Christmas Eve

We headed up to Payson for a quick turn-around trip on Christmas Eve.  And I didn't take nearly enough pictures.  Sometimes, nursing a baby and getting everyone dressed, and trying to keep some sense of sanity... does not leave much time for things like photography.  Oh well.

Jaelyn in her church dress:

Paige:

Lauren:

This is what happens when you have three people taking pictures of your family at the same time.  ;)  Bless them for trying!

The Kohners:

After church we headed to Grandma Caroline's house for the big family get-together.

The line for food is always entertaining:

For some reason I love that shot.  It is quintessential Beeler family.

Then the younger kids got to open little gifts.  Here ours are, patiently listening to how things will go:

Papa taking a turn with Jaelyn:

Don't ask me why she didn't have a bow on.  Mental note: babies with very little hair need bows more.  

Then we got jammies on and headed down the hill to be ready for Santa's arrival!

It was exhausting, but so much fun!

Reindeer food

On Christmas Eve morning we sprinkled Lauren's reindeer food that she made at school, all over the front yard - hoping that it would help Santa find his way to our house!

Christmas lights

Ready to hear out the door for some hot chocolate (the girls prefer to call it "warm chocolate") and to drive some neighborhoods looking at lights!

Someone had their entire roof covered this way:

They had a lot of fun this year!  Last year was a disaster.

My personal favorite:

Justin's favorite had to have been the house where all the lights were set to music and they used an FM transmitter so you could listen to it on your car radio while you watched.  Some people really know their technology!  I didn't get a picture there though.  :(

Goofing around at the gas station:

This Holiday Joy project has really helped me remember all the little things this Christmas!  I am so thankful for that!

The Swopes

We get together once a week, but the kids love this one a little extra because there are presents!  I got NO pictures of the kids opening their gifts, but a grabbed a few of them playing before they headed home.

The big kids are better at posing:

Sometimes.  ;o)

Paige and Harper could not be bothered to get up from playing, so instead I documented what either of our houses look like when Sunday night dinner is over.

This family are our closest friends, and we share so many great memories with them over these years of Sunday nights.

 It is so worth the clean up.

Love you, Swopes!

Beeler Family Christmas

Just a few that I really liked from the little Beeler side of the family Christmas party we hosted this year.  I have a lot to post from the last week and am WAY behind!

Jaelyn

Papa videoing the kids opening some gifts.

Lauren and Grandma

Travis showing Paige his annual snowman ornament from Grandma Nel.

The girls opening little lip-glosses from Camryn.

After a long day everyone crashed out wherever a spot could be had.

;o)

Decorating the tree

The girls made sure they were as involved as possible in every aspect of decorating this year.  They started in with "helping" with the lights.

Jaelyn was there too - looking on contentedly.  And sometimes not-so-contentedly...

Then came ornaments!

We just have a random collection of ornaments, I love it!  No organized or themed trees for this house.  I *tried* to leave the ornaments pretty close to where the girls placed them - so it is truly unorganized!

An assignment from the workshop I am doing:

Unwrapping all the decorations and having cocoa - 

Love this one:

Justin decided the tree needed popcorn garland, and I said, "You go for it."  That he did!  We have four strands on our tree now and it looks great - all him!  

Another assignment shot - extreme bokeh:

I need to have my sensor cleaned.  Right after Christmas, I keep telling myself.  I can't possibly give up my camera any sooner than that!  They should give loaners at the camera shop.

I am loving this workshop though - it is keeping my mind more on the beauty of the holiday and less on my massive to-do list.  How do we only have ten days?!?  Yikes!

On that note, I am off to try and accomplish something!

Random Christmas at the Beelers

The Gingerbread House

I am finding that with two kids old enough to participate this year, the amount of adult control over what the house looks like diminishes QUICKLY.  You can check out last year's pretty house here.  ;)

But they had a great time and absolutely LOVE their creation!  I catch them staring at it throughout the day.  Probably dreaming of living inside and eating candy every day!