Christmas Time is Here

It's amazing how fast this time of year rolls around, then how quickly it's over. I asked my mom if she could watch the girls while I finished some last minute Christmas shopping. Grandma always brings the best activities and the girls always have a blast.

It was a couple days before Christmas and both the girls were bouncing around with A LOT of Christmas energy. So in order to keep my sanity, I took them to the Bounce and Slide. They had a blast and Allie got really good at saying, "slide".

The 23rd was the annual Griffiths Christmas party. There is so much work that goes into this night and it's turned into one of my favorite parts of Christmas. First Lydia and Allie got to visit with Santa. Well, Lydia did anyway. Allie mostly wailed. Lydia told him again, how much she wants a doctor kit.

Lydia and Loren performed Feliz Navidad. They did great! Lydia was nervous so I'm proud of her for doing it.

These cute girls made Lydia's night! She was thrilled to be included with the big kids. Brynn took extra care of Lydia to make sure she was included. They are so sweet! Here they were singing Let it Go.

Dad, Lindsay and I sang When a Child is Born. Turned out pretty good for hardly practicing!

Lydia was an angel in the Nativity this year and Aaron a shepherd.

Lindsay wowed us with a ballet performance. She is so graceful and beautiful when she dances!

Christmas Eve fell on a Sunday this year. Dad thought he'd do Allie's hair. Mom didn't think that was such a great idea.

We went to church in Avon and afterwards had the worlds best dinner. Twice baked potatoes, rolls, prime rib, salads, Italian sodas and more. Wish I would have got a picture of it! It was great to be together as a family.
Chris and Kristen had the idea of getting Charlie his own Christmas tree. We went and put it up by his grave. There was something comforting about including Charlie in the Christmas festivities. Afterwards we went back to the house and Loren, Lindsay, Rachel and I performed a song written by the Piano Guys called The Sweetest Gift. The lyrics are exactly how we feel about Brendan being gone and Loren really wanted to perform it for him. So we did, and even though it didn't go as planned, I hoped everyone could still feel the comfort we received from it.

The girls were up early Christmas morning! Loren had been up late talking to Maddy who called from Hong Kong so we let him sleep in a bit.

Allie's stash this year.

Lydia's.

They were soooo excited! Grandma and Grandpa Rigby, Brayden and Todd came over to watch the girls open their presents.

Allie's hair was bodacious.

Lydia was so excited about her new books!

Fanny's Dream is one of my favorites.

Santa brought her doctor kit! She was so thrilled and started her check-up's on everyone right away.

Giving dad his shot. "You need to be brave!"

We spent the rest of the morning playing games and eating good food. Then in the afternoon we went out to Avon. We got completely spoiled. Lydia and Allie got some new clothes and Moana. I've put my blogs into books but have been waiting to print them. My gift was my blog books being printed!! I couldn't stop the tears, it was such a thoughtful and truly wonderful gift. We also got freezer meals, a tie wrack and a new drill. We have such wonderful family, I feel so blessed.

Happy birthday, daddy! The girls helped me pick out some new jeans for him since he doesn't have any. Loren and I were able to go to the Greatest Showman. It's one of the best movies I've ever seen. I loved it!! Then we had Chris, Kristen, Nathan and Lexi over for games and ice cream. Hopefully it was a great day for him.

The next day Chris and Kristen's baby girl, Livinia was born. Welcome to the world! We're excited to meet her.

Allie's first time in the snow!

On our anniversary and my mom's birthday we went to Salt Lake to see the lights. The girls had fun in the church history museum and visitor's center. We missed Mary and Cam but Mary had gone into the hospital the night before with a lot of pain. They discovered a cyst wrapped around her ovary. They had to remove the ovary along with the cyst. We hope she can recover quickly!