A not so joyful moment....

Our little Lexi Lu loves to create plays and have us act them out. A couple that come to mind are her recreation of Snow White, and a G-rated Halloween/Prom thriller complete with tombstones. With this said, it's not surprising that Lexi Lu loves to act out the nativity. Doing it at the family get-together just wasn't enough. At first Lexi was concerned about how we were going to fill all the character roles in the nativity. Keep in mind when we do it with my extended family, there are 20+ grand kids so we have a very full stable with a plethora of donkeys, sheep, cows, shepherds etc. We finally got around to doing our little nativity on January 3rd. In the mean time, Lex had seen pictures on my sis-in-law's blog of her cousins using stuffed animals to help fill all the roles the nativity entails. She, of course, loved the idea and was set that was what we were going to do. Lexi is a planner. She envisions in her head exactly how things should be. Which I love until I get to help her create her masterpieces. I, of course, don't always get things just right. Well on this particular day, I was recovering from a nasty case of strep. My energy and patience were extremely limited. However, we made it through Lexi's meticulous stuffed animal cast selection and even found a few accessories and props. In the mean time, her brothers were getting tired of wearing their costumes and by the time Lexi and I made it downstairs, the boys were running around without their costumes on. So it was a struggle to get them to put them back on. "But MOM, we're hot and sweaty," they protested. Who could blame them? With Rob's help, we were able to convince them to put their costumes back on. We finally start our production! But it doesn't take long for the boys to upset Lexi again. She runs upstairs to her room hollering and in tears. Are we having FUN yet?

To be honest with you, the rest is a blur. Some how Lexi decided to come back to participate and her brothers cooperated while we rushed through our re-enactment. Phew!

Presenting.....

The Donigan Nativity.

Parker and Dyl are wise men. Mary and Joseph are played by a huge doll and stuffed teddy bear. Lexi is an angel and the care bear draped in stars hanging over baby Jesus is the star. And of course the carefully selected stuffed animal cast to play the rest of the roles.

At the time, if I were to use one word to describe it. It would be PAINFUL. However, looking back, I can actually smile about it. But that doesn't mean I'm ready for another Alexia Nicole Donigan production yet!

On a different note......the day after Christmas we braved the snow packed roads and drove to Logan to spend a couple of days with some of Rob's family. It took us two fingernail biting hours to get there, but we made it!

We had fun bowling.



We visited the Aggie A and braved sledding down Old Main Hill.

After climbing this monstrous hill a few times, the kids were EXHAUSTED. Parker stayed in this position for quite a while. I told the kids that when I was going to USU, I would have to make that climb and other climbs daily to get onto campus. They were amazed.:)

Gingerbread houses!

Gingerbread houses are a yearly tradition at my mother-in-law's house. Marie does all the work herself. She makes her dough and rolls it out and cuts out the shapes. I'm sure glad she doesn't shy away from that work! I like to nibble on the scraps. Then once the kids have decorated their masterpieces, Marie constructs the pieces together.


This is Dylan's "TA-DA" pose. He was proud of his work.

Can you guess what this is?

Yup! Our gingerbread house was demolished! The gingerbread house survived the car ride home. But not being in Lexi's hands.:)

The holiday season was filled with many fun times and lasting memories! I can't wait for next year.