Christmas... what a wonderful (and exhausting) holiday it is.
This morning capped it off nicely. I was pretty tired when the kids came in around 8am... due to my 5am bedtime. (Will I ever get organized enough to be able to go to bed by midnight on Christmas Eve?!) But that didn't matter and we were on our way down the stairs by 8:30am.
This morning capped it off nicely. I was pretty tired when the kids came in around 8am... due to my 5am bedtime. (Will I ever get organized enough to be able to go to bed by midnight on Christmas Eve?!) But that didn't matter and we were on our way down the stairs by 8:30am.
Now when I was little we had the tradition of having to wait at the top of the stairs while my Dad went down, turned on the lights and Christmas music and got the camera ready to go. We'd get the signal and take off running down the stairs to see what Santa had brought in the night. This same tradition holds true for my kids now, although I'm the one filming the rush to the bottom of the stairs.
Today was a little different though. Jack Jack was pretty tired, and not really sure what all the fuss was about yet. I thought the older kids would leave him in the dust. A spirit of kindness was there though as they gently helped him down the stairs. Very sweet- here's some footage (ignore my extremely sleepy voice!)
So went the morning, everyone sharing, taking turns, opening one present at a time til we got through them all. Everyone was excited about what they got and even more excited about what they gave.
Some favorite "gets": Jillie- tan shearling boots,
Reagan - skateboard, 
Reagan - skateboard, Kobe- bell from Santa's sleigh, 
Jackson- his own digital camera (and a ton of cars and Mickey Mouse stuff too.) 
While I got some amazing presents this year, especially from Greg, my favorite was one from Sunny & Derek. They burned to a CD an audio tape my Grandma Nellie made for us as kids- probably over 25 years ago. Grandpa and Grandma were serving as missionaries in New York City. She would send us little books that she'd read on tape. Today we got this story...
Not only did she read the book, but added her own commentary about being kind and sang "I'll be loving you, always." It brought tears to my eyes to hear her voice again. Thank you so much Sun & Derek! I sure miss her.
While I got some amazing presents this year, especially from Greg, my favorite was one from Sunny & Derek. They burned to a CD an audio tape my Grandma Nellie made for us as kids- probably over 25 years ago. Grandpa and Grandma were serving as missionaries in New York City. She would send us little books that she'd read on tape. Today we got this story...
Not only did she read the book, but added her own commentary about being kind and sang "I'll be loving you, always." It brought tears to my eyes to hear her voice again. Thank you so much Sun & Derek! I sure miss her.After present time, finishing off the traditional "raspberry roll" breakfast, and getting everyone's new things out of packaging and ready to play, I needed to lay down. Luckily Jackson was ready for a nap and off we went for a couple of hours!! SO nice and so needed. The rest of the day was relaxing and peaceful. It's been a while that no one had to do anything or had to go anywhere. The rush and busy-ness of December, the lack of sleep & the rushed not-so-healthy meals has given us some tense & uncooperative moments at home. Even this cute picture taken after church Sunday was taken under some duress. 
It's nice to have everyone feeling love for each other- even while spending the entire day in the house together- and without the help of the TV!
It's nice to have everyone feeling love for each other- even while spending the entire day in the house together- and without the help of the TV!Oh! I almost forgot to mention our Christmas Eve! Last night we spent the evening with our friends the Lewis' and the Christensen's. The missionaries from our ward came over too. We had a nice time. (Thanks so much Angela and Dave for hosting us all!) It was a casual and relaxing evening. Tons of food of course...
... and visiting
... and playing
... and presents of course!
Then there was one more very special gift...
Congratulations Molly & Shawn on Baby #4! :D
A very Merry Christmas!!
2 comments:
Yea!!! I'm so glad you do the video taping down the stairs too. I asked Derek if he was going to go out and get everything ready and he just looked at me weird. I thought everybody did that. I'm glad you liked the CD. The song was from a tape she was sending back for a 50th anniversary of the stake or ward. I guess she'd sung that at weddings or something. I just thought it portrayed the way she feels about her family perfectly. It took seriously four or five times to successfully digitize it. It seemed like every time we tried to do it something wouldn't work. Either the tape player or the cord or something I was so glad to finally get it.
So fun!! I love the coming down the stairs tradition. It still is exciting! I am so glad you had people with you on christmas eve. It looks like it was really fun. Congrats to Molly & Shawn. I couldn't tell if Shawn was in shock or excited... :) The girls were listening to "Mr. Fussy" tonight and it still makes me laugh that she laughs at the story herself. Classic Grandma Nellie! :)
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