A Brad and Chelsey Belt Family Christmas

 Since I ended my last post talking about the cute gifts my children made, especially that cute sword that Riley and Ben were making, let me share a picture with you of the kind of damage a homemade gift can make :

Yes, somehow Ben almost poked Riley's eye out with the gift he had made the day before Christmas Eve.

Brad and I worked up until Christmas Eve.  So our first real vacation for Christmas began on Christmas Eve.  Since all our children are now too big for the KTM 50 that we bought for Jordan over 10 years ago it was given away for another family with some other little boys to enjoy.  Since it was the first dirtbike ever bought for the Belt family it needed a special ceremony to go.  First, every child took a turn riding it one last time.

 

 And then it received a special goodbye blessing from the family.  Some sort of moto ritual was enacted in which all the little moto-heads paid homage before we loaded it off to it new home.

 

 

 Goodbye little KTM 50, you were our first and we will always remember you!!!

That evening, after the mid-day rush of wrapping presents and last minute Christmas shopping for Dad buying presents that he ended up taking back anyhow (he bought himself the gift I was going to initially give him...ugh!) we enjoyed a Christmas Eve dinner of appetizers and caroling to a few of our close friends.  Upon our arrival at our home we performed the nativity (I forgot to take pics...sorry!) and then watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

On Christmas morning we woke up to our first good snowfall here.  So we had Jordan start a fire.  Part of his job in building a fire is to split kindling.  It's the children's least favorite part of building a fire.  Yet, our dog seems to enjoy it immensely.  You see, a child will go out to split the kindling and place it on the ground.

Soon after they start splitting, Harley shows up and will snatch a piece of kindling...

 and then another piece...

and another ...

 until finally, said child will unsuccessfully attempt to get the dog to put down the kindling.

 

 

 And, then by this point end up so frustrated that usually a chase ensues.  Personally, I think this is Harley's favorite part and the whole reason behind the kindling snatching.

Usually the child comes out the victor.

But either way Harley always seems content.

After the fire was built and the pies placed in the oven by me we gathered together in front of the tree and the opening of presents began.

There were a few presents opened first like an aqua bean bag (I told you it wasn't chocolate!) and some remote helicopters and then finally we got the the good stuff.  Protective gear, guns and ammo!

 

Armed and dangerous our family was finally ready for paintball 101 basic training.

 And while we've yet to enjoy our first game (we're waiting for the weather to warm up a bit), the paintball guns were received with great enthusiasm.

Grandma and Grandpa came that night and stayed with us until the day before New Years.  We enjoyed their visit while they were here but may have passed on some sicknesses we had.  Sorry Dad!  Of couse, I forgot to take out the camera so no pics!

On New Years Eve and New Years day we went skiing as a family.  

 Jake and I were so excited to go we couldn't contain our happiness.  Of course, we (Jake and I that is) are still pretty green on the ski slopes.  I tried to keep up with Kenzie but lost her several times going down the hill.  I didn't even attempt to keep up with the older boys.

So, there's a quick snapshot of our last two weeks.  Hope your Holidays were as enjoyable as ours.  Now, back to the grinding stone of work and school!