A Very Zahlmann Christmas

What a great Christmas morning!! The kids got up early (6am) for the first time. It was a lot of fun to go through our stockings together and see what Santa had brought!

Then we had all the family show up: Grandma and Grandpa, Nana and Papa, Scott and Jessica with Coop and Corbin, Renee and Marco and Kym and Alan. It was a blast to have everyone over! Papa made his famous pancakes with eggs in the middle and we all ate together.

THEN it was present time.

Cooper got into Avonleigh's princess make-up kit...pink is good on you, Coop!

Chris opening up his new wallet

Avonleigh looked almost as good as Cooper did

Grandma holding the plaque that Chris' mom made her...LOVE IT!

Me, Cooper, Jessica and Scott holding Payton

Wow, a Baby Alive!

Laethym opening up her card from Nana and Papa - notice all the loot around her! This kid made out like a bandit!

Look! Horsies from grandma and grandpa!!

Grandpa playing "santa" and handing out everyone's gifts

Eating a yummy breakfast

Papa slaving away over a hot stove

Everyone gathered in the living room watching the Zahlmann Family Videos that Nana and Papa make for all the kids - SO COOL!

Christmas Eve - Jammie Time!

Christmas Eve is such a delightful time...the excitement, the anticipation, the family...ah, I love it! My parents came up that evening and we gathered over at my in-laws for an evening of snacks and The Nativity. Then we headed back to our house to open 1 gift (has to be jammies!) and get the kids to bed.

Hangin' out with grandma and grandpa - I can't get enough of Payton's "cheeser" face!

Look at Payton's new jammies

And Avonleigh's

And Christopher's

And Laethym's

Opening up those Christmas Eve presents

Here we go!

Winter Wonderland

We have had the MOST incredible weather here this winter! We will usually get a little bit of snow each year (we're talkin' an inch or so and it melts off by late morning). But this year...it has been COLD and the snow finally started to fall...and fall...and fall...oh, and it stuck! It truly has been a winter wonderland here for us! I could handle this type of weather every year!!

I was so impressed with this girl! As tiny as she is, I thought she'd be frozen and want to stay indoors, but oh no! She was a trooper and kept going - even when she was eventually soaked to the bone!

Our "sled dog" Harley. Isn't he cute?! He had such a good time pulling the kids around - I think they enjoyed it too!

Avonleigh getting her turn on the sled

Daddy and Payton (she was much happier being up then down)

Christopher's "Oh man, I guess Daddy can still beat me in a snowball fight" face.

Laethym doing a face-plant

Look at our beautiful road! I love it here!

Sledding at Starlight

We had a great time going sledding with Aunt Jessica and cousins Cooper and Corbin up at Chris' work in Starlight Summit

Christopher loving the snow!

Look at those blue eyes! Cute, cute Corbin!

Payton going down cautiously

Cooper on his own ride!

Daddy/Uncle Chris pulling Avonleigh, Payton and Cooper down the hill

Go girls!!

Night in Bethlehem

Friday night was our Ward Christmas Party and our theme was "A Night in Bethlehem." It went off beautifully - and I'm so glad it's over! Here are a few pictures from the night:

Some of our fabulous youth (Ryan Tarpenning and Janae Heninger) helping at the candle-making booth.

The woodshop was a big hit! Here are Carson Humphreys and Joseph Bartholomeusz pounding nails, while Luke Freeman works on his wood shavings.

A small sampling of our amazing old world food...other items included: flat bread, falafel, hummus, tiziki, tabouli, pita chips, olives, grapes, dried fruit and nuts, oranges, cookies and baklava.

The food booth

The Shepherds (Michael Packard and Jim Bartholomeusz) with Mary (Ali Wood) and Joseph (Jordan Freeman)

Our sweet angel choir: Lead angel (Mikayla Crystal), Janessa Crystal, Erika Crystal, Sariah Young, Aurora Asay, Laethym Zahlmann and Avonleigh Zahlmann
They sang Silent Night.

The Shepherds making their way through the streets of Bethlehem

Under the Scribe Tent, where people came to write letters to our missionaries, then sealed them with sealing wax.

A veiw of the cultural hall before the guests started arriving...

O Tannenbaum

I LOVE Christmas! Our family has a tradition of getting our tree on December 7th every year - and we always go and cut it ourselves. We had a wonderful time picking out the "perfect" tree and decorating it for Family Home Evening.

Blogging Blues

Why, oh why am I such an inconsistent blogger?! It's not like we haven't had anything happening around here worth sharing! If anything, it's the complete opposite and I can't quite justify the time to sit down and blog. Well that's not entirely true either. In my OCDness I can't justify sitting down to blog and doing a crappy post (like this one? yes, it's killing me) and not updating on all of the things I've missed posting on (like *cough* Halloween, Thanksgiving, Birthdays, etc). It's all or nothin' for me! And I'm sick of looking at the political posts I had up (so glad the elections are over!).

Anyway, I'm WAY stressed about our Ward Christmas Party this coming Friday, so I won't be doing any blogging this week either. Just felt like I needed to let everyone know we're not dead...yet. Send prayers my way...I need 'em! ;o)