Christmas this year was spent with the Gillman family in Massachussettes. My sister Christy and her family of 5 girls (!) lives there and it was easiest for all of us to go there. My brother Mark's family and my parents were there as well. We celebrated 2 of the grandchildren's birthdays, ate lots of cake and other goodies, had a pinata, played bumper pool, ate at a Japanese buffet, played Sequence til the wee hours of the night, rocked Lego Rock Band, stopped well-intentioned 4-year-olds from mauling babies, reenacted the Christmas story, paintballed (the boys), saw mansions in Rhode Island, stayed in cozy cabins in New Hampshire, played in the snow, got sick, went snowboarding in -15 degree weather, watched the same movies over and over.... and best of all, just spent time with family. It was a WONDERFUL trip and SO FUN to see everyone! So in no particular order.. some of our memories
Sarah and Janelle...they traded/stole toys from each other most of the time. Janelle learned to crawl while we were there and Sarah watched in envy. They were such good friends, until Sarah started pulling Janelle's hair!
I guess this is the official Santa picture for the year...
We got to go to the beautiful Boston temple!
My sister-in-law Jana with Sarah. Jana is having a GIRL in June! We're so exited for another girl cousin so soon!
Our scraggly, but 'with character' Christmas tree.
Sarah's favorite toy while we were there
Kurtis' new passion: PAINTBALLING. 'Can I get a gun?' was his first comment to me after going. 'It was so awsome' he still says. Thanks Jared for exposing my husband to these new-fangled things. :)
The boys after paintballing, from L - R: Jared's friend, Kurtis, my brother Mark, Jared (brother-in-law) and my Dad
Paintballing posse
The brave or crazy ones who dared go snowboarding while in New Hampshire. Notice the RED cheeks! They spent a lot of time in the lodge... and they claimed it was fun and my little niece Brooklynn who's never been says she wants to go again after the whole ordeal!
The Christmas story.. it was pretty cute to watch. Grant was a very protective yet wandering Joseph while Kate was so happy to be the 'mother' Mary to baby Jesus.
My sister took my mom and I up to Rhode Island to see the GIGANTIC mansions owned by the Vanderbuilt families. These houses were insanely big and gawdy but so beautiful!
PLease don't throw a snowball at me!
Anxiously anticipating Christmas morning... they were sooooooooo eager to go downstairs!
We didn't bring our presents to MA for packing reasons so we had to stage a 'fake' Christmas morning when we got home. Of course, Sarah's favorite thing to do was play with the paper. I seriously contemplated just wrapping empty boxes for her to play with...but I caved and got some simple toys on sale for her. We didn't really take pictures of us the real Christmas morning so I'm glad to have some here.
Sister Christy's family: Christy, Jared, Brooklynn, Hallie, Ashley, Kate, Janelle
Brother Mark's family: Jana, Mark, Grant
Us! 
'Here, I'll wash your back if you wash mine!" 
I guess this is the official Santa picture for the year...
We got to go to the beautiful Boston temple!
My sister-in-law Jana with Sarah. Jana is having a GIRL in June! We're so exited for another girl cousin so soon!
Our scraggly, but 'with character' Christmas tree. 
Sarah's favorite toy while we were there 
Kurtis' new passion: PAINTBALLING. 'Can I get a gun?' was his first comment to me after going. 'It was so awsome' he still says. Thanks Jared for exposing my husband to these new-fangled things. :)
The boys after paintballing, from L - R: Jared's friend, Kurtis, my brother Mark, Jared (brother-in-law) and my Dad 
Paintballing posse
The Christmas story.. it was pretty cute to watch. Grant was a very protective yet wandering Joseph while Kate was so happy to be the 'mother' Mary to baby Jesus.
My sister took my mom and I up to Rhode Island to see the GIGANTIC mansions owned by the Vanderbuilt families. These houses were insanely big and gawdy but so beautiful! 
PLease don't throw a snowball at me! 
Anxiously anticipating Christmas morning... they were sooooooooo eager to go downstairs!
Here's a few moments we captured this Christmas. We spent the holidays in Massachussettes with my family but had a few memories of our own here at home in Minnesota. 
These were my gingerbread men when I was little.. Sarah tried to eat them 
Her snowsuit is a little big....
I LOVE Christmas decorations and am sad when I have to take them down
Our tree.. I call it the sugarplum tree! I love the purple/green/whimsical theme. We get a $10 tree every year. You can't beat that, although it's quite prickly. Maybe that explains the price..
Notice Sarah looking at the lights.. she loved them. Kurtis was mean and kept getting her to touch the prickly needles!
Her favorite place to take naps.. seriously
This is Sarah's little friend Aaron. He was born 4 weeks before Sarah. His parents are in our ward and they were in our birthing class at the hospital. They're pretty cute together...
She insists on trying to feed herself these days..