Christmas Day

It feels good to be wrapping this up. It's been fun to relive it and it's also good to move on.

All I can think of is Back to the Future when I see this picture....and Max is vanishing. Thankfully there is no vanishing going on, just more excitement than my camera could handle. Even though this was Ruby's third Christmas it was really more like her first so I don't blame her for being a little skeptical.


It was fun to watch her discover all the magic of Christmas for the first time. The boys loved being the experts pointing out that Santa had eaten some of the cookies....and even remembered to be grateful.


Here's the "Whole family in front of the Christmas tree" shot. It is nothing short of a miracle that neither Sam or I are falling over in this picture considering the almost non-existent amount of sleep we had gotten over the past several days.


Sam started us off with what looks to be a very dramatic reading of Luke 2.


Ruby carefully tore into her first present before promptly putting it on.



Ruby wasn't the only one overjoyed and anxious to begin using their gift. Max had wanted a "grabber" for almost a year. I think it was everything he hoped and more.





The one present Reed was really hoping for more than anything was his beloved spy kit. He was thrilled.


For some reason the spy kits came with a 1970's car salesman disguise. "Tell me everything you know....or I will blind you with my book light!"


The real fun came when the kids gave the gifts they had purchased. Reed was so excited to give Ruby a candy cane tube filled with candy that he knew she would love.


He was right.


Reed is a little funny with his money. He NEVER wants to spend it. If he ever wants something all I have to do is tell him that he can buy it with his own money and the desire is gone. Nothing is ever good enough to spend on. This, however, is not true when it comes to buying Christmas gifts for others. He was incredibly generous wanting to buy the best he could afford. He nearly went broke buying this Shake Weight for me...surprisingly, this is something he had been wanting to get for me for a long time, according to him. (I guess that means it's time to start my battle with saggy arms.)


Once Ruby got this purse, she really wanted to "go". "Phone? Check. Keys? Check. Wallet? Check. I'm outta here. Who's coming with me?"


Seeing the boys give gifts to each other was pretty wonderful too. You gotta love the brother side hug.


And some sister love.


The impromptu side hugs were right up there with gift explanations. It's always good when after someone opens their present you have to say, "Let me tell you what this is.....it's awesome."


For Ruby, the new clothes from Nana and Papa did not disappoint. Off with the old... (That was so 20 minutes ago) on with the new.




The kids gave this awesome polar bear ice scrapper claw to Sam. The kids may have given it, but I can guarantee you I was the most excited to have Sam open it. This picture does not do it's awesomeness justice. It's been a month and I am still smiling just thinking about it.


Ruby also got a baby doll that wiggles, cries and laughs and says mama. It's nothing short of adorable to see her natural nurturing instinct at work.


After we flew through our presents we raced to get in our church clothes. I actually loved having Christmas on Sunday. Rushing off to Sacrament Meeting helped keep the day in check and reminded us what this celebration was really all about.

I forgave myself for the giant Christmas mess we came home to by remembering that we were on time to church.


I meant to get pictures of the kids in their Christmas clothes, but this was all I got. I love the dress my Nana made for her. Ruby doesn't know how lucky she is.



After church we had a relaxing day as a family, enjoying all of our newly acquired toys.


I was no exception. Sam gave me a tripod for Christmas so we had to try it out.




Merry Christmas, until next year when I'll do everything better, be more organized, spend less money, make everything more special and maybe even write all about it before the end of January.

Christmas--Part 2

Nothing like two weeks of sickness to really kill your momentum. Oh well...here we move along anyways...

A good thing Christmas time always ends up as one big blur of happy craziness for me or this could end up being a 16 part post. As it is I am having a hard time thinking of specific details of any of the events leading up to the big day without looking at my pictures. And although I usually have a habit of taking too many pictures, I actually don't have too many leading up to Christmas Day. I guess that has something to do with the blur of happy craziness.

Here are some bits and pieces of our pre-Christmas celebration....

We got our tree early this year and throughout the month it continued to be a popular item with the kids. Normally I don't let the kids play in the front room (not sure why exactly....we don't have anything in there yet--- maybe just be out of principal---that and hoping for one less place to get messy). However, while it was our Christmas tree room, they had free reign...and boy did they enjoy it.


I couldn't resist including this picture of Reed and Max looking like they are just about to count off 5, 6, 7, 8 to start their boy band dance.


Thankfully they were just prepping for this.

This year I was thinking a lot about Christmas traditions and started to wonder if we had enough. We decided to add to our list by reading a Christmas story every night under the tree before bed. I think it got an overall thumbs up and will definitely be something we try to carry on in the future.


The one downside to reading under the tree was the fact that we got a few presents in the mail early. Having presents under the tree was more than Max could stand. He was actually pretty funny acting like some magnetic-like force was pulling him towards the presents.

Magnetic force or not, presents were not going to happen.


We ended up having to remove the presents and spent a few nights reading stories upstairs under a little red foil tree that Max convinced me to buy for their room. Oh the things that boy gets me to buy. Sam says he's not allowed to come to the store with me anymore.

The lovely red tree.


We didn't have a super crafty Christmas this year, but we did find time for a few fun projects including these button Christmas trees.


Few things bring me greater joy than seeing my kids happily working together. With Ruby in the mix sometimes it's nearly a miracle to see this.







We had a great month. It was full and meaningful. I wish I had more pictures to remind me of the details, but for now I guess this picture of Ruby will have to sum up our Christmas activities...blurry but happy.