christmas morning for the bodtchers

santa wrapped up our front room again!

(amelia's face when she unwrapped her pringles and her watch, so so perfect)

christmas morning is just magical at this age! i've wondered about how to go about our focus during the christmas season, and then i just didn't stress about it. santa wrapped up our front room and stuffed our stockings and it was great. amelia was a little confused about why santa didn't bring her presents and we just explained to her that santa brings each child whatever they need... because mom and dad already got her all her presents, santa just stuffed our stockings. lame? oh well. i've never told her that she needs to "be good so santa will bring her presents" and have really tried to focus our season on christ and following his example of service. and although i don't want santa to be the focus of christmas for our family, i also didn't want our kids to start the "santa's not real" panic on the playground. i didn't grow up believing in santa, and this is all so new and magical... i'm glad that i didn't stress about it and it ended up perfectly anyway!

love these girls and their grateful hearts!

pre-christmas for the bodtchers

this december was hard as i spent so much of it feeling under the weather, but i'm so glad we still followed through with our traditions and made a wonderful season for our family. christmas is my favorite and i wanted to document our memories for 2016:

i love everything about christmas cards!

the girls got to pick out christmas presents for a toy drive for primary children's hospital; i thought it was sweet that they both picked dolls.

our relief society christmas dinner is always my favorite. the theme this year was "angels among us" and touched and inspired me to reach out to others more.

 temple lights with my loves.

got our tree up a few days late this year, but it was just as magical for the girls as i imagined it to be.

gingerbread houses: the girls wore candy necklaces, which helped distract from the candy intended for the houses. also, i tried to sneak a picture of j, but accidentally knocked over his house. and then he convinced the girls i did it on purpose, which amelia continuously reminded me of the next few weeks.

neighbors treats!

 (blurry, but i still love it)

kindermusic recital-- amelia was the sweetest mary and sang confidently, but refused a solo. rem was such a ham and the evening was so sweet! plus jer and his burger king crown.

amelia's preschool christmas program. this was her pretending to be a fox, and i still can't get over how cute her face is.

 christmas in color was magical. even for scarlett, even though she wasn't in any pictures. the girls loved the lights and pointed and squealed the whole ride!

 (secret's out: jer has found a hobby in recreational drugs. BAH HA HA HA)

traditional matching christmas jammies! (still in shock we got this self-timer picture on the first try)

oh christmas eve magic. it's the best!