Holiday Happenings

We made a big effort to create and continue with Christmas traditions. It ended up being a wonderful Christmas Season for us. Here are some of the things we did.

Christmas Decorations
I loved getting Millie and Gracie's help with decorating this year. It was very apparent that they are girls. They were thrilled as they pulled each decoration out of the box. First they decorated the tree with all the ornaments right in the middle...



Then, without instructions, they quickly unpacked the rest of the decorations and found a place for everything to fit on our sofa table. They were very pleased with the end result...


And Claire "helped" with anything within her reach!


Christmas Crafts
One wintry day we needed a fun craft. So we made clay for a volcano. But Grace was a little worried about the volcano, so we decided to make clay ornaments instead. We loved the entire process! Once they were baked, we painted them and then turned them into ornaments. These little women love to create!



Building "Frosty"
We avoid going out into the cold most of the winter long. However, it doesn't quite feel like Christmas until the girls have been out making a snowman with their Daddy. Here's a very wide Frosty that is a little "vertically challenged" thanks to the powdery snow.





Christmas Caroling
Millie's preschool took a "service field trip" to an assisted living center to sing carols, and then to the Bountiful food bank to donate their extra change for needy families. I was VERY impressed at the childrens' ability to learn so many songs and perform so well.

The highlight for us was at the end. Grace was sad the entire time because she had to sit in the audience with me instead of performing with Millie. She isn't in the preschool, but it's hard for her to understand why she can't do some things that Millie is doing. So when the performance was nearing an end, and they were about to sing a song that Grace knew, I told her to go ahead and join Millie to sing. She hesitated at first, but then she went up and held Millie's hand and started to sing. Millie was sweet with her and Gracie's face just beamed with pride! She sang so well, and felt so big! I'm so glad I captured that moment on video!



Candy Houses
We LOVE candy! And the only thing better than a lot of candy, is playing with it, and then having an excuse to display it for days and snitch from it often!

Daddy let the girls place every single candy on this train by themselves. It took a long time, but paid off!


By the time we made candy houses at Grandma and Grandpa Yorgason's, these girls were old pros! They had help getting started, but after awhile, they took over and finished it nicely on their own.



It turned out so cute! I know I'm biased, but if I had been the judge, this one would have won!


Thatcher Family Christmas Party
When Katie married Cody, we had no idea the perks of having a cowboy in the family. Here's just one of them. We started out our family party in Millville, where we rode in a horse-drawn covered wagon through the snowy streets. We bundled up warm and sang Christmas carols together. The cold weather and falling snow made for a perfect ride!






Christmas Eve
We had our fair share of goodies this month, including a lot of hot chocolate. Every time we made it, these girls were thrilled! A simple treat that is so much fun! So we decided that a perfect New Year's Eve would be a simple evening with some friends, goodies, hot chocolate, and the nativity. We had Robert & Lynn, James McCall, and Marianna & Madelyn Mestas over for a short evening. We played carols with our chimes, the girls sang and then told the nativity story with props.


Christmas Day
We had a relaxing morning (for the record, we got to sleep in until after 7:00), opening presents the "Higbee style" (which means that we enjoy each present before going on to the next one). Then we headed to be with the Yorgason cousins for the day. We had so much fun that we forgot to take pictures! But here are some pics of the girls and their presents...

Millie's favorite gifts came from our sweet neighbors: the umbrella, barbies, and lipstick!


All Grace asked Santa for was a ring-pop. She ended up getting about 8 of them! And even after getting all her other gifts, when asked what she got for Christmas, she always replied in a very content voice, "a ring-pop!" She also loves her puzzles, coloring book & crayons, and dolls.


Claire is very happy with her mixing pot from Grandma & Grandpa Yorgason! It keeps her busy each day! She also received a pink stroller from Santa, which she surprised us and started to walk and push it.


And Claire's present to Mommy...her first pony tails!
And a fun discovery...Claire actually fits into her pink stroller, so now it's a toy for everyone! Hang on tight, Claire!

Here's Carolyn Lindsey, our dear ward friend who is often mistaken as Jen's mom. She is like a grandma to our girls, helping out each Sunday in church. She gave the girls a fun necklace kit, a coloring book, and this little riding car for Claire. We felt spoiled by her, as well as our other friends and family (Robert & Lynn, Shauna & Klaus, Karol & Havier, Grandparents, etc.). I wish we had been better at getting pictures with each one of them!




New Year's Eve
We got lucky and had Dave & Holly's family here over New Year's. The kids were up extra late (around 9:00) and then the real party began! We talked and played Phase 10 until way too late! In the morning, Dave was the "Nascht Kaegel" (the nest egg in German, or the last one asleep New Year's morning) so he got awoken by pots and pans. We had a fun day with them and were joined by Josh, Elena, & baby Eila. Again, the real measure of fun: too much fun to stop and take pictures! Here's all we have...





New Year's Resolution: Take more pictures! Take better pictures! Take them on important days when we are doing fun things! Just stop and take pictures! (sigh, smile)