Trees, Santa, Family Fun and Bad Pictures

Monday night we had the funnest family home evening. Our annual tradition is to cut down our Christmas tree the weekend after my birthday, but this year that would put us getting our tree on the 6th and then we're leaving for Washington on the 21st so we'd only have our tree for two weeks. And since Steve works and goes to school until dark we decided just to go for it and try our luck finding a good tree in the dark. So, Emily and I made calzones and met Dad in Rexburg. Then we ate dinner in the truck on our way up to Kirkham Hollow. Surprisingly, we found the most gorgeous tree we've ever cut down. Our pictures didn't turn out that great, and our cheeks are wind-chapped (it was cold!), but we all had a blast off roading in the "Taco" (Tacoma).



Then we hurried back to Rexburg to meet Santa at the BYU-I campus! I was afraid of Santa until I was about 4 or so and I didn't think Emily would be too fond of him and I was right. Oh boy did she wail! It's a cute picture though, and that's what all my Santa pictures looked like when I was a kid. Then we had hot apple cider, cocoa, and cookies! Emily had fun exploring all the fun things to see.








Then we came home, put Emily to bed, and then Steve and I decorated the tree. Since this was the fullest tree we've ever had we had a harder time than usual getting the lights and decorations on, but I think it turned out gorgeous! I love Christmas time and all that goes along with it. It's going to be so much fun this year with our little Emily. She just makes life grand!