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!

Holiday Celebrations!

We had a wonderful trip home to visit family for the Holidays!! The first few days we spent with my sister, Amy, and her family in Utah. It was really fun to be with them. While we were there we went to see the lights on Temple Square and then headed over to Chuck-O-Rama for a fun filled dinner! (To say my nephews and nieces love Chuck-O-Rama would be an understatement, they were so excited for that buffet dinner:))

So freakin' cold in Utah

The lights are AMAZING! 

Cousin Ana and Grayer at Chuck-O-Rama

My sister Amy and her youngest, Lizzy. This was our first time meeting little Lizzy. She is so cute! 

Buffet Satisfaction, now heading home

 Because we were all heading up to Idaho for Christmas my sister and her family celebrated an early Christmas and let us join in on the festivities! We had a delicious fondue Christmas Eve Dinner then stayed up super late wrapping presents for the kids to open the next morning!

Grayer and all the Berry Cousins after an awesome Christmas morning!

Then we headed up to Idaho for Christensen and Gilchrist Family Parties....

Our first stop was Firth for Grandpa Wayne's (Andy's Grandpa and Grayer's namesake) 85th Birthday Party. We went to the church and took family photos, ate all different kinds of soup, played games, had a Christmas program, listened to Great-Grandma read a story, opened presents, and caught up with family that we hadn't seen in a really long time!

Grayer Wayne with Great- Grandpa Wayne

Listening to Great-Grandma read a Christmas Story

Grayer and Cousins Paige and Grant 

Priceless Picture! 

From Firth we headed up to Idaho Falls for Grandma Baker's (Susan's Grandma) Christmas Party! I didn't get any pictures but, this party was a little different than previous parties because the little kids weren't invited. At first I was a little bummed but it was a party I will always remember because we were all able to catch up with our Grandma, Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins with no interruptions from our little ones. It was really fun!

Pre-school Christmas Program

Before we left for Idaho Grayer had his Pre-School Christmas Program. 

He was so cute and did a really good job singing with his class. 

Grayer is very left on the front row

Wavin' to Mom and Dad 

Merry Christmas #1

We are going to be in Idaho for Christmas, so Andy and I decided to give Santa Claus a call and ask if he would come to our house for an early Christmas (that way "Santa" wouldn't have to take up luggage weight and space on the flight home to Idaho;)). Luckily, Santa agreed and made a special trip just for Grayer!!

So for "Christmas Eve" we celebrated by attending our Ward Christmas Party and then took a drive through a few neighborhoods to look at Christmas lights. Grayer loved it, which made it all pretty magical!! Back at home we set out cookies and milk for Santa then headed to bed.


"Christmas Morning" Grayer woke up nice and early and found that Santa had eaten the cookies and also left presents for him under the tree....

Grayer and all the Goods!!! 

 Later that day we went to another Christmas Party! Andy's voice teacher, Katherine, hosts a party each year for her vocal studio and we love to go because we love her and are so grateful for all she does for Andy.

Andy with other members in his studio.

Our family with Katherine and her husband, Mark.

Every year Mark and Katherine give Grayer a present to open.
This year he got this awesome sled!!

 We had a wonderful time celebrating an early Christmas!!!!

Last of November - First of December

This year for Thanksgiving we went to my (Susan's) cousins place in Cleveland, OH. 

We live about 4 hours from Cleveland and I have another cousin who lives in Pittsburgh, PA which is about 2 hours from Cleveland, and we all got together and had an absolute blast. 

I was determined to take lots of pictures while we were there but alas my camera only came out twice because we were having too much fun to remember to take pictures. 

Here are a few from Thanksgiving Dinner!

None of the pictures are real great:( 

My cousin, Justin, is in the green shirt at the end of the table.  

Grayer and cousin Wyatt; Grayer's favorite playmate.

 Across from Grayer is Anela, another fun cousin to play with. 

 My cousin, Thomas, is in the navy blue sweater.

Grayer and Wyatt pretending to be race cars one morning. 

(It looks like Grayer is pushing Wyatt, but he really is not)

Now December is here and the Gilchrists are excited for Christmas!! 

Our little tree is up. We have had our first skiff of snow, which Grayer insisted on playing in. We have made our "Ginger Guy" cookies. Grayer is learning a new Christmas song. Our shopping is pretty much complete, thanks to Black Friday. And we are counting down the days till we fly home to Idaho to be with family for Christmas!!! 

     

You can kind of see the snow outside:)