Christmas Morning:
I always try to set up the video camera the night before so that we can capture all the fun of Christmas Morning, and that's all well and good, but I have to get pictures too, in case we never get around to watching the videos :).
This Christmas was a lot of fun for me for some reason! Christmas with kids is just perfect, and as my kids get older, it just seems more and more fun! To spoil them, see their faces as they open presents, watch them get excited for each other, and see the pleasure they feel from giving something to someone else. It's all just a Mommy's dream come true.
One of our traditions is that once everyone is awake, we can open up our Stockings. This is the pre-breakfast fun! The kids all got lots of goodies in their stockings, and SO DID I!!! He spoiled me this year too!
Then Nate spoiled us all with a delicious eggs and bacon breakfast!! Perfect! He and the kids always surprise me with a birthday present as we eat breakfast. So sweet. Charity gave me the one from her first. She had spent her last $20 on my present! Do I feel priveleged? Absolutely. It was the Disney Headbandz game!!! Very cute! We've played it tons already. And from Nate and the rest of the fam I got my beloved Kindle Fire. I L-O-V-E it!!!! So fun, so useful!! I think I'm finally learning how to use some self-control though and I am not AS addicted to it as I was a week ago.
Once breakfast was done, we tried waking Heidi up one more time.... with no success, and then proceeded into the living room for PRESENT TIME!!!!
So we always start with the big gift from Santa, and we go youngest to oldest.
Erika was THRILLED about the whole Santa and gifts thing this year!! It was so cute to watch her get excited about it with the big kids. I don't remember any of our other 2 year olds getting it so young! Maybe it's just my memory. But she was so happy when she opened up her Baby Bed!!! She had been wanting a baby doll bed all month! Santa had given her just what she wanted!! So cool!
Noah was excited as well! He was beyond ecstatic with his gift from Santa! He got Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Spider Man, and Iron Man! All in one box!!! So cool! Good job Santa! He played with them quite a bit the entire day!
Luke couldn't wait to open his, it was one of the biggest gifts under the tree. And it was his RACE TRACK!!! A pretty cool one too!! He and Nate set it up later on in the day and it really was fun to play with!! For all of us!
you can tell he loves it :)
Bradley got his awesome little Claw Machine. I couldn't believe it actually worked! There was no way I was going to buy him one of those, so I'm glad Santa did! And luckily everyone was willing to donate some candy to the cause. He had plenty to fish for!
Kelly was pleasantly surprised with her gift from Santa as well. She got a Doll that looks a lot like an American Girl doll, but she's not breakable, and posebale! We were happy about that! She looked just like Kelly (before Kelly cut her hair!!) with cute pigtails!
Charity was very surprised, and I think very pleased with her gift from Santa. He got her a Kindle! I'm assuming he knew how much she likes to read. The perfect gift for Charity of course. We're still working on loading books on to it! But I think she liked it.
After the Santa gifts we usually do the name drawing gifts to each other:
Erika had Luke- she got him a Mario Poster for his room. He loved it!
Noah had Nate- he picked out a remote control airplane (it was a tough decision between that and a transformer, but I think he made a wise decision :) )
Luke had Me and actually hasn't been able to get it yet.... I'll keep you posted :) Nate said he had something particular in mind though. So cute!
Bradley had Noah- he got Noah a shield and daggar of Thor's. This happens to be Noah's "favorite present this year" So way to go Bradley!
Kelly had Erika- she got her a teddy bear :) Erika gave it a big kiss and hug when she opened it and needed to hold it anytime she got sad that day.... adorable!
Charity had Kelly- she got her a sketch pad, colored pencils, and some sticky notes. She has treasured this gift.
I had Bradley- I got him a sketch pad and erasable colored pencils. I think he liked it :) I KNOW he loved the pencils, because he's been wanting those for a while.
Nate had Charity- he surprised her with the little "Cookie Puppy" that she had been oohing and ahhing over in the store. It walks, barks, pretty cute.
I love the present giving within the family. The kids all spent their own money (those who are old enough to have it), they all put SO much thought and love into their gifts, and they were all SO excited to give them. I LOVE that my kids know the pleasure of receiving AND the pleasure of giving now!! It's important to me that they enjoy that. I don't think I really ever learned how to give until I was much older. It really is a good quality in my mind. I remember the first time I received a gift from a friend who had gone WAY out of her way to locate a game that had been out of print and was not easy to find. And actually that same year, my other friend (yes, I only had two :) ) did the same thing with a different game I had always looked for when we were at the store. It meant SO much to me to know that they had put so much thought into the gift and gone so out of their way. It occurred ot me that that is what made it such a great gift! The thought really did count for a LOT! So I've tried to teach my kids that it is important to THINK, and put as much thought into our gifts as we can. Makes it even more fun too!
After we opened some of the presents, we woke up Heidi again, and she finally joined us :) The kids were so excited to have her here. It was a lot of fun to share our Christmas with her.
The man of the hour!!! Well... the man of all of MY hours :) I love him so much!! I love how happy he is to make Christmas so fun for me and the kids, not just with gifts, but with his cheerfulness, and his service. He is a good man. I loved spoiling him a little this year too.... though I never seem to do enough to make myself feel like I've done him justice. I can't wait to break out his fire pit though!!! That's gonna be so fun!
So after presents, and playing with a few toys and games, we hurried and jumped into our Sunday clothes. It was tough, and felt really awkward, but we did it! I was proud of us for going, even though we were a few minutes late! I loved the meeting. We were combined with one other ward in our Stake, so we were WAY in the back, but that was okay. Our Bishop and first counselor and thier Bishop and first Counselor spoke about their favorite Christmas hymns and then we sang them. I love music. Our Bishop did a little impromptu Choir performance and asked all the choir members from both wards to come up and sing "Angels We Have Heard On High". I thought it sounded beautiful and I got chills as we were singing! It was really neat to be able to spend an hour and a half at church on the day we celebrate our Savior's birth. That's got to mean a lot to Him. It meant a lot to me. And the kids did great! Maybe because Heidi was there too :)
After Church we pulled out all the stops and opened, set up, hooked up, and played with EVERY single present (it felt like anyway) that we had received! The house was a complete disaster area :) I loved it!!!
Brent and Sarah came to see Heidi and spoiled me with some Reese's and a chocolate orange! They stayed for a while, even though our house was a completely un-kid-proofed mess. It's always fun to have family over on Christmas. And nice when we can just stay home and enjoy the company here. I hate driving all over on Christmas. Someday I know, I need to get over that.... just not now.
The rest of the day is a bit of a blur! Nate made a delicious Ham and potatoes dinner. He always manages to spoil me and the kids on Christmas. He had a yummy ice cream cake for my birthday that we broke out when Grandpa Hatch and Pam came to visit. It was a really nice day altogether. And aside from the tired headache I got around 3:00, I loved it all!!
I hope everyone had a nice Christmas!!!
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