Christmas Break (Part 1).....

Christmas break has just flown by partly because it been very busy & a lot of fun but also because time just always seems to fly by. After watching New Moon Saturday night with my sisters, my birthday was on Sunday the 13th. I had a great birthday & was so excited to be with my family and not have any schoolwork to worry about. It was a very laid back day. My family and I went to church, then later in the day Kara and her family came up to eat dinner. While we were waiting for dinner to cook, I opened some of my presents. It seemed like I really wanted to drag out my celebration because I waited to open my final present until after dinner and of course who can forget the cake & ice cream we ate afterward. What a great day & how crazy it is to think that I am 20!!

The week after my birthday I spent relaxing and hanging out at the house because I was in desperate need of some recuperation after my rough finals week.

Tuesday night, Katelyn had her Christmas program for school so we all went to watch her do that. The songs she did were so cute, and she was overly excited that everyone came to watch her preform. (We had to sit clear in the back at the Hyart, so it was really hard to see the stage & sadly I wasn't able to get any pictures of beautiful Katelyn that night.)

On Wednesday I spent the day hanging out with Katie at her house and we made a stop at the VIP preschool so we could watch Jacob's short Christmas program. After the show Katie & I went to eat lunch at the Switchback and went back to her house afterwards to watch a movie.

Saturday the 19th, my mom, dad, Dani, Emi, and I all headed up to Billings to finish up our Christmas shopping.

Sunday evening after going to church and eating dinner we went to watch the Stake Christmas Concert because my mom was singing in the choir. I loved the music & I also loved getting to hold Dallin during the concert.

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday was spent helping my mom clean the house, wrapping presents, and helping get everything ready for Christmas Eve and Christmas day.

Christmas Eve was great this year. Kara & her family joined my family at our house for dinner and a Christmas Family Home Evening. It was an exciting evening that was filled with songs, stories, games, and the Christmas spirit could be felt all night long. One of my favorite parts of the program was when Katelyn and Jacob dressed up as Mary & Joseph and Dallin was the baby Jesus. They stood there while Jason read the account of the Savior's birth out of the scriptures.

Later that night after Kara's family went home, Dani, Emi, and I got to open a present before we went to bed that night. We all got matching t-shirts & shorts to wear for bed (since none of us usually wear real pajamas) and of course we had to have a photo shoot before heading to bed.

Christmas day, we got to sleep in a little bit. Not as much as I wanted, but more then we used to when Emi was younger. My dad came to wake me up around 7:30 because Emi was ready to go and see what Santa brought us! After opening presents and eating a late breakfast, the rest of the day was spend hanging around the house & playing Band Hero. Later that night we all went over to Kara's house to see what the kid's had gotten for Christmas. Each thing was brought out 1 by 1 to make sure that we didn't miss anything Kate & Jake got :). After spending some time at their house, the party shifted up to the Reasch household so Kara could see all our "toys" that we got.

The preparation for Christmas & Christmas day was crazy, but it was great. I really appreciate everything my mom & dad do to make Christmas as special as it is every year.