A visit with Santa

We made our traditional visit to the mall to visit Santa yesterday. I thought it would be fun to post the past years photos so you can see how the kids have changed.




2008

2007


2006

all I could find for 2005was this crappy picture :(

2004
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2003




2001

Lance and I have come to realize that family traditions are very important in keeping a family close. We are both grateful for the traditions we were raised with - they gave us stability as we grew up. Each year we seem to make a few new family traditions but there are some that we have stuck to for many years. Some examples are: taking my mom with us to eat dinner at the Cracker Barrel and drive through the Spanish Fork Christmas Light display ( we even did this when she was in the midst of her Chemo), spending Christmas Eve at my mom's with the Jeppson cousins, reading "A Christmas Dress for Ellen" (the Jeppson family Christmas story), reading Luke 2, opening Christmas jammies on Christmas Eve at my mom's, spending Christmas Day at Lance's parents with the Madigan cousins, I pick out a special ornament for the kids each year, using our many many advent calendars, watching the old animated Christmas movies like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman. These traditions, for us, define the season and make it more magical. I would love to hear what other people do each year to make Christmas special!