The Holidays: Part One

We spent Christmas in Orem with the Ingoldsby/Hillstead clan and we had a fantastic time.
So many good times.....so let's get right to it!

Some highlights:

Lots of fun mother/daughter baking and LOTS of eating (including our weight in crab on Christmas Eve.)


A new family tradition of making gingerbread houses made with real homemade gingerbread (delicious!). We all had a blast and when the houses started to collapse under the weight of all the goodies Emmy found the PERFECT solution. When all was said and done Harris' design reigned supreme.


Santa found us! We spent Christmas Eve preparing for the next day with lots of singing and festive activities. Christmas with kiddos is so fun and magical. We were all pretty spoiled (C and I got a kitchen gel mat....which is a DREAM!) and Harris even got his much desired BYU snuggie!

The best part was just being together as a family. Lots of hugs from cute kids, games of rummey, dance parties, late-night hot tubbing, good food and amazing treats, festive decor.....a wonderful Christmas.

Winter Scenes...

It was good to be home. And yes, it was even good to be cold.

Pre-holiday Holiday-ness...

The holidays descended on us quickly - but not before we squeezed in some holiday awesomeness here in Texas.

Highlights included - but were not limited to:

The Nutcracker - (Fun.....but I secretly - okay, not so secretly - wanted them to bust out singing.)

Some Broadway action in San Antonio with a little late night mission touring.

Caroling and partying with YSB.

A fantastic rendition of Feliz Navidad at the ward party and other festive gatherings with friends.

(And not pictured, but not to be forgotten - fantastic caroling with the Young Women and a camp-out with the Young Men.)