Christmas

We had such a great Christmas this year! I love it when we get to spend Christmas with our extended families, but it is almost nicer to be alone for Christmas sometimes. I know that sounds really Scroogy to say, but it is nice not to have to be anywhere at a scheduled time, to just lounge around in our jammies and enjoy our presents s l o w l y. And that's exactly what we got to do this year.

 My traditional night-before picture. This year I was lucky enough to get it after Santa had arrived!

 Oh, the joy! It's Christmas morning. Jed was SO excited about his marble maze and jumped right into playing with it. Again, we had the privilege of nailing this present, and I was so pleased, because Dave worked so incredibly hard on it and gave up many nights of rest after the boys were in bed to make it perfect. I need to get a better picture of the maze so you can understand it better, but it is a set of block with holes and grooves cut out in various ways so you can build different mazes for marbles to roll through. Dave and Jed have such a great time playing with this together.

 Hank got a little giraffe toy that with some blocks and he had a great time examining the blocks.

 The glorious Christmas Mess! And we've only done stockings so far!

 Jed also got a tiny Forest Service Fire Engine truck. It is an exact replica of the big ones. He loves it.

 Hooray, Dave got chap-stick! Come to think of it, Dave had a pretty greasy Christmas, since he got chap-stick, mink oil for his boots and beard conditioner. It is kind of sad to get old :)

 Hank enjoying his new rattle

 My parents gave us new pans for Christmas! These are the most gorgeous pans and I love them already, although I have burned the smithereens out of a couple of things, learning how the new pans handle our gas range. The good news is they clean up beautifully!

 Jed helping Hank open a present from Grandma Janet

 It was a sock monkey! Hank loved it immediately.

 Hank playing with two of his new toys--his monkey and his jingly pillow.

 Aunt Sarah got Jed his favorite present of all--a set of 5 Lightning McQueen cars. He was SO THRILLED when he opened the box and could not wait for Dave to get them all out of the package. He was dying while I took this picture. The cars have gone everywhere with us since then. (Jed also woke up with a zit for Christmas! He's growing up so fast *sniff*)

 This year we decided instead of a big lunch, we wanted to have snacks to kind of graze on through out the day and a bigger dinner. Growing up, Dave's family would always have a meat & cheese tray leftover from the family/work party to eat during the holidays, and that sounded really good to us. So we had several different cheeses, turkey, ham, summer sausage, lots of veggies with dip, oranges, apples, tomatoes and lots of crackers. Mmmmmmmm.

 Even Hank enjoyed our snacks!

 

While Dave got to skype with his brother Matt on his mission in Brazil and gave the boys their bath, I made dinner with my new pans! Then, once Hank was in bed (around 6) we ate our Christmas feast.

Jed was excited about using the "fancy cups" and having soda for dinner--something we NEVER do. We had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, macaroni and cheese, green beans and corn, with peppermint ice cream for dessert.

It was such a great day. I love Christmas at our house, and all the days leading up to it. We try hard to remember the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ in all that we do, with our Advent calendar, watching movies about His birth, and even doing little crafts that try to keep us focused on the reason for our celebrating. Having a baby in the house at Christmas makes it even more special to me--I find myself thinking about Mary and all that she went through and what an incredibly wonderful woman she was, to be entrusted with raising Jesus to fulfill His Father's mission. I am so grateful that my Heavenly Father has trusted me enough to give me Jed and Hank, and I hope that I can raise them to fulfill the mission He has for them too. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, full of presents, fun, love, and our Savior as well!