The tradition of Christmas injury/sickness

What would Christmas be without the Griggs tradition of injury/sickness that would require a visit to the ER? Four years ago I let a sinus infection go to long and it wouldn't stop bleeding. Off to the ER we go. The next year Logan slipped on some ice and cut his chin open. That was a visit I would like to forget. 7 stitches later we get to go home. Last year we actually didn't have any injury that I can think of! But this year right before bed the kids got a little hyper and were chasing each other up the stairs. Carson tripped and hit his face right on a stair. He had a bloody nose and cut the skin between his lip and gums. It bled pretty bad and his lip got way swollen. It's a good thing we know that they can't give stitches in the mouth.

To grandmothers house we go....

After we had our Christmas breakfast with Nana and Luis we went to grandmas house. There the kids opened their gifts and we ate Jill's famous meatballs! My fav!

Avery got a cute little purse that sings with pretend lipstick, keys, a mirror and a bracelet inside. So cute.
I couldn't leave Parker home alone on Christmas, so I dressed him up in his Santa suit and he came with us.

Carson got the surprise of his life. When ever we go to grandmas he loves to play with Jace and Jackson's batman castle. Grandma decided to get him one for Christmas with guys and cars. He was so excited!

Logan got Star Wars for his DS and a Utah hat! Go UTES!

I didn't get a a whole lot of pictures of Bailey opening gifts but she got hooked up! Lots of lip gloss, hair stuff, barbies and games.

This year we started a new tradition with Nana and Luis. Christmas breakfast!
We had ham steaks, my moms famous french toast, eggs and orange rolls topped off with hot cocoa.

I tried to set the table all cute and made name holders out of candy canes. I realized that with young kids a sit down breakfast just didn't work. But the table looked cute though.

We got to open our gifts after breakfast. Bailey got a littlest pet shop gift set, a butterfly kit and her favorite, a snuggie : )
Logan got a transformer and some bakugons
Carson got a transformer and Zurg from the movie Toy Story
Avery got a fun playskool play set.

What a busy busy Christmas day

Christmas morning started out really early at the Griggs house. When I say early I mean at 3:30 am! Every Christmas eve we let the kids sleep in the same room together. I guess Bailey was so excited she got everyone up at 3:30! I made them go back to bed till 4:30, but Morgan and I could hear them laughing so we decided since we all were up anyway, we might as well start Christmas.

Here is Avery's stalking. About three years ago I saw these cute socks at Target and bought one for each of us except Avery. She wasn't in the picture yet. So last Christmas I was pregnant and needed to get a matching stalking. Come to find out Target stopped making these stalking so I had to look on e-bay. All I could find was a green W. So I bought it and made the W into a letter A

Carson wanted a transformer so bad from Santa and of course a Zhu Zhu pet like his brother and sister. I had gotten a hold of two pets in November but thought Carson would get over wanting one. On Christmas eve Carson was still asking for one. So I looked on KSL and found a black and white Zhu Zhu pet someone was selling who lived in Kaysville. The best part was is that it was only 10 bucks! That was the price I paid for the other two but had to wait in line for hours at ToysRus.

Here is Bailey with her new Robyn doll. She wanted a real American girl doll but you can't tell the difference!

Logan LOVES Indiana Jones. The bad thing is, is that toy companies have stopped making Indy toys. I found this cool race track brand new at Savers for only 17 bucks!! Normally this track sells for 50 bucks! What a steal. He was so surprised!

Christmas eve

Christmas eve is so fun!! We go to Grandmas and the kids get to open a homemade pair of pj's. When have dinner and spend time with the family. When we come home we get ready for the big mans arrival. I caught Carson looking out the window and asked him what he was doing. He answered "looking for Santa"

While we make our cookies for Santa we drink hot cocoa. This has to be my favorite picture of them all. Hot cocoa mustaches!

I have gotten lazy over the years and I now buy pre-made sugar cookie dough. It saves me lots of time and clean up.
Here is a good picture of the kids in their homemade pj's. I save their pants after they have outgrown them and grandma is going to cut out squares from them and make a quilt one day.

Here is Avery in her baby's first Christmas jammies.

We made homemade reindeer food for Santa's deer. The kids sprinkle it on the lawn so the reindeer will stop at our house.

Our Santa loves coke with his cookies :)


On Christmas eve we let the kids sleep together in the boys room. They love to sit and talk about where Santa is and they swear they can hear his bells. I swear one year when I was little, I heard his bells too. Christmas is so magical when you are a kid.
This year we had a close call while playing Santa. We thought the kids were asleep and started filling stalkings and putting out the big gifts when I thought I heard foot steps. I got up to go look and sure enough Bailey was coming down the stairs! I screamed so loud and scared Bailey and Morgan so bad! Luckily she didn't see anything. Next year we need to make sure we are a little more discreet.

Avery's Christmas outfit

GG came to visit and spent the night with us from California. My kids just love to spend time with her.
Here is Avery in her Christmas outfit GGma gave her. Isn't it cute!? I just love the polka dots! I have a lot more pictures of her in this outfit. I just couldn't get enough pictures of her in it. Too cute.

Huh?

She loves to smile.

Finally a frosting that WORKS!

We made gingerbread houses a little different this year. With my many attempts to make them stay up in years past, this year I decided to use a small milk carton for the base. I also got a great frosting recipe from a friend. This stuff is the BEST I have ever tried!

Royal Meringue Frosting
3 T Wilton meringue powder mix
4 C sifted powdered sugar
6 T water
beat all ingredients together at low speed for 10-12 min till icing forms peaks. Cover with wet towel when not using to keep soft

I make it right before I'm ready to ice. If you let it sit the icing gets hard.

I think he ate a lot more candy then what got put on his house Here are our houses. Morgan and I made a "trailer" house. Then it goes Carson's, Bailey's and Logan's.

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Also in the month of December is all of Bailey's Choral Collection performances. It's a singing and dancing group. She loves it! They had a lot of fun Christmas songs they did this year. Here she is at the Kaysville tabernacle.