all the kids came back to visit again.  It had snowed the night before and the yard and mountain looked so pretty.

 

Since I have no idea when we will get everyone together again, I made everyone put on their shoes and coats and come outside for a quick photo.

Scott, McKenna, Riley and Alyssa came over later that night.

Cousins.

What a blessed Christmas to see so much of Family. Loved it.

Christmas Eve 2012

I forgot to take pictures of the food at this party at Mom and Dad's, too.

 

 

 

 

The program was similar:  piano songs,

and acting out the Nativity.

 

Girl cousins.

The "old" boy cousins who aren't currently serving missions. But Bryson has his mission call to Russia, so that's awesome.

Sisters.

Christmas Eve Eve 2012

I forgot to take pictures of us eating that evening.  But we had a delicious meal before settling down for the "program".

 

We invited my mom and dad out because our married kids won't be going to their house on Christmas eve (all are going to their in-law's homes) and they all wanted a chance to visit with them.

Dave's dad came out, too.

 

The program began with Lily playing her Christmas recital songs for us.

Then the grandkids all sang a Christmas song.


Lily sang "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" in Mandarin.  She is in the Chinese immersion program at her school.  Half of each day she is taught in English and the other half only in Mandarin.  She is doing so well there.

While I got the kids in their costumes, Dave had the adults share past Christmas memories.
Then the grandkids acted out the Nativity while Dave read it from Luke.

 

 

 

 

Our first family photo in 4 years with all of us together again.

Christmas Recital 2012

I had nine students perform in my Christmas Recital this year.  I love them all and I'm so proud of how hard they practiced to learn their songs.

 

It's especially rewarding to be able to teach your granddaughter!

Girls Treat Day

We used to have what we called "Girl's Baking Day" each December. But now we usually don't bake anything.  But we do make lots of yummy treats.  Between the four of us we made 5 different Christmas treats in about an hour and a half. Turtles, Cornflake Wreaths, Caramels, White chocolate Chex mix, and Cookiedough pretzels.  Yum!

Lily took this photo of the four of us.  She had a cold and so she didn't go to school that day.

 

 

After Jack and James came back from Preschool we had all five grandkids there.  But we were finished with making our treats by then.  The kids all climbed up on the kitchen counter and danced to Gangnam Style.

Then Olivia and Logan unwound with a little bit of Backyardigans on TV.

It was so fun that Steph was here to participate with us.

 

The Saturday After Thanksgiving

The Grose side of our family had their usual gathering on the Saturday after Thanksgiving at Dave's dad's churchhouse.

 

The Program.

 

There were lots of talented kids who performed for us.

 

 

Thanksgiving 2012

Ashley was such a sweetheart and offered to have Thanksgiving dinner at her house this year.

In attendance: Ashley, Jud, James, Logan, Holly, Cody, Lily, Jack, Olivia, Dave, me, Alex, Andrew, Mom, Dad, Billy and Nana.

Lily enjoys the traditional rainbow jello.

James and Jack were at their own little table.

Olivia and Logan had their own table as well.

Like always, the kids made gingerbread houses afterwards.

Jack did a great job.  (You can see what all the men were up to behind Jack)

James was very creative.

Logan worked hard on his.

Lily seemed to enjoy this activity the most.

Since Olivia can't have gluten she had a Rice Krispy Treat house.

 Some of the houses may or may not have lasted very long.