Christmas Time is Here!

Another Christmas came and went and as always it was wonderful.

In our family, we always start with our traditional "Zac and Lori Fillmore" family party a couple of days before Christmas.  We eat a fun dinner together, have snacks, play games, and watch a Christmas movie.  We gave the kids a pep talk/ object lesson on being good gift receivers and had them practice how to be gracious gift receivers by opening white elephant gifts to each other.  Then we let them give each other the gifts that they had saved for and picked out for their siblings.  It is always their first gift of the year and they are always so excited to give and receive these gifts.

On Christmas Adam (the day before Christmas Eve), we were able to go hang out at our Martineau grandparents.  We played hilarious games and ate A LOT of food.  The kids also had a wonderful time enacting the nativity.

This is Aunt Annie and Aunt Lyndsay acting silly while playing a game Aunt Kellie brought where you have to say phrases while wearing dental mouth guards.

On Christmas Eve, we headed to Grandma and Grandpa Powells and played fun games ate A LOT of food and reenacted the nativity.  We got home right close to bedtime, just enough time to get out the milk and cookies, feed the reindeer, and open a new pair of pajamas.  This year the theme seemed to be sports shorts.  These kids have been on so many school teams this year, I thought it would be fun to get them some shorts and socks to match all of their t-shirts from the various teams they have been on.  Bronson chose to wear his Peter Pan costume from Grandma instead and has hardly taken it off since he got it.

The kids all then piled in to Ashlyn and Charlotte's room for a Christmas Eve sleepover.  Zac and I told them that they weren't allowed to come out of their room until 6 a.m.  I may have snuck in to tamper with the alarm clock to try to give us an extra hour to sleep in, however somehow it kept magically getting fixed. It started snowing really hard Christmas Eve and snowed and blowed intensely throughout the night, so much so that church was cancelled in the morning!

Christmas Morning Magic! 

Ian got tools, power tools, a tool belt, and lumber to make projects with dad!

Charlotte got an "American Girl" Doll that looked just like her.

Dad got a virtual reality head set which is pretty darn awesome.

Most of the kids got a Lego set

New Nike shoes!

Tanner was hugely surprised by a mounted fish from this beauty he caught back in November!

Whitlee also got an "American Girl" doll and she named her Tessa and she LOVES her.

Jake and the Neverland Pirates and Peter Pan gear were a huge hit for this boy.

And Ashlyn got some fabric and a pattern to make a skirt.  It was fun to have a project to work on for the week she was out of school. 

She is getting AMAZING at her mad sewing skills.  After she finished this project she even made herself a pioneer skirt for an upcoming Pioneer Trek in June. 

All in all Christmas was amazing.  Though the presents, parties, food, and family were all sublime, we are the most thankful for our Savior, Jesus Christ and the gift that he gave to us so that we can live with our Heavenly Father again.  We are truly blessed to have a loving Heavenly Father and the knowledge of the Gospel in our lives.  Merry Christmas everyone!