Christmas Smiles

You've got to love it when a child is this happy and hasn't even opened anything yet!

Christmas Morning

This is what Christmas morning looked like. I remember waking so early as a kid and as a teenager, having everyone gather in my room before going downstairs for Christmas. My parents had the tradition of lining us up with our eyes closed where we would all see the tree and then telling us to open them together. That's something that Joel and I do too. But our girls sleep in! (Until 7:00 or so.) There have been later Christmas mornings though. And earlier ones too I guess. But one of those was because Jamin and Lindsay were with us and Jamin had one of those rare jobs where someone has to work Christmas morning. So that year we WOKE the girls by 6:00 or something. Another year Tersa couldn't stand it and came into my room at 3:00 am(she was about 4.). I wasn't about to wake Mardi or Joel so I put on a movie for her and slept on the couch for a couple of hours.
Mardi isn't even looking at her gift! And before I finished taking the pictures I wanted to with them on the stairs, Shinara squealed, headed down the stairs and made a bee-line for Keddi's Santa gift! How bad do you feel telling a 3 year old that the gift she is at isn't hers! Shinara did ask for the baby doll, but Keddi's Little Mermaid Salon was irresistable. She took the re-direction well and was interested in and excited about the baby doll for a couple of minutes. Tersa's Santa gift was a $50 gift certificate to a girls clothing store in the mall. She's excited to shop! And Mardi's was a gift certificate to Build-A-Bear. She's been wanting a snow leopard they have there. I got a new printer/scanner/copy machine thing and Joel got a wheel cover and sunscreens for his car. (I made up for that with an ipod boombox thing.) We had a great day and ended it by going to see the movie The Nativity Story. We thought it was well done and simply appreciated that a movie was made about the birth of Christ.

Christmas Eve

Joel bought doughnuts for Santa this year. So the girls put one of each type of doughnut and 10 (?) carrots out on a plate for him. Then we left some warm wassil for him to drink as is our tradition. The girls all slept in the big girls room which made it a bit difficult when the big girls were fetched to be Santa's helpers. Tersa has gotten to help for two Christmas's now and this was Mardi's first year. Poor Shinara! Perhaps she will get turns when nieces and nephews come around?!?

Christmas Surprises

O.K. we loved this one enough to get her to recreate the look so that I could get a picture!
For a couple of years now one of Joel's clients sends him a gift of a tower of Christmas boxes. There are four boxes of varying sizes and Joel lets each of the girls open one of them. This year Shinara knew which one she wanted to open and when Joel handed her the gifts, starting with the smallest first, she handed them to the other girls. There are cookies, truffles, Moose Munch popcorn (our favorite), ornaments and pears to be found. When the largest box was left and it was Shara's turn I thought for sure she would be a bit disappointed. But instead she had a pleasant, surprised look and was speechless for quite some time. It was funny to watch and it seemed as though she was trying to figure out what to call the thing she pulled out and held so lovingly. I was about to help her out with the name of the object when she said "It's a.. a.. a pear...ot." In a split second I was shocked and impressed that she knew the name of this fruit that we don't buy fresh and in the very next second we were all bustin a gut at what she had ended up calling it. Well, she was on the right track and I am still quite impressed by some of the things that this girl says and does. Of course, that's true about all the girls!

Catching up

I'm sure that all of you know what I mean when I say that things have been quite hectic this week. So, I will continue our goings on around here from last Friday when we went caroling! O.K. On Sat. the big girls had a Christmas party with their Activity Day Girls group at church. That night Joel and I went to an annual Christmas party hosted by our friends the Flinders. We had a good time and I didn't think to take pictures even though I took my camera for that express purpose. Too much socializing going on!
On Monday we had our annual Family Night with the Wilsons. They go out of town every Christmas. so we do our gift exchange with them on a Family Night before they leave. The kids love to get together and it seems that the end of the year gets busy enough that they begin to have withdrawls. We've know the Wilsons for a long time and love them like family!
This week has been filled with trying to wrap up last minute Christmas stuff. But Joel and I took time out to attend a Vegas show called MYSTERE. It was fabulous! (We love it when the shows offer 1/2 price tickets to locals!!)
Tonight we attempt to make our traditional deliveries (we've planned to do it two other nights this week.). And to any who receive the gifts we sent late, I am sorry. I have just been very relaxed this year and have been enjoying the season in a way that I haven't in years. Merry Christmas everyone!!