This Porter Family: February 2015

December Review

After recovering from our horrible illnesses, December turned out to be an enjoyable month. I always remember the excitement of putting up the tree and breaking out all the Nativity sets when I was growing up and it was a blast to see Ellie get into it this year. While she was a fan of Santa in books she was not a fan of Santa at our ward Christmas party. She loved the tree, was fairly good about leaving the decorations alone, and she adored the Christmas books. Her favorite was "The Night Before Christmas" and came to know it so well that she could recite passages as we read it together. I would catch her sitting under the Christmas tree reading books and it just melted my heart.

I look like a terrible mom, smiling at my terrified child.

Love these pictures by my friend Jaime over at Sunlight and Sound photography.

Christmas Cabin

Between Christmas and New Year's Joel and Deanna rented a cabin up in Eden, which is only about 20 minutes away from Ogden. It was beautiful and fun to spend time with family. We played inside and out and even went for a little cross country ski.

Meet the new DJ in town.

These two kiddos have lots of fun together.

Christmas Day

We woke up Christmas morning to a beautiful white surprise! It finally snowed, and it snowed a lot. It was the perfect Christmas gift. We opened presents first as our little family and enjoyed the morning together before heading over to the Porter house for even more presents and delicious dessert. Ellie enjoyed all her presents and was a lot of fun. Because of all the snow we didn't head to any other relatives but relaxed at home and then went out to play in all the new snow. This was Ellie's first real experience in snow and she loved it. I couldn't have asked for a better Christmas.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is probably my favorite night of the year. We all gather at the Ranch, consume large amount of delicious food, dress up as shepherds, angels, wise men, Mary, Joseph, barn owls (in Ellie's case this year) and head down to the barn for the Nativity. I also love that we have added some new traditions. Instead of a traditional American Christmas dinner, ever since my parents returned from their mission in Monterrey, Mexico we have had Mexican fare and a pinata at the end of the night. Just like the Sami Claus party celebrates the time my Grandparents spent in Switzerland as missionaries, I like that Christmas Eve now blends in traditions from Mexico. We were lucky that there was snow at the Ranch for Christmas Eve (because there wasn't any in South Weber) and we were able to sled down the driveway. We returned for the pinata and goodies and then returned home excited for Christmas morning!