Gingerbread Houses, The Nativity, Christmas Eve, Day, and the day after!

Tuesday night (12-22-10) we had Brent and Sarah and their family over to do Gingerbread houses with us.  I thought things went really well!!  And we all had a good time as far as I was concerned :) 

We hired a professional photographer to come and take pictures while we did it and get this, he forgot his sweet camera and had to use mine, then we totally spaced it and left it on the crappy setting I had had it on before to take pictures for the Elf Yourself we had played with all day the day before.  Am I bummed about it?  Yeah, but as you can see, the photographer's skill more than makes up for how weak the format is.  Was it a total waste of money?  No.  In fact we weren't paying the photographer at all.  In FACT I think he was only doing it to avoid having to make a gingerbread house!!  And I guess that worked for my benefit!  Thanks Brent!!

This is Noah's.  He didn't want to make a whole house.  I had to go against his will putting up the "gingerbread tent" as we later called it.  He had a lot of fun though :) 

Charlie had more fun playing with the toys and eating the candy.  We're glad Noah got to see his Charlie-friend.  (he always tells me "I didn't see my Charlie-friend!"

This is Sarah's.  Pretty swanky huh!  (Steve's word)  I wish I had gotten pictures of the finished product of all of them.  I could now, but they're all missing the yummy candies.

Here's Nate preparing Lukey's to be candied up.... Luke's not into doing the frosting.  Am I bummed Nate didn't make one this year?  a little.  He always goes above and beyond!  It's fun to watch him get into this with the kids.  It was a little tricky this year though, with Erika.... Have I mentioned she was the biggest crank all week??

I got to hold sweet little Alvin most of the time.  After I finished making the frosting.  I'll have to remember to make 2 batches ahead of time next year.

Luke's with some candy :)  I think he did pretty good decorating his!

Here's Charity's.  She's a total pro.

Sarah's tree.  My idea, but she pulled it off :)  And actually it was something I saw on one of those kits anyway, so not really mine.

Like I said, we didn't get final pictures, but whatever.  It was a good time.  Erika threw up the next day and it contained a starburst wrapper.  I think she ate way too much candy.  And I haven't heard about anyone getting salmonella from the egg whites..... 

On Christmas Adam (ha!  stole that idea from Sherry.... Adam came before Eve..... day before Christmas Eve.... yeah, I thought it was hilarious :) ) we decided to act out the nativity.  It's kind of fun that we almost have enough players for this.  Nate was the donkey and sub for any of the parts that people got stage fright for.  I was the innkeeper and angel stand.  Charity was Mary.  Kelly was a sheep and then a wiseman.  Brad was Joseph.  Luke was supposed to be a wiseman but he filled in as a shepherd too.  Noah got cold feet and didn't want to wear the garb for being the shepherd.  He had some help from Daddy and Luke.  And then when being a wiseman involved presents, he just couldn't resist :)  Erika was of course the angel.  She LOVED being held up in the air :)  Her favorite part.  The pictures were crap becaues I accidentally left the camera in Manual from Brent using it the night before.  Yeah, I'm bummed about that too.  Time to pay attention to what I'm doing I guess.  It was hard enough to get pictures though with Erika freaking out when I would set her down.  Kinda lame angles too.... but whatever, I just wanted a picture of it all :)

That night I presented everyone with their new stockings!!!  This was really special for me :)  I hope they all like them :)  I was really happy with how they turned out.  Minus the fact that Brad was hoping for snowmans like his last stocking.  The Rudolph one might be wearing on him though :)  We'll see if he remembers next year I guess.

Sure look like we have a lot more people when they're all lined up like that. 

On Christmas Eve Morning (can you say that?)  We got up bright and early and drove up to South Jordan for some IHOP breakfast with Nate's Parents and two of his sisters' families.  This looked so pretty on the drie up there.... the picture doesn't do it justice..... 

We all had a nice time!  The menus were fun to fold.

On our way home we stopped to see Annie and Lilly and then went over to the Cole's house and saw Austin, Gentry and Marci (and Gunnar :) such a cutie!).  Would have been cool to see the whole family, but it was such a fun visit!  We can't get enough of all of them!! Unfortunately I only brought my camera in their homes, didn't get it out.  Or remember to take it home the first time :)  so no pictures.  lame.

After that, we just tried to kill the day.  It went SO SLOWLY!!!  And the kids were just way more anxious than I think I've ever seen them!  Finally it was time to go to Nate's work and talk to Santa!  This is something special!  Not too many people get to talk to Santa as he's flying through the air!!!  We were lucky enough to a couple years ago and then again this year.  Let's see if I can remember what he said to everyone.  Charity was first.  He told her good job for making first place in the Hoop Shoot and good luck in Tooele.  Then he asked her what she wanted for Christmas and she said Go-Go My Walkin' Pup.  Sadly he told her that he didn't have one of those in his bag for her, but that he had something very special for her!  That seemed to make up for it. 

He told Kelly that Mrs. Claus told him how good she was at writing stories.  He asked her what she wanted and she said, "Dairy Queen Blizzard Maker".  And then he told her that Rudolph might be able to spare the bell off his sleigh that she had asked for.  She was very happy about that. 

He told Brad that he was proud of how he was doing in Kindergarten and all the new friends he was making.  Then he asked him if he liked things that glow in the dark.  That sounded intriguing I think :)  (cute Brad realized that DSi's glow in the dark!!!  so maybe he really was going to get a DSi!!!)  kind of a bummer, but I am glad Santa didn't get him one.  He's too young for that stuff.

Luke was praised for how good he is with his baby sister.  Then Santa asked him if he liked scooters!  Seemed like a little bit of a give away, but Luke only got more excited! 

Then it was Noah's turn.  Santa told him to go to sleep like a big boy tonight and that Rudolph wanted him to start using the big boy potty!  Noah said "okay" which made me very happy :)  Then he asked Noah if he liked Firemen.  Noah didn't get that that was a hint for his present :)  But it was fun to hear him talking.  He even said "Thank you" at all the right times.

It's such a cool thing!!!  I think I like doing it as much as the kids do.  They all got candy canes which Erika totally destroyed and had chunks of it down her shirt by the time we got home :)  She is obsessed with sugar....

Then we came home, got our presents for the Hatch Family party and headed on up to my Dad's!  Brent let me use his flash thingy (can't remember what it's called) and it was AWESOME!!!!  The pictures looked so awesome!!  

Kelly was so cute when Sarah handed her Alvin she said, "I thought I was supposed to sit on Santa's lap... not the other way around :)"  She's so creative :) 

My Dad totally spoiled everyone with gifts and then continued to spoil Erika with sweets and treats for the entire evening.  You can see all the cheese from her cheese balls all over my Dad's nice sweater.  The little stink.  My poor Dad always ends up with goobers when we're around.  But look how much she loves him!!  She's not even reaching for me!

When we got home (very late after cleaning up and saying goodbye- goodbyes for these kids and their grandpa take FOREVER!) the kids got to open their pajamas.  I've always thought that was a trendy tradition, but I realized the other day how junky my kids' pajamas are.... all mismatched pants and shirts, and so I couldn't resist getting them some.  Then the thought of being able to have them in the Christmas morning pictures was just enough to make me give them to them the night before :)  I think they all loved their jammas.  Even the girls which I was glad about since I had made them myself out of my Grandma's old nightgowns.  I think they looked okay.  I can see all my mistakes of course, but whatever, they're pajamas and I'm just learning anyway :) 

Lukey really loved his Mario jammas :) he wanted me to get a picture 

Everyone went to bed really well and fell asleep quickly since they knew that Santa would know if they were awake and that he only comes when they're sleeping. :)  Such awesome kids.

Here's the load!!!  Christmas morning!!!  I can't believe hos spoiled we were this year!!  Me especially. 

I told t hem to give me their surprised faces and this is what I got.  Looks more like zombies to me.....

Cute Kelly wrapped and decorated my Birthday present :) 

Here's Noah waking up :)  We had to wait till everyone woke up to start going through our stockings and then we had to wait till after we ate Nate's creamed eggs on toast breakfast to open all the presents.  It was SO hard to wait!!!  The kids had a hard time too!  I'm not very patient and I seem to have passed that on to my kids.  The anticipation sure builds up though!

Brad eally liked the wings on his Dragon jammies

Then Erika finally woke up!  I say finally only because everyone wanted her to.  Not because it was late in the morning.  I think we were at about 6:45 am at this point. 

Everyone liked what Santa left in their stockings.  It was mostly candy.  But he did throw in a tooth brush and some shampoo for everyone too.... that was a nice touch.

I just think this is a funny face.  She was sitting on my lap when we opened up her stocking.  She loved it all :)

If only I could have gotten a picture of Noah's face when he dumped his stocking out!  He was SO excited he squealed :) 

Santa gave us all mangos instead of oranges this year.... he is so smart!!  And knows us so well!

Erika made the rounds stealing everyone's candy :)  Eating wrappers and sometimes the candy that was in them.

Eating breakfast.

Everyone looks so tired!!!

While we ate I was showered with Birthday gifts.  They got me a cake decorating kit and a gift card to take a class at Michaels.  I'm SO excited!!!  Nate really is so thoughtful.  He always surprises me.

After that we all went in to open presents!!!  Youngest first.  We started with the gift from Santa.  Erika was cute opening her present.  You can see that she has a kiss in her hand and she's trying to eat and eenjoy watching everyone help her open her present at the same time. 

She got a bumblegum ball toy thing.  She seemed happy about it.

Noah got his firetruck that he had been wanting FOREVER!!

Lukey got his Scooter!  His "reeewy speed scooter"!

Brad got his Glow Station.  I believe this was second on his letter to Santa.... so slightly disappointed, but never really let on that he was :)  Such a good boy.

Kelly opted to wait on her present from Santa because she had an idea (well, what am I saying, she totally knew) what Charity had gotten for her- and I thought it was remarkable that she and Kelly got each other presents even though they had drawn other people for the gift exchange.  They are such good friends, it's cute.  She insisted that I get a picture of them together as she opened it :)  Cheese!!

There's her kitty!

And the thank you hug!

Charity got her ukulele!  Santa even knew her favorite color!!!  She had "forgotten that she asked for that" but she was rreally happy and excited about it!!

Then we each gave our presents for our gift exchange.  Charity had Erika... she got her a doll with a kitty that meaows when it's touching the heart on the doll.

Erika LOVES babies!!!  Perfect gift.

Erika got Noah the sword that he carried around Dollar Tree he was so happy :)  WHo knows where that thing is now.  Does that happen to anyone else??  The presents are all lost by day 2?

Nate had Luke and got him the Bop-it Shout game.  He loved it!! 

Noah had Brad and got him a Transformers Fishing Pole.  I don't know why I didn't get pictures of those. : (

I had Kelly, but she still needed to open her present from Santa (she had already figured out that her bell from Rudolph was in the red box and didn't really count that as part of the rotation :) )  Santa got her an Easy Bake Oven even though it says Age 8 and up.  I guess he figured she was mature enough for it :)  I dont' know.  I told her she had to wait till next year.  He's way nicer than me :)  She was so careful with the wrapping paper.  It was really pretty and shiny.  I think it's still all nicely folded up and in her room. 

Luke had Charity and he got her Bop-it Bounce (I had a coupon  :) )  She was overjoyed as you can see!  I think Luke secretly got that for himself.  He loves Bop-it.

Brad had me and he got me a Snuggie!!!  I was so excited!  Who doesn't want a Snuggie!!!  Nate said he even bought it with his own, HARD EARNED money!  It's so fun to get a present from your 6 year old son that he picked out and bought all on his own!  I will cherish my purple snuggie forever.

On Kelly's next round she opneed the little frame decorating kit that i gave her. 

And Kelly had Nate.  She got him a sketch book and some colored pencils.  That's one of those things they have in common.  Drawing.  She was more than happy to splurge for her Dad and used the last of her money to get his present.  Our kids are so generous.  It's amazing to me.

SO it took us a couple hours, but we opened all the presents!  Everyone was spoiled rotten.  Then the kids played their little hearts out for the rest of the day!  I was so happy that it was warm enough to play outside!  The kids seemed to enjoy that a lot.

Pam gave Kelly a little picnic basket that had been her mom's and then filled it with a little homemade picnic blanket and a cute tea set and dishes.  I just thought that was such a creative gift!  They also gave the girls wallets in these cute purses and in the wallets were pictures, and fake Driver's licenses!!!  So adorable.

One good thing about a NON-white Christmas I guess :)

Everyone got in on the picnicking.  So cute!!  And I should mention I took these pictures from my back door with my BRAND NEW lens!!!!!  It was so fun to play with that all morning!! 

Chris and Stephanie came over.  We gave them their gifts and they surprised us with a membership to Discovery!  They also gave me a CD player for my birthday.  Just what I wanted!!!!

We tried to clean up a little, Nate took Erika on a little walk down the street because she really was just making us all crazy.  When they got home, Nate put her in her high chair while he finished up on the turkey and ham, and she totally crashed.  If only I'd gotten the camera out sooner.  She slept peacefully in her high chair for well over an hour.  It was so cute!!  She never does that. 

This is her waking up.  Of course she woke up right as I got my camera out.

Nate spoiled us all with a really nice dinner.  My family all came over and we had Nate's amazing Turkey and Ham (he created some pretty cool flavors!).  And evyerhtin else :)  It was so fun to have everyone over.  And not worry about anything!!  Then Nate spoiled me with a Dairy Queen Ice cream cake!!!!!  Thanks Steve for bringing it!  He's alwyas so thoughtful to remember my birthday and do so much when it's already a big, busy, crazy day.

cute huh!  A little winter wonderland :) 

Everyone's lips were blue :) HA!

The kids all opened their presents from Grandma.... PILLOW PETS!!!  She's too cool.  Charity was worried that I wouldn't let  them have them because I "don't like them".  I guess she didn't realize I was kidding.

playing in the boxes.... a must.

After dinner all the party poopers left and the rest of us played games all night!  I can say that because those party poopers are also non-blog readers :)  HA! jk.  Brent and Sarah and Heidi and us test out some of the new games.  It was really fun for me.  I think I laughed harder than I have in a long time that night.  Fun stuff.  Sorry if I offended anyone.

No one really went to bed very well that night.  We were up very late.  The longest day of the year :)  But it was definitely a fun one.  I really enjoyed this Christmas.  The whole season was just really fun this year.  I felt very little stress and a whole lot of excitement and anticipation for it all.  Plus I think we did really good this year at focusing on Jesus' birth.  I like that.  I hope you all had a very nice Christmas!!!

Sunday morning came REALLY early!!  

Bradley was so cute with his little sister!!  They played together with the boxes before everyone else joined in on teh fun.  I love how she's like pushing her head against his bunny fingers to get him to stop, with a smile on her face like she knows exactly what he's doing.... she's so funny. 

I loved these ones of Charity pushing Erika!!  They look like twins :)  Apparently I forgot to save them after I took out the red eye.  oops.

I wish I'd gotten video of these.... Erika was in Heaven!  Squealing with excitement the entire time!!  I can't wait to take her to Discovery now!! 

And this is when the fun ended.  Luke wasn't careful to not knock her over.... all fun has to come to an end though right :)

This is how I looked at the end of the day too.  It was not my favorite Sunday.    Memories nonetheless.  What a long post.  I think my family is going to kill me if I sit here any longer :)