Christmas 2019 with the Prince Family

We had such a nice time with Prince family for Christmas.  It was their turn to be with Brian's family, but they decided to have Christmas at home and then go to Salt Lake the day after Christmas.  They were kind to invite us to come down on the "off" year and celebrate Christmas with them.

We made pies( a blueberry and an apple) and headed down on Christmas eve afternoon.

The weather and scenery were beautiful as we traveled down.  The clouds put on a show for us.  We were even in fog in a few places.

As soon as we got there and got settled, Michelle woke William from his nap and we headed out to a local park to play softball- what is becoming a Christmas eve tradition.

Cheerleader William

Ken makes playing softball really fun.  He pitches and cheers and makes it a blast.  He did it with his kids, and now he's doing it with his grandkids.

All three kids have a natural ability.  Kenny has excellent timing in hitting the ball.

After a pizza, frito salad dinner, we acted out the nativity.  Gabbi was the costume designer and Mary, Kenny was Joseph, Jaron was a wise man, Michelle was a shepherd, Ken was a wise man, William was the donkey tender, and Brian, Me and Ken were the narrators.  Brian has a beautiful musical program that is his family's tradition.  We have used it ever since he came into the family.

William did a good job of tending the donkey.

I love this picture.  It is my phone's wallpaper right now.

Joseph was getting a little warm in his costume

Everyone got matching Prince and Princess jammies.

Gabbi made Jaron a guitar out of cardboard that really works!  Gabbi made everyone something or she gave them a gift from her own treasures.  Gabbi is a  thoughtful gift-giver.  She gave me a pillow that she hand-sewed herself.  She gave grandpa coupons, including ones for head tickles.  She has helped her siblings follow her example.  Ken took Jaron Christmas shopping for his siblings the Saturday before.  He carefully chose gifts for them, wanting to spend every penny on them.  When Ken suggested he could just get Gabbi one gift instead of the two he picked out, he said, "Gabbi spends everything she has on me.  I want to do the same thing."  Gabbi helped Kenny make shrinky dink necklaces for me and his mom.

Christmas morning started early.  I didn't get a picture, but it started with a special devotional upstairs, focused on Christ.  We watched the church video of His birth, sang a carol, and had a special prayer to start the day.  I was so touched by this meaningful start to Christmas morning.

Christmas morning excitement

Santa brought each child a special gift:

William got this mini- trampoline.

Gabbi got a new bike.

Jaron got a scooter.

And Kenny got a remote- controlled car.

Gabbi is reading the beautiful letter Santa left for the Prince children.  It looks like he liked the cookies and that the reindeer liked the carrots the kids left for them.

Christmas breakfast is always special and delicious at the Prince house. Brian made scones and I made eggs and orange Julius.

Gabbi made her brothers swords and shields out of cardboard.  They had a great time sword fighting.

A while back I mentioned to Ken how much I longed for two children's books that I loved when I was a child.  I have such vivid memories of my mom reading them to Joan and I.  We would cuddle up on either side of her and she would read them to us.  Ken surprised me by finding and ordering them on line.  When I mentioned it, I was NOT asking for them or even thinking they could ever be found.  It was a total and complete surprise.   I may have cried. 

The Contented Little Pussy Cat is a sweet story. All of the other animals want to find out from the Pussy Cat why he is so content.  In the end he explains the secret to being content.

I didn't even remember the name of this book, but he still found it.  I just remembered the horses names were Blackie, Brownie, and Whitey.  

Gabbi knows how much William loves her stuffed owl, so gave it to him for Christmas.  

I never got a picture of Jaron with his, but here is Gabbi with the gingerbread house she made.

Our Christmas dinner included ham and ham sauce, green beans (Michelle makes the best green beans), funeral potatoes, jello, rolls, and pie.  Yum!!  It was nice to have us all sitting around that Christmas table.

One of the gifts we gave the kids in all three families is a hand trampoline and ball game.  You toss the ball and "catch" it with the little trampolines and see how many times you can hit it and keep it in the air.  The morning after Christmas, Ken played with the kids and their record is 11 hits.

You can see Ken is dressed up.  We went to the Las Vegas temple and did some sessions before coming home.

It was a beautiful Christmas.  We are so grateful to the Princes for including us.  Merry Christmas!!