Christmas in our OWN home

Christmas this year was a very memorable one! Granted we did spend the holidays with Ev's family...I felt like we had a good balance of our own time and extended family time. So...we pretty much stayed home this year. No traveling for us. Yeah right...can you imagine having to pack-up Christmas now that we have FOUR kids? That's a little overwhelming..well...more like SUPER overwhelming and stressful. Since Ev and I have been married, we have spent the holidays with our families, either in Kansas or Texas. I love being with the ones I love and sharing lasting memories. But....BUT now that we have kids...lots of them...I feel like I'm ready to start our own Christmas traditions. I knew this time would come....and I'm totally ok with it. And this year was the year that kicked it off. It was lovely...we were in our new home...we were able to decorate three trees...we watched many Christmas shows...ate lots of goodies...and I finally put one of my craft bookmarks to use (speaking of which I need to PIN it)! We talked about Christ every night before bed for most of the month. We read different verses from the Bible, Book of Mormon and articles from the Friend with the boys. As always, Christmas music was played non-stop and I felt as though the Spirit of Christmas was with us and in our home. 

For all of this and much more I am grateful for.

 Recognize these stockings?? You may have seen them...good ole Target.

I added the frames with sweet pictures of my CUTE littles (thank you dollar tree...spray painted and embellished with glitter) to the mantle hooks with a little bit of hot glue   

This little guy made an appearance shortly after we moved into our home. We read his book and the boys decided to name him JAM. Not sure what that's all about?? Maybe a twist on JUM?? Yep that's it. We love you Jum.

 And then this tradition....I can't take any credit. I totally copied this idea from my Nato friends. Isn't it so cool though?? I decided that we must do it every year!! I can hardly wait to have tons of these on our mantle. 

And then this was our "fancy" tree as Brampton called it. Red is his favorite color so I figured he would love it. And I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out...probably our best decorated tree yet.