The Christmas One

(chronological order)

Before the rest of my family arrived in town, we stayed with my Aunt Nan.
My Aunt had planned many fun activities for B&B, including riding her pony.
B&B looooove Aunt Nan.  

Button & Aunt Nan
Initially, D stood right beside Button in case she wanted to bail.  On the contrary, she pushed him away saying, "I'm busy riding my pony!"

playing in Aunt Nan's barn

This is Button's good, kind birth dad, Nic.  I asked Beau "why is Nic so special to us?"  He fully understands the Button's adoption, but of all the responses he couldn't given he said, "because he loves me!"    We saw his wife Jordyn and baby Asher too.  :)  

We also got to see S, Button's birth mom and Grandma J and Grandpa R.
We had so much fun riding Trax and seeing the lights on temple square.

Nic made Button's scarf.   

The plan was for my family to spend Christmas at a cabin in the mountains. 

When the first of the camp arrived, the cabin's heat wasn't working, pipes were frozen (icicles indoors, toilet bowl water frozen solid) and Christmas at the cabin looked impossible.  However, my grandpa and my dad saved the day.  They fixed the heater (pilot light out), tested the pipes for leaks. replaced broken pipes and thawed the rest out.  Within about 24 everything was fine and we were in a toasty warm cabin.  

The near miss made us doubly grateful to have a warm and comfortable place to be together. 

My dad asked Beau to help him find the perfect Christmas tree.
We were all laughing because he kept choosing trees 150 feet tall.

Luckily, my dad had anticipated Beau's preferences and  had gone out early that morning and decorated a tree in red ribbon and candies so that it would catch Beau's eye.  

Beau spent the week rumbling and wrestling with all the men in the house

On Christmas Eve we re-enacted the story of Christ's birth and had our Bethlehem-style dinner.

Button, my sisters, my mom, me
You can't really tell but my sister Ginnie (next to me) is due next month and my sister Genny (right in the middle) is due 6 weeks later.  Both will have baby boys.  2012 is going to be such a wonderful year for our family. I can't wait to meet my precious nephews.  

my brothers, D & my dad
the handsome boys.  They kept dancing around so it was hard to get a clear picture

Then comes everyone's favorite part of the Christmas Eve program: Gift of the Heart.  Button and Beau drew names this year and both worked hard on thinking of ideas and making the gifts.  B&B were so excited to present the gifts that they had a hard time keeping it clandestine. "Aunt Polly I can't tell you that I have CoCo for Gift of the Heart, I'm keeping it a secret."  

Beau (and D) made a hat and spray-painted a cool silhouette of Colton "surfboarding."
Colton made Beau feel so good.  When putting Beau to bed, Beau told me that he felt so happy that Colton liked it, that "it was the best day ever."   Beau is learning that you feel good when you do kind things for people.

Button and I painted something for Nonnie.
I regret not choosing something Button could've owned more.  Next time.

Polly and I made binkies for the new babes (which their mama's modeled.)

On Christmas Day we celebrated Christ's birth and talked about His life and work.

Beau wished that he would see a moose and he got that wish.
We saw two moose sparring about 10 feet from us.
Beau kept saying, "Mom get in the car!  I want you to be safe!"