Christmas

December 24, 4:30 PM Grandma and Grandpa and Emily arrived safely! After spending a couple of days celebrating Christmas (and attending the BYU win) with the St. George crew, my family made the long drive to Woodland. I was finishing up some last minute grocery shopping at the Nugget in Davis when I received the phone call that they were within minutes of our home. They beat me there! When I arrived the kids were ecstatic, they couldn't stop screaming and yelling! There was alot of joyful noise echoing through the house!

Aaron went in for his usual cuddle with Grandpa. He seriously loves this guy. They spent lots of time together Aaron's first year of life. They don't see one another very often, but Aaron always remembers him and it is as if they have never been apart.

Mom of course jumped right in and got down to business. She wanted to make gingerbread houses with our kids....and for anyone who knows my mom, she never takes shortcuts. She didn't use graham crackers and frosting....she made REAL gingerbread and REAL gingerbread house icing (I call it edible glue). They put the houses together on Christmas Day.

Abby's Birthday Surprises!

They brought Abby's birthday presents with them, she felt totally loved and taken care of. So much in fact that Abby said, "Mom, Santa doesn't need to bring me anything.....Grandma and Grandpa brought me EVERYTHING that I asked him for!" I love that little girl so much!

Aaron took full part in all of the excitement and joyful noises. He was such a character!

A little R&R on Christmas Eve. (Hmmm...maybe this late nap explains his later behavior!)
Getting ready for Christmas Eve dinner. We broke from tradition since we weren't sure when mom and dad were going to arrive. We made the usual ham dinner for Christmas day and had clam chowder and sourdough bread for Christmas Eve. We finished off with fresh apple cake butter rum sauce and vanilla bean ice cream. YUM! It was fun to pull out our China. We really don't use it very often, but I need to make more of an effort to do so. It's fun to eat on the nice stuff once in a while. I remember begrudgingly getting it when I got married, telling my mom I wouldn't be using it anytime soon. Now.... I'm glad, it isn't something I would spend money on right now, so I'm glad I already have it.

After dinner we watched the Nativity and then read a Christmas Story and watched some home videos and reminisced about Christmas' past.... The girls fell asleep on the couch so Joseph carried them to bed. Aaron was a little night hawk and actually stayed up to watch Santa work his magic. He played with his new Christmas toy as we put it together. Hopefully his memory isn't too sharp yet! We finally put him in his crib at 1:30 AM, but I think he would have pulled an all nighter if we had allowed. Santa had lots of work to do. He mangaged to get a few things all out and set up and then asked us to put the rest together later, so he could make his next stop :o) !

Aaron teasing his favorite guy!

We didn't take many still shots of Christmas morning. We were all caught up in the excitement of it all. Hopefully we caught some on video...hmmm!
We were very pleased with our Greg Olsen canvas of The Gentle Healer. This picture brings me such a peaceful feeling when I look at it. It will be a nice addition to our home and I am sure will help us to remember the source of our happiness and peace. Thanks mom and dad... for this and for all the other kind gifts. (This is us in all our Christmas glory... aka- exhaustion. I can't remember if I changed my clothes and put them back on after bed, or if they ever came off, we were spent, as you can tell!) While everyone was enjoying the presents, Emily and I whipped together our Christmas Morning Quiche, gnochies, fresh fruit and juice. This year I tried a couple new quiche recipes and they were fantastic! Emily made the traditional whole wheat crust the night before. She does the BEST pie shells. It was fun to work with her on the meal. Normally we have homemade cinnamon rolls, but after our late night, the last thing I wanted to do was make roll dough. Mom did it later that afternoon. They were the best and gooey-est ever! We enjoyed an abundance of good food. It really felt like a celebration!

Truthfully, after doing Christmas at my house. I am amazed at how organized my mom is every Christmas. She does a formal Christmas dinner with a wide variety of tasty homemade dishes, including homemade rolls, and then she turns around and puts on a formal Christmas brunch with gourmet food and homemade rolls on Christmas day. She always seems to have everything running so smoothly. (Mom, you have to tell me how you managed that all when Santa needed help too! You're energy amazes me more and more every year I am alive!) I felt sort of sleep deprived and scrambled...but we survived! I guess I'll get better at organizing it all and knowing what order to do everything as time goes on!

Christmas Day-Abby and Emily working on their masterpieces.

Grandma and Brynn with their's.
Santa's helper taking a much needed nap. We were up until 3:30 a.m. helping Santa with his surprises. It was fun working together to create a little magic for our little family! Experiencing life with your best friend is so fun! Together, creating life's experiences for your children is the best!
Aaron has this funny thing he does with my dad. He puts his hand up, like some Star Trek sign and holds it there until my dad puts his up in the same fashion. It's so funny because it's so consistent.

Aaron and his little elf!

The finished product!
Abby's masterpiece!
This is what we were putting together until 3:30 AM. We were about to help Santa put the trampoline up, but decided it was too late and too cold. My mom, bless her heart, worked so hard to put the track and all the stuff together and Aaron kept sitting on it. Every time she walked into the room during the week, she would rebuild it, I kept telling her to leave it, because it would keep getting messes up, but she insisted on fixing it everytime. As we were putting it all together, I said to my mom....."Okay, this is Aaron's present, but I wonder how long it will take until the princesses take over the station?" Look below and see for yourself.
Yes, less than one day and princesses were found all over the tracks, towers, and railroad cars. It was pretty funny. It's a good thing we are consecrated in this house!
That's it for the pictures with my camera. I'll have to add more pictures and more about our Christmas Eve festivities and Christmas week when I get a hold of Joseph's camera ( and a little more time).

But a couple of funnies to record before I end.....

As we were getting things ready, we set up some foam pads for the kids to sleep on (I think dad ended up sleeping on it though). When our guests arrived Abby ran in and said, 'Come on you guys come and look at the head foams (we think she was thinking headphones) for us to sleep on!" Tonight she said, "Dad, I want the head foams in my room." We started laughing and she then called them the "bone heads", before she got it down that they were foam pads. She is a nut!

The kids have been referring to their Christmas stockings as "beanstalks." We have no clue where they got this, other than the "stalk" and "stock." ??????

While we were shopping with everyone at the Vacaville Outlets, the kids were hungry so I got them a Subway to share. Abby spilled some of her water on herself. She hates it when she or anyone else spills water on her. If I even touch her with wet hands she has to go change her clothes. Anyway, when I wasn't looking, she took off her rooskies and put them by the car heater to let them dry. We all went into Gap to find her some jeans. When we went to try them on, she couldn't because she didn't have her rooskies on so we watched Brynn try some clothes on. My mom and I were talking when all of the sudden Abby lifted up her skirt and started shaking her bare booty in the mirror to the music playing overhead. I was mortified! But at the same time, we couldn't help but laugh. This little girl has me in stitches daily!

Some memories I want to remember.....the purse "situation"....."Grandpa, how much were these french fries? I think you should take them back!" ....shopping....running....belting High School Musical into the karaoke....more shopping.....eating delicious food.....talking.....staying up way too late....watching reruns of the Office every night and laughing until we cried.....Abby's huge bump from trying to get off the tramp....BJ's Brewery and Grill....more shopping.....Abby's booty dancing.....talking one on one with my Dad.....talking with Mom and Emily....seeing my kids love and be loved by my parents.....seeing Joe get excited about the gourmet waffle iron from Mom and Dad....seeing Mom put the train together over and over again..... seeing Aaron take it apart again and again.....time to just be together, doing nothing but that! Thanks for everything!