A Riehle Family Christmas

The family gathered at Nicki and Kirk's home for munchies, presents, games and just plain old fellowship. It was a lot of fun and we even played SCENE IT MUSIC. I did not do well, but it was enjoyable. We also went over the citizenship test because Nicki's son in law is about to take the test. Once again....well I just don't want to talk about! haha
There was a ton of food and everyone seemed to have a good time. It's been a really nice Christmas day!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

First picture taken with new camera.
Seth is such a ham!!

Alyssa and the newest member of the family-Alora Dannen
(I know I didn't spell that right)

playing SCENE IT-MUSIC

sleepy baby-she's so soft and squishy!

"rar!"

i'm taking a picture of you taking a picture of me-so silly.

Christmas Morning Madness

Christmas morning was the usual madness. Although it didn't start out that way. I woke up around 630 to get the turkey in the oven and decided to call mom and daddy to wish them Happy Christmas before they left to go to my sister's house for the day. At that point I was the only one awake and I was completely happy with that. I had only 6 hours of sleep the 2 previous days because of work so I was happy to have a quiet morning and was planning on getting a few more zzzz's myself. Not so. Dan woke up and decided that it was Christmas morning and to feel the spirit of the morning, everyone needed to be awake. So away he went and woke up the kids. The boys were excited to see that Santa had arrived and even Paige noticed a difference under the tree. (Until then there weren't any presents under the tree.) I think everyone got what they wanted and had a good morning. I even got a surprise by getting a new camera!! Here are some of the moments!

Reindeer Food

At Seth's Christmas party he got reindeer food. We thought tonight would be appropriate even though we are experiencing a wild winter storm! White Christmas for sure. The reindeer food consisted of glitter and oatmeal. It sparkled as it landed on the white snow. The boys really enjoyed putting it out. Paige just enjoyed pouncing int he snow (she reminded me of a cat with wet paws the way she was walking in the snow). MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE!

Making Christmas Cookies

We wanted to make cookies for Santa this year. I found a yummy cake mix cookie recipe and decided to use that. Seth wanted to help. We make chocolate cookies with M&M's and chocolate chips. I really think Santa will like these!

Sunday Best for Christmas

my babies all dressed up!

"cheese"

what a ham!

Keegan not only didn't want to wear a tie, he said he was smiling for the picture.

Today was the ward Christmas program in Sacrament Meeting. It was a lovely service. Lots of beautiful music (and my favorite Christmas hymn OH HOLY NIGHT) was sung.
We got the kids all dressed up and tried to feel the Christmas spirit. It helps that it's trying to snow and it's really frigid outside.
(and our poor Christmas tree is bare because we have little hands that like to open presents before it's time and another pair of little hands that like to remove the ornaments....)

Chocolates

Every year the sisters in law(and some of the granddaughters) get together with Margot and make chocolates. We usually do them at Easter and Christmas. Today was the day. I made cookie truffle centers, peanut butter centers, and cheesecake centers. So good! There were also molds to be filled and other things to dip into the chocolate. It's a fun time for all those that can make it. I really enjoy this time.

Gingerbread Train

While grocery shopping we found a gingerbread train set. Since we have boys that can't seem to live without trains....we opted for the train instead of the house. Something different. We decided to put it together this afternoon. Here are some pictures from the fun. Now we get to clean up all the icing on the table....yum!

A Bangert Christmas

Seth got a lunch pail with gumballs.

Keegan got a tye die kit-so FUN!

Our little monkey (how appropriate) got monkey ear muffs and gloves!

With all the yummy food, Keegan only wanted cheese and grapes....

Paige and Aunt Sue.

Here comes Santa Claus, Here comes Santa Claus...

Seth.

Even Paige got to sit on his lap without making a peep.

Patrick

Valerie

Every year (for the most part) Valerie and Troy host a Christmas party. This year was no different, unless you count the added amount of people. About 100 I believe was the final count. I'm not sure how they all fit into their house, but they were there. The kids all had a good time, the food was very good and even SANTA made a visit and got to spend time with each of the kids. It really was fun. Too bad Dan missed out. He had to work and was unable to attend. He is now on Bobby's hit list. hehehe

It's begining to look a lot like Christmas.

Tonight we put up our Christmas tree. Loads of fun! We put it up while listening to the FIRST PRESIDENCY CHRISTMAS DEVOTIONAL. We really enjoyed that. Great talks and beautiful music. Really puts in perspective the Christmas spirit. (Of course once that was over the tv was immediately switched to the STEELERS game.....oh man.....) We are very excited for the holiday this year. Everyone enjoyed putting up the tree and we are now officially ready for Christmas.

Snow much fun!

We went outside around 11am. There was still about 5 more hours of snowfall before it would all be over.

It's war now!

Keegan wasn't thrilled about getting wet and wouldn't participate in the snowball fight.

Paige just giggled the whole time. The snow is about as deep as she is tall.

Dan had to clean out Seth's hood after getting hit.

While the snow was falling we decided it was a good time to go out and play in it. Our neighbors were also outside playing and instantly Quinten started a snowball fight with anyone willing to throw snow back. It was fun. The boys really enjoyed and Paige kept giggling and walking around like a cat in the snow, shaking her feet with every step. After playing in it we dried off and headed to Wal-mart and bought snow boots for the kids....should've thought of that before the snow fell.
The final tally of snow for the day (which started falling around midnight the night before and didn't stop until 4pm) was around 9-10 inches I believe. December came in like a lion and brought the real winter weather with it!