On the 12th Day of Christmas: Evidence of Santa

We gave the boys a 7:30am wake-up rule on Christmas morning and they held us to the minute. I could hear snickers and footsteps until the clock finally turned over and Blake rushed downstairs to announce that Santa had paid a visit.

As per tradition, we paraded down the stairs adorned in Santa hats and rang hand bells while singing Jingle Bells. Nash had some hat malfunctions.

Crew was not a happy camper to be woken up by his eager older brothers.

He closed his eyes in the middle of the parade just to shut out the ruckus.

It didn't take long for Crew to cheer up after some breakfast and being introduced to piles and piles of presents.

We were mean enough to make the kids wait until after breakfast to tear into their presents. We knew it would take a few hours to get through everything and the rest of us didn't want to be starving.

It made my heart soar when Blake took a break from his presents to read The Very Hungry Caterpillar to Crew (a replacement for our torn up edition).

Nash was more than a little excited that Santa brought him a "Dragon Mountain" LEGO set.

I could hardly find people amidst the gift-giving commotion from up above.

Just like we predicted, it took hours to get through the presents. Finn crashed right in the middle of it all.

Troy's grandma joined us after we finished opening presents. It's always a special privilege to have Grandma around for a holiday since she has 13 children she rotates between. Finn smiled and flirted with his great-grandma all day long.

We woke up to a blanket of freshly fallen snow, so the boys were eager to get outside after spending a few hours with new toys.

The sledding hill in the backyard won't be exciting for long, but for now, it is perfect for our young children.

Blake was a snow die-hard and stayed outdoors well past the time the rest of us went in to build a snowman.

We topped off Christmas Day with another feast. The great-grandchildren gathered around Grandma before she headed off to the next relative's celebration.

Aside from throwing on snowpants and coats, we stayed in pajamas all day.  New games were played, new structures were built and the excitement was thick.

My favorite Christmas present of all was that Finn spent the whole night in my arms. He was a little fussy when I tried to get him to sleep which is unusual for him. I didn't want him to wake up Troy or Crew who were also in our room, so I took him out to the family room. We both finally ended up falling asleep on the couch and he spent hours sleeping soundly on my chest. It's getting more and more rare for him sleep curled up tightly against me, so I savored every minute. Merry Christmas indeed.

On the 11th Day of Christmas: Christmas Eve Ski Lift

It was tricky to get a group our size out the door over Christmas break with so many varying nap schedules, so we considered ourselves triumphant when we made it out to one of the local ski resorts on Christmas Eve.

We all loved riding up the mountain on the ski lift.

We couldn't crack a smile out of Crew. He was too busy taking it all in.

The boys sure had fun with their cousins during the four days our getaways overlapped.

Once we made it to the top, the kids trampled through the snowy oasis.

And warmed up by the fire.

We played some corn hole.

I showed Blake how it was done.

After a successful outing, we headed back to the cabin for the little ones to nap and the older ones to decorate the gingerbread house. We feasted, put on the nativity reenactment, and then it was off to bed for the most anticipated morning of the year.

On the 10th Day of Christmas: Just Hear Those Sleigh Bells Jingling

We spent all day on Christmas Eve Eve cleaning and packing to prepare for a week away from home. We barely made it in time to a resort in the canyon to meet up with extended family for a horse-drawn sleigh ride. There wasn't much snow on the ground yet, so it ended up being a horse-drawn wagon ride. What we were lacking in snow we certainly made up for in coldness. It was freeeezing.

After we rode around, sang some carols and met the horses, we ventured into the lodge to visit Santa Claus. Crew was quite hesitant to accept his offering of a candy cane.

Finn showed the least amount of stranger anxiety towards the jolly old man. And Blake changed his mind about what to ask Santa for two days before Christmas. It's a good thing I anticipated his request and already had his new wish in my possession. I think I should get extra mom points for that!

On the 9th Day of Christmas: Christmas Downtown

The week of Christmas began with a trip downtown. We ventured to the Grand America Hotel to check out the displays.

We met up with the boys' only cousins that we haven't seen in over a year. Their Grandma gave them all matching shirts to be worn for the occasion.

These two crack me up.

Finn cheerfully tagged along as usual.

The hotel featured a holiday window stroll. Each window was hand-crafted and included intricate animated elements designed around letters of the alphabet. The boys each received a tracking card to locate all of the hidden letters (from A to Z) in the window displays. Then they took their completed cards to the giant gingerbread house for a special treat.

It looks like we have another machine lover on our hands. Crew stared at the balls going up and down the obstacles for a good ten minutes.

The boys had the best time playing "I Spy" and filling out their cards when they located each letter. It was the perfect indoor activity for their age. But they couldn't stay indoors for long; they just had to get outside and run along the ledges that lined the main driveway.

We made our way to an Italian restaurant where they seated our family of 13 around one round table. As we crammed our chairs together and attempted to distract the very hungry children with paper airplanes flying across the table, we realized just how large and chaotic this family has become.

The thing about getting that many people together in one place at one time is that everything takes longer than usual. Especially with babies and young children in the mix. The plans for the evening included a stroll around Temple Square to see the lights, but by the time we finished dinner it was way past bedtime.

Blake poured out some good tears when I informed him the night was over after dinner. He does not like to deviate from "the plan." But like any good mother, I caved in to his puppy dog eyes and endless pleading. The boys still seemed to be in high spirits even though it was so late, and since they didn't have school the next day, we decided to make a go for it.

Uncle Todd carried Nash around on his shoulders the majority of the time and Nash was enamored with the lights and the temple.

The boys surprisingly had oodles of energy and ran circles around us. Nash proclaimed himself to be "the king of Oz" (?) over and over which gave us a good laugh.

We even let Crew stay up to admire the lights. He is at the age where we get endless "oohs and ahhs" from him when we drive around looking at lights, so we knew he would absolutely love the lights on Temple Square.

The boys crashed as we neared 11pm on the way home. But I've learned that sometimes the moment is more important than the schedule, and this evening was worth the spontaneity in every way.