Our family is so richly blessed, our children have everything they need and most of what they want. Rather than give them more "stuff" for Christmas, we decided that their gift would be the "experience" of going to Boston and doing fun things. So here is our Christmas....
On Sunday we got up for an EARLY morning flight at 4am. Landed in Boston, waiting for dad to get us a vehicle. We got a pick up truck which was a little squishy but it fit all the luggage.
This cool guy was working the car rental counter, very festive!
Arrived at Joey and Liz' house!
For dinner we enjoyed scallops risotto--yum!
Monday (Christmas Eve) we watched Home Alone--always a classic at Christmas. It began to barely snow. We were really hoping for a white Christmas, but as it turned out we had to go seek out the snow. We went on a walk and helped Liz and Joey get ready to host their annual family party which was lovely. We did go to bed for a few hours but got up those that were interested in going to a Christmas Eve Mass in Concord--I LOVED it.
K with Evie
M with Jack
Kaitlyn is working a lot on her festival piece and Jack enjoys dancing while listening.
Hot cocoa flowed and flowed each morning
Snow flurries and jumping on the trampoline!
Christmas Eve Mass at the Concord Catholic Church
Christmas Day (Tuesday)--Jack and Evie really enjoyed the traditional breakfast of cinnamon rolls--it was just nice to all be together. Because this trip WAS the BIG gift for Christmas there wasn't much to open for us. We did gift tickets to Lion King on Broadway for our MCO Tour next summer. And we upgraded some ipads and kind of passed down old ones to now be "kids" devices.
A Christmas surprise that we opened!
Baby Howe coming soon!
Love these two!
And these two--there was a lot of guitar hero played over the week in Boston!
Wednesday we spent a day at Nashoba ski area. The snow was fake, but enough for us beginners. We put us all in ski school but by the end of the day these kids were all amazing on the slopes!
Matthew could do the bunny slopes by pointing his skis straight down and going, I kept telling him I needed him to practice switch backs so I could feel confident about him moving to harder hills. I don't think he fully appreciated that advice until he tried his first Blue Hill and went so fast! He almost ended up in the parking lot! He also fell a lot the first time down. Stephen was sure he wouldn't want to go again but he did, and he kept doing it until he could go down without falling. Love his determination.
They all did so very well on the slopes!
Sam was super confident on the mountain, Lindsey held her own as well not wanting to be left behind by her brothers. Mom and K aren't the most confident but they'd better catch up soon because the other kiddos loved it so much and definitely want to go again sometime! Watched Hunger Games!
On Thursday we still wanted fun in the snow. After a lazy morning we decided to go tubing. It was a VERY poplular idea and the crowd was pretty big but with our group rate we skipped the 1.5 hour line right to the front! It was so fun! The slopes were straight lanes and kind of iced over so they were fast!
After being in the cold we enjoyed a dinner of corn chowder and watched The House with the clock in the Walls and enjoyed some family games!
Friday we hung around the house. Played more games (Scum, Ticket to Ride, Sleeping Queens, Cover your Assets) We went to see the new Mary Poppins in the Theater and then grilled out for dinner!
Saturday we ventured into the city, Downtown Boston. Joey and Liz paid for us to have the experience of ice skating in the Boston Common--SO FUN!
On our way back to Joey and Liz' we drove by Raytheon HQ in Waltham, MA. We joked that Stephen was just there scoping out his future corner office with a view! LOL
During General Conference I felt impressed to make more effort to take our kids to the temple. So we arranged to go do baptisms at the temple while we were there. What a sweet experience it was. With recent announcements to the change of when youth can participate in things, Lindsey will go with us next time!
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