This year we decided to go the day after instead of before Christmas. I was surprised by how many people were there.
My whole family decided to brave the cold and come walk around Temple Square.
Cam and Izzy always have a great time with their cousins.
As usual we had dinner at Squatters with Cody and Trish, Rusty and Kariann, and Leslie. 
We had a wonderful Christmas this year. Cameron was surprised, like he wanted to be; and Izzy got the things she most wanted out of her outrageously long letter to Santa.
On Christmas Eve we got together with my family. We don't get together until 9pm. Then we have a big dinner and gift exchange.
This year it was a my house. I love Christmas. It's my favorite holiday! I start thinking about what I'm going to cook weeks in advance. My family likes to try new recipes, so every year all the sisters pick something different to make.
I tried talking my family into having a little talent show. I wasn't very successful. Izzy and I played a little duet, and Cam played a song on his own. Joanne wrote a poem about the time the kids spent with them in ND. Jenn read a Christmas story. We also sang some Christmas Carols. It was a lot of fun. Maybe next year I can talk more of my siblings into it.
We also had our traditional gift exchange. We do it a little different than most people. We don't tell each other who we have. Then on Christmas Eve we all have to say things about the person we have, so everyone can guess who it is. Is really fun. We've done it for so many years that is hard to come up with something new.
On Christmas day we had dinner with Amos' family. We went to Rusty's house. It was the first year we were able to get all the siblings together at the same time on Christmas. It was nice to be able to just relax and enjoy each others company.
Our birthdays are 5 days apart. We always try to celebrate it together to make it easier on everybody. It's such a busy time of the year. It's hard to get everyone together at the same time.
A couple of weeks ago we went bowling with some friends for Rosie's bday. The kids had a lot of fun. Cam and Izzy love bowling. 
Amos had 5 strikes in a row this night! Needless to say he had the highest score.
After a few years of not having a family party, Amos' mom decided it was time to re-start the tradition.
Leslie picked a day and our house as the place for it. So on the 12th we had the party. We were kind of nervous! We didn't know how many people would come, and if would be able to accommodate everybody. I didn't get a lot of pictures, but I thought I would post the few that I did get.
In the end it all turned out great! Every one had fun.
Every year on the first weekend of December, Amos' dad's family gets together for Christmas. The family is fairly big, it's hard to keep track of who's who, who goes with who.
The kids like going and playing with their cousins. There are always different fun games for the kids to play. This year they had ornaments for the kids to paint. Of course Izzy painted a lot of them, so she could hang it on our "homemade" tree.
You would think that after 10 years of going to these parties I would know who everyone is. Not yet, maybe one day.
With have been talking to the kids about Christmas and trying to figure out what they would like. They both believe in Santa. A few questions about his existence has come up, but we told them that you only get presents if you believe.
Isabelle had no problem writing her letter to Santa. There were a lot of things that she would like. Cameron on the other hand, decided not to write one. I asked him why? And he said:" Well, a couple of years ago all I asked for was a pogo stick and I got like 500 presents and the pogo stick! So this year I figure I would just be surprised."
So we have one kid that is asking for everything she could possibly think of, and one that just wants to be surprised. Hopefully they'll both be pleasantly surprised!
Yesterday we finally got our Christmas decorations up. I love Christmas! It's my favorite Holiday.
Every year we put our Christmas decorations up on Thanksgiving weekend. This year we were a little behind schedule.
Anyway, the kids had a fun time, and Amos finally admitted he likes our tree. Yea!!!
