Christmas Festivities

After our short stay at Sherry's we packed up our stuff and headed to Montana for Christmas with the families. We spilt Christmas this year, spending a few days before and Christmas Eve with the Green side, finishing up with Christmas Day and a few days after at the Hilliard side. 

(please excuse the picture overload, I just can't help it) 

This was taken a few seconds before jumping in the truck to head off to Montana. 

 

Oh how I love seeing this sign. 

The morning after arriving in Saint Ignatius, we put up the tree with the help of Alan's dad, Theo. 

 Sherry and I decided we wanted to string popcorn like "back in the old days." It was fun, actually went faster then I thought. 

 After the popcorn was strung, we started putting ornaments on the tree. I mostly watched while Alan and Sherry relived memories by hanging their childhood ornaments. 

I loved getting to see all the cute little things my husband made while he was little. He is quite the craftsman. 

 The finished tree was great. Having a tree that is more then 3ft tall makes Christmas seem more real for some reason. 

We spent the rest of our Saturday at Alan's Nephews wrestling meet. He did a great job, and it was really exciting to be back at a wrestling meet again. We wish him the best of luck for the rest of the season. (he's the one in the blue and purple)

On Sunday we celebrated Alan's other nephew's birthday. He turned 12! We made him a special pizza / cake.

After the birthday festivities we took Green Family photos. It was really fun to be a part of these and we look forward to displaying them in our home. 

   The Green's (Alan and Heidi)   The Green's (Theo and Marian) 

The Green Children (Alan, Suzie and Sherry) 

The Green's (Suzie, Max and Pascao)

 The Green Family! (LtoR back) Alan, Pascao, Max, Theo, (LtoR front) Suzie, Marian, Heidi and Sherry! 

 CHRISTMAS EVE!  

Our Christmas Eve was spent playing games, opening presents and reading the Christmas story. It was really neat to spend this time with family and get to know the Green side better. 

One of my favorite games was pictionary, and I loved the homemade almond joys my Nephew Pascao made!  They were amazing! 

Opening presents was really fun! This year we drew names and had a rule associated with the drawing. The rule was, the present had to start with the same letter as the receivers name. 

Max = Mantis Puzzle & Monster Car

Sherry = Soup and socks 

Theo = Thermal Gloves and Grandpa = Goodies 

Heidi = Hat and something for my Hands (nail polish) 

Alan = Atmosphere (lantern) 

Pascao = Professional Car Care Kit

Marian = Material and Grandma = Goodies 

During our visit to Saint Ignatius we were lucky enough to see Dorothy. Dorothy is one of the amazing ladies that Alan and Sherry worked for while growing up. She is a wonderful lady and we love her very much. 

CHRISTMAS DAY 

We spent Christmas Day with my side of the family. It was really fun to have everyone together and enjoy the day. This is the first time we've all been together since our wedding. After opening more presents- Alan and I are so spoiled. We took more family photo's. We now have a new updated picture of both our families. EEK so excited to hang them up! 

 The Hilliard's (LtoR back) Erwin, Clint, Travis, Alan, (LtoR front) Elaine, Ollecka, Heidi. 

 The Hilliard Children (LtoR) Ollecka, Travis, Heidi and Clint

The Boys: Clint and Travis 

The Girls: Ollecka and Heidi - The dogs: Rascal and Peanut

 The Hilliard Siblings + brother in law: (LtoR back) Clint, Travis, (LtoR front) Ollecka, Heidi and Alan

 Erwin and Elaine 

 After Christmas dinner, we played games, and caught up on old times. Later in our stay we decorated cookies with my sister and parents. For some reason these little traditions that we did when we were younger seem so much more fun now that we are getting older. 

Once the cookies were done we had to eat a few so we could make sure they were okay to eat, in case we deiced to give some away.

We left for home early Friday morning, and by home I mean back to Idaho. It was harder to leave this time. I think its because I am getting older, or maybe because the time between seeing our families is becoming farther and farther apart. Either way, it was hard. 

On the way back we stopped at the top of Chief Joseph Pass and took some photographs. I love having these memories to look back on over the years. 

We were about 45 minutes away from Rexburg and this is what we saw... I won't lie we both thought about turning around and coming back to Montana for good. 

 Hope all is well this new years week. Look for more pictures to come on our adventures in welcoming in 2013! 

 Much Love! 
The Green's