Christmas Day 2011

This year Christmas fell on a Sunday. We go to church on Sundays. At 11:00 am. There was no way we were going to miss church (or Christmas) but the kids were concerned that we would have to sacrifice one for the other. We told them that worst case scenario would be we just leave the gifts we hadn't gotten to yet for after church. That was unacceptable. 

They got it in their heads that they would have to wake up obscenely early so they wouldn't miss out on either. We put the kibosh on that real quick. We told them that no one was allowed out of bed before 6:00 am. 

Apparently Emma woke at 5:30 and had to sit in bed and stew for a whole 30 minutes. As soon as the clock said six she was up and in the shower. When she was done she told Andrew to get in the shower. This has NEVER happened before. (in all fairness it probably wouldn't have this year either if it wasn't necessary for them to be ready for church) The kids never take the time to get clean on Christmas morning.

After Andrew was out of the shower it was my turn and then Paul's. I am sure glad we got a new water heater for Christmas. If we hadn't it would have been impossible for us all to have a hot shower one right after the other! 

Finally it was time. The music was playing so that meant it was time for the sheet to come down.

This little calendar has a funny story behind it. I had gone to Target to get some stocking stuffers. I of course hit the one spot. They had some sweet little calendars. I saw this one and knew one of us had to have it. For whatever reason I only bought one. That evening Emma and I went on a date night while Paul and Andrew were at a basketball game. We stopped at Target and what does Emma do? She picks the one thing I bought her that very afternoon. The sweets calendar. Grrr. Of course I bought another one so we could both have one. 

We're going to have a red head soon. (At least for a few weeks)

My goodies. I sure know how to stuff a stocking for myself. 

It was a bit of a BYU Christmas. Andrew sporting his new crazy cougar hat.

Paul with his new car flags so he can go to the games in style. As you can see he was totally excited about them.

Emma and her funny bear hat.

This year Emma made everyone gifts. She's taking woodshop so she carved us pen covers that are very cool. She made one for Andrew and gave him a painting and a Disney pin that he's always coveted. He was very touched by her generosity.

She also bought be this super cute frame and had Paul print a picture to put into it. I love it!

One of Paul's favorite gifts was a box of peanut butter Twix. He was so surprised and couldn't believe I had found them for him.

Emma's big gift was a laptop bundle. We had both sets of grandparents go in on it with us. She saw the HP box but still didn't get that it was really a computer. For her. 

Still thinking it was just an old box...

Then she finally realized it was the real deal. Boy was she excited. She was beyond thrilled. 

It's PuRpLe! 

Still thinking, "Is this for real?"

Andrew got an Ipod touch. He was really happy since his had some problems.

This big gift had been hiding off to the side. We told them it was mine but then at the end we revealed the truth. It was Andrew's gift from Grandma Nancy and Grandpa David. It was exactly what he had been asking for. A Guitar! 

We need to ask our neighbor for some help learning how to tune it but he is so so so very excited. 

Santa was good to me this year too. I'm finally part of the tech crowd. I'm slowly warming up to the Ipad. It intimidates me a little bit but I'm thrilled to have it.

My lovely clean living room looked like this after only a couple of hours.  

We made it through Christmas with plenty of time to eat a nice breakfast and get dressed for church. After church we rested, played with new toys and then prepared a fondue dinner. Yum. We all smelled like fried meat for the rest of the night LOL!

Christmas Eve

This is the first Christmas Eve that we have spent all alone in a long time. It was different for us but still good. I made ham, funeral potatoes, rolls and corn. I wanted my raspberry jell-o salad but knew we had more than enough food as it was. I have to admit I got grouchy that afternoon doing all the cooking for just the four of us. It seemed like a waste but once we sat down I was glad we were having our traditional meal. 

We always get new PJ's on Christmas Eve. Usually they arrive on the porch and some point and then the doorbell will mysteriously ring and the kids find them. This year they had gotten safely to the porch but we weren't sure how to get the doorbell to ring. Well it ends up we didn't have to worry about it. Andrew spilled water all over his old PJ's so he went to the door to yell to the elves to hurry up and deliver the new ones. Lo and behold there they were, just waiting to be found. How convenient ; )

Andrew started stripping before we were even ready for them open the gifts. (We didn't think they would find them so early) He had to sit and wait topless while Paul finished the dishes and I got the camera ready. 

They both liked what Santa had picked for them.

I don't have a remote for my camera anymore so it was really hard to get a family picture. This is the best we got.

Of course we had to do a silly picture as a reward for their patience and perseverance. 

Me and my babies

Paul and I on Christmas Eve

After pictures we watched the nativity movie that the church put out.   We went upstairs and put out my mom's nativity. We talked about the birth of the Jesus, the blessing it is in our lives and shared our testimonies of our beliefs. Andrew was really touched. I love seeing that side of him. It will be a special memory for me.

It was then time for the kids to be banished to their rooms so Santa and Mrs. Claus could do their work. Marius was kind enough to guard the sheet that was blocking the kids view into the living room. (If we didn't put up a sheet they would see everything on each trip to the potty or each time they wanted water.) Marius loved the sheet and did a great job making sure no one peeked.  

We didn't do a big Santa gift this year. We just had a bunch of little things out for the kids. 

The obligatory Christmas tree pictures. 

I got into bed early enough but I didn't even come close to falling asleep until it was almost 1:00 am. I felt like a little kid.