Christmas Day

For Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning we were with Andy's Family. We had the traditional Gilchrist Christmas Eve Dinner of Turkey and Mashed Potatoes, it was delicious!! We did a gift exchange and once again talked and caught up with family. Christmas Morning Grayer woke up anxious to open presents!

Grandma Gilchrist made Grayer this cute smurf hat

 It is tradition that after we are done opening presents we head over to Grandma's and Grandpa's house to watch them open their presents.

Grayer playing with Grandpa Wayne 

Playing with Cousin Chris and Uncle Mike 

That afternoon we drove back up to Idaho Falls for more celebrating with the Christensen Family. We opened presents, then played with our presents! 

Cousin Maggie opened Toy Story 3 from our Family to her's! 

Me with my Mom and Grandma 

Grayer's new Fireman outfit

Uncle Mike and Cousin Emma playing with her new toy 

Grandpa passing out the presents

Cousin Sam and Grayer 

My handsome man!! 

 For that evening my Mom planned a special activity at the church... We were to discover the "Treasures" of Christmas!

The first treasure was Christmas Music. We had a wonderful family Christmas program.

Cousin Audrey singing

Grayer and Cousin Emma being goofs:) 

Cousin Daniel rockin'  it on the piano

Cousin Maggie performing her Christmas piece 

 Here is a video of Grayer singing a Christmas Song 

The next treasure was the treasure of Christmas Fun! We went into the gym and had a snowball fight and went sledding. How, you might ask? The "snowballs" were marshmallows and the "sleds" were pieces of carpet, it was awesome!!  

Here is the video of our Indoor Snowball Fight 

Lizzy didn't want to throw the marshmallows, she just want to eat them! 

carpet "sled" relay races 

Cousin Eva having the time of her life 

The third treasure was Christmas Cookies. We went into the kitchen and decorated some cookies!

The big boys

 Next my Dad took us into the high-council room and had each grandchild take off his or her shoes before entering the room. He then told everyone the story that President Hinckley once told of the 2 boys who came across a poor man's shoes. One of the boys thought it would be funny to take the shoes and hide them and the other thought it would be even better if instead they put a silver dollar in each shoe and see what happened. The boys hid and watched as the poor man came back for his shoes and discovered the silver dollars and immediately knelt down and thanked Heavenly Father for this blessing.

This was the treasure of giving and also the treasure of Christmas stories. And as all the kids were putting their shoes back on they too discovered some silver dollars hidden inside!

 The last treasure I don't have any pictures of but we went into the chapel and all the lights were off besides a lamp, and underneath that lamp was a manger scene. We sang Silent Night and my Mom bore her testimony of the treasure of Christ in our lives. It was the perfect ending to a wonderful and very Merry Christmas!