Christmas

Better late than never, right? Here are a bunch of pics of our delightful Christmas:

The girls holding stars at the Kleven family Christmas party (my side)

Ringing bells at the Hatch Christmas party (Mark's side)

Our little nativity was lacking in children to play all the parts on Christmas eve, so some of the grownups participated. Doesn't little Tommy make the cutest shepherd?

We went and saw the temple lights just after Thanksgiving hoping to avoid the crowds--nope, it was the first night with the ceremonial turn on of the lights. It was packed and we could barely move anywhere. Note to self: do not go on the day after Thanksgiving.

Natalie making a gingerbread house. Mostly it was just eating the candy.

My mom answering the phone when my brother called from his mission in Detroit on Christmas morning. It was so fun to hear his voice!

The big morning finally arrives...

Hannah stopped all present opening to eat her M&M's. All we heard for weeks was, "em nem?"

Natalie had been asking for a Tiana doll for months and wrote a letter to Santa about it, AND told him she wanted one when she sat on his lap. He pulled through and even brought an Ariel doll for Hannah.

This is the only picture I got of the plate of goodies left for Santa--both girls were grumpy at this point and the water for the reindeer (Natalie's idea) had just spilled all over the piano bench.

This one is of the girls opening their traditional ornaments on Christmas eve. Natalie's was a ballet girl and Hannah's a little dog in a Christmas box.

Hannah did NOT like sitting on Santa's lap. We love his expression. And Hannah's belly button.

This is the first year Natalie has been brave enough to sit on his lap and actually speak with him! It was amazing. So they do grow out of some things...

It was a delightful Christmas. Aubri (Mark's sister) had gotten married the week before, so things were a little crazier than usual with wedding plans, etc. Several of my projects got finished after Christmas was over so another note to self: finish projects before December even starts. And do Christmas shopping early! I know everyone tries to do that but this year I didn't really make an effort to do it early and boy did I regret that. It was not so fun.

The girls were super excited about Christmas which made it even more fun for us. They even sang along to Christmas songs (mostly Nat) which was sooooo cute. There is nothing like a little child's voice singing songs, I tell ya.

New years was really nothing too exciting-we didn't even tell the kids about it (we were exhausted) and put them to bed at the usual time, then we watched a movie and went to bed before midnight. Woo hoo! Happy 2011. :)