Christmas with the Hutchings

I can honestly say that Christmas this year did not turn out how I thought it would.  We had been so consumed by our kitchen project and then recovering from it that we barely had time to plan and prepare before our company was here and it all started.

We did do a few fun things that we snapped pictures of as we went.

Gingerbread houses (in my case, a gingerbread jeep) at Michelle's annual birthday/Christmas party.



Caroling to the neighbors on Christmas Eve.  One of my friends said in all the years she's lived here she had never had carolers!

And of course, making and eating delicious treats.

We ended Christmas Eve with our new tradition, carried on for three generations, of acting out the Christmas story while reading Luke chapter 2.  My sister's son, Aaron, loved being Joseph and our little Jaime didn't make a half-bad Mary.

Then we let the kids open their new pajamas, another third generation tradition.

Vida's head was drooping (as pictured above) so we said "Jaime, hold her head!"  She rose to the occasion, although not how we anticipated...

Then we put all the kids to bed and got to wrapping and organizing presents.

 

On Christmas morning we opened stockings, ate breakfast and got ready for sacrament meeting.

 

After celebrating the true meaning of Christmas by singing hymns about the birth of Christ, we came home and opened presents.  The favorites for our children were definitely the bumbo for Vida and bathroom step stool for Jaime.

 

She put the step stool together with her daddy and must have washed her hands five times the first time we put it up to the sink for her.  She loves it.

 

We had a somewhat lean gift-giving this year because of some big ticket purchases we've made lately.

A family iMac to replace our college laptops.


A new washer and dryer set to replace the decrepid ones with oh so many problems.

 

And of course the one that still makes our house sparkle - the new and improved kitchen with all of the new tools it required.


Add in the cost of hospital bills from Vida and we were at our max for this season.  But who can complain?  I get to spend all season looking into the face of that rugged bearded husband of mine who is gifting our family with eleven days of uninterrupted family time.