Christmas with the Wilcoxs

Now that Bryce and I are married, holidays are a little complicated. We want to spend time with both families, but with one family in Logan and the other family on the other end of the state in Cedar City it's difficult to see both on Christmas. Because of this, we decided to do all of my family's Christmas traditions a little earlier. We moved Christmas Eve to Monday, December 20th and Christmas to December 21st. We had to make sure and inform Santa that Christmas was coming a little earlier at our house this year :) My family was awesome for not only being willing to change, but excited to move all our traditions up a few days. We had a blast and we didn't have to miss out on very much!!!

When we were younger, one of our Christmas traditions was to drive around Logan and see all of the lights. Well a few years ago we decided that the lights were always the same and so we decided to watch a Christmas movie at the theater instead. We had so much fun that night that watching a movie at the movie theater became our new Christmas tradition. Unfortunately, since we were doing Christmas Eve on December 20th there weren't any Christmas movies playing so we decided to watch Despicable Me. We were one of maybe three families watching the movie, and you could really only hear our family laughing, but we had a blast. Despicable Me was a lot better than I thought it would be and the little minions were hilarious. We quoted sayings from the movie throughout the rest of the night.

Another one of our Christmas Eve traditions is to open pajamas, and one present (which is always a game) that night. Afterwards, we all change into our new pajamas and play the new game we got, as well as some of our other favorites games until well into the night. This year we played LIFE, Snarf, Scum, Golf, Alaska, Phase 10, Monopoly Deal, and our new game Word on the Street.

Christmas morning comes early at the Wilcox home. We are usually up and opening presents by 5:00 am. My dad always looks out the window at our neighbors and says "The Sainsbury's aren't up, the Cooley's aren't up, we're the first ones up again this year." Secretly I think he enjoys this little competition with the neighbors, even if they don't know it's actually occurring :) After opening our presents on Christmas we are usually driving to my grandparents' houses, but since Christmas came early this year we were able to stay home and enjoy spending time together.

Presents Santa brought for Bryce and Shelynne

Bryce's new hat from Brittanee, hopefully he doesn't lose this one this year :)

An itunes card and Reese's from Skyler

My new jacket from Skyler

It's crazy, Brittanee and I almost picked out the exact same shirt for each other. I was actually looking at the same shirt she bought me, but my mom directed my attention to another display of shirts. We have such great taste I guess.

BYU Cougars sweatshirt... This had to have come from Skyler!

Sour Skittles and an Alex Boye CD from Bryce and I.

Backyard sports game from Brittanee

My dad's new tackle box

He loves popcorn!!!

My mom's new calendar we made for her!

I think my mom enjoyed her nerf gun as much as she liked the calendar :)

Santa also brought the boys Flarp. "It's this jelly-like substance when pushed upon makes noises that should only be heard in the bathroom" - Bryce Carter. Needless to say, the boys loved it!

Our sparkling cider for breakfast. Bryce was a big fan!!!

After we had an amazing Christmas dinner, we made a gingerbread house. Each person added their own little touch to the house. Dad made the structure. Bryce made the chimney and the lightposts in the front. Skyler did the snow on the bottom and the red and green decorations around the house. Mom added the wreath and the licorice archways. Brittanee made the red walkway. I added the two children looking out the window, and Brittanee and I did the lights on the roof.

After making our gingerbread house it was time for dessert... HOMEMADE ICECREAM!!!

What an amazing time we had with my hilarious, awesome, crazy (to say the least) family.