Where's Baby Jesus?

A few Sundays before Christmas we went to the Visitor's Center to see the Nativities and walk around the temple grounds. As we were walking around we were looking at the large nativity scene outside when Hollyn asked me, "where's baby Jesus." He was not in the manger where he should have been, so I asked one of the nice older missionaries where baby Jesus was. He told me that they only put him out at night because he has been stolen so many times. What, who steals baby Jesus? I mean really does that even make sense to anyone else? As a family our goal this Christmas was to try and center it more around Christ and Christlike things. We still have much to work on, but one thing that really helped Hollyn learn about giving was we had her choose a name off of the giving tree at school. Then we got to go shopping for this little girl and Hollyn got to pick out all of the presents she thought she would like. This is something we will do every year, because it really brought the Christmas spirit into our home.
Christmas Eve we had the annual nativity scene with all of Dan's family. The best part is that the kids act it out and each year it get better and better, especially since the numbers get bigger each year. After that we met my family at the Temple for Christmas lights.




Could my nephew Theo be any cuter?
Christmas morning is always my favorite time of year, seeing the excitement on the kids faces as they see what Santa brought them. This year Santa brought them a Barbie Dream House, and the looks on their faces where worth the hours it took me, I mean Santa to put it together.
The kids so good together for hours before the cousins came over. They loved every minute of the Barbie house.
Dan's siblings all cam over at lunch time. The kids where so excited to see what Santa brought them at Nonny's house. Santa always goes all out. Then it was time to do the cousin exchange, which is a fun way for the kids to give presents to each other. The rest of the day was full of the cousins off playing and the adults talking or napping. That night we went over to my parents house for a delicious dinner and more presents. I don't know why Dan and I even bother getting the kids anything, because both of our parents spoil them rotten. They always make Christmas special for the grandkids.