Christmas Day 2008

Brynn and Abby woke up bright and early, but thankfully not too bright or too early. Aaron slept in until we woke him at 10:30, we opted to let him sleep as long as possible since it would be a BIG next couple of days for all of us. It was cute to see the girls peruse through everyone's gifts from Santa.

Abby was very pleased with her gift from mom and dad...a new Care-Bear blankie. Joseph and I stayed up until 3 a.m. tying the quilt, but it would have been 5 a.m. if Sara and Grandma hadn't helped us get started. Thanks ladies! Grandma Rowene did the binding while we packed our bags to go home. This gift was truly a whole family effort and her favorite gift of Christmas.

I think Brynn was looking to see if any of the piles had what she REALLY wanted in them. After seeing what Santa left, she said, "Are there any more presents." You see, what she REALLY wanted was something she had had her eye on for the last few weeks. When I saw it I said, "We are absolutely not buying that!" Joseph told me, 'We absolutely are buying it!" Brynn asked Santa for it, but Joseph told Santa that he wanted to take the credit for getting her what she really wanted. Santa agreed to let her dad and mom take the credit and we took care of the thing Brynn wanted the most this Christmas....we put the present in a Target bag before we wrapped it to throw her off, because she knew it didn't come from Target. I must admit, it was delightsome to see her face and her excitement when she discovered what was inside.....

A soft and furry brown coat that she saw at Marshall's and fell in love with! I must confess that, while I thought the coat was hideous at first, it has grown on me. J oseph and my mom convinced me that I shouldn't crimp her style.

I don't think she removed the coat for the rest of the weekend, except to bathe, and of course at the reception when we told her she had to give her new dress equal showing time.

When Aaron did finally wake up, he was all smiles, even with dried, cracked lips. (That darn dry Utah climate). We could have given him a single book for Christmas and he would have been thrilled.

He proudly donned this back pack from Joe's mom all morning. It was mini and super cute! I spent the morning trying to undo all of the crazy packaging jobs they do now days.

Joseph is always a wonderful gift-giver. This year he did some nice "things" for me and I was/am very grateful for his thoughtfulness, but the best gift of all came as a complete surprise. He always writes a letter for gift-giving holidays. This year he did another sweet letter and wrapped it up nicely for me to open. I read the letter that expressed his love and appreciation...specifically his appreciation for my conservative style and my determination to pay off debt.

I read the letter and told him thanks, but I didn't realize there was more. He then told me to look under the tissue paper. As I lifted it my jaw dropped and I started to cry as I hurried to him for a hug. We hugged and cried together. We set a goal last year to have the private loan debt from law school paid off in the first half of 2009. We made some significant progress last year, but we weren't quite sure if we would really be able to do it. Well under the tissue paper was a check to pay off significantly more of that debt. We 're going to meet that goal after all! It has been so unifying to work hard and sacrifice together to reach it. He knows me so well, a gift of paying off our private loans is one of the best gifts he could give. Our hearts were/are full of gratitude to our Heavenly Father for rewarding our efforts.

Of course, my brother Wade lightened up the moment by saying, "Gee Clark, you shouldn't have..."

It was a great and busy day filled with lots of family, and the evening kicked off the wedding celebrations of the weekend!