Christmas 2011

Well, we planned and anticipated all year long and then Christmas was suddenly here. At least, that's what it seemed like happened!

On Christmas Eve we had a nice, beautiful dinner, very similar to a Thanksgiving feast. Afterwards, we acted out the Nativity story (somewhat irreverently) and then forced the kids to bed.

Here is what the living room looked like when Santa's elves finally got to go to bed. I think it looks beautiful and peaceful and Christmasy. :)
We told the kids that they couldn't come down until 4 AM. They were then allowed to come take a peek at what Santa left, but they couldn't touch anything! They weren't allowed to wake us up until 6 AM. Daniel was at our bedside at 06:00:00 MST. Rebekah is usually not a morning person, but she found a way to perk right up this time. Sarah, also not a morning person, was not so easily affected.

This year, Santa wrapped his presents; a deviation from his usual behavior. We didn't want the kids to see what they were getting before we were ready. Santa left us a Wii system and we have been having so much fun with it! Definitely, one of Santa's best gifts.

We had a lot of fun opening presents and helping each other open presents.

Daniel got his first official pocket knife. He's been asking for one for quite a while, but his mother was just not ready for that. (You can see the strap of a Wii remote hanging from his wrist. hehe)

That pocket knife came in handy when we needed a box opened!

Leah's face only gets this happy when horses are involved. (It's a horse barn.)

It may not look like it, but we had less presents this year. That felt really good to me!

We had church at 9 AM, so we saved our stockings until after we got home. The kids were a little fidgety, with thoughts of Christmas running through their heads, but the meeting was very nice and made the day for me.

Daniel is a preteen. That should explain why he's off by himself.

Yes, the Christmas hurricane has been here.

My job was to set up the Wii. We got it up and running and then piled into the van for a last minute trip to Utah to have Christmas dinner with cousins.

We got to play a bit on Monday and then had another trip to spend time with family on Tuesday. The girls had fun playing with their cousin's dress-up clothes. :) Three princesses! (Rebekah is on the left.)

The rest of Christmas vacation went typically...everyone lounged and I tried in vain to keep up with everything.

I hope your Christmas celebrations were meaningful and memorable!