Christmas 2009

We had such a great Christmas this year! It had been a year in the making and we were so excited for my entire family to come to Utah and spend Christmas together. The last time every single last one of us was together was 7 years ago!!! At the time there were 9 grandchildren under the age of 7 and now there were 18 under the age of 13! A lot has changed in our families since then but one thing stayed the same...we all have a blast together! Let's begin!!

Christmas Eve

We started out on Christmas Eve day by heading to Build-A-Bear (or Builder Bear as Brady likes to call it) to build bears to take to the local hospital. Each child who was old enough built a cute little bear that is hopefully being loved by a child who had to be in the hospital over the holidays!

Later that day we headed up into the mountains to go on a Sleigh Ride. It was so much fun! It was so much FREEZING but luckily a couple of Santa's Elves had delivered each of us a Roots Canada Toque (or beanie for all you Americans) to keep us warm on our Sleigh Ride!

We got home from the Sleigh Ride where we ate a yummy feast of soup, pita pockets and various chips and crackers and dips and then guess who showed up? Yep! Santa himself made a quick stop to let the kids tell him one more time what they were wishing for and to let them know they had all made it on the NICE list!

After Santa left we opened up our Christmas Jammies from Nana and Grandad and settled in to watch "Joy to the World" (a video of the Birth and Life of Jesus Christ. Click on the link to request a free copy for your family for next year) It was wonderful to feel the Spirit and to remind the children that the birth of the Savior is the true reason we celebrate Christmas!

After the video, a message from Grandad and family prayer we took all the presents from my house over to my parents to be added to the collection there. (It was funny to see that there was less under the tree this year as there was 7 years ago, but we have double the children now. Either we all got smarter and started to buy less or things got more expensive as the kids got older and we HAD to buy less!) As per tradition all the kids over the age of 3 slept together in one room! It was hilarious to see them all sacked out, arms and legs everywhere, not to mention the stinkiness of all those bodies crammed into one room! They didn't seem to mind though!

Christmas Morning

The time to wake up that was pre-set by Nana and Grandad was 7:30 a.m. so right at 7:30 we all piled into their bedroom for the traditional story telling! Every Christmas Morning of my childhood was like this. Mom and Dad telling us when we were allowed to wake them up, us all giddy and excited and counting down the seconds until we were allowed into their bedroom. I remember one Christmas in particular that we woke up at about 5 a.m. and we literally spent 3 hours in Ryan's room until we could wake up my parents. Time has never moved so slowly in my life since that Christmas Morning 20+ years ago! Then every Christmas Morning we'd pile on my parents bed where they would tell us stories about Christmas's when they were growing up. It always seemed like we were talking for hours but as an adult I realize it took about 15 minutes, if even that! In keeping with tradition we subjected our own children to this cruel torture, and surprisingly they didn't seem to mind too much. Then, as per tradition, we had family prayer, lined up youngest to oldest and headed down to see what Santa had brought!

I need to post a little side note here about Reece. Never have I seen a 2 year old LOVE Christmas as much as she did. She loved Santa, she loved her presents, she loved the lights, she loved the decorations. In fact on Christmas Eve about 20 minutes after TJ had put her to bed my mom had to get something in the room Reecey was in. As my mom was tip toeing by, Reece whispered, "hi Nana!" My mom told her to lie down and go to sleep so Santa could come and bring her presents. About 15 minutes after that TJ peeked in to check on her and she was sitting on the bed. TJ told her to lie down and go to sleep and she replied, "no! I waiting for Santa a come a leave me pwesents!" It was truly magical for her and I loved seeing the holiday through her young, innocent eyes!

Nanny and her American Girl doll, Julie

Brady and his "Transformer with a guy." This Bumblebee came with a little Sam action figure.

Jackson and his personalized Fathead! Yep...that's him!

Reecey in her Sleeping Beauty dress riding her new Dora bike!

All the guys in their new shirts that they will be wearing when they attend the U.S. Open in Pebble Beach in June! Thanks Nana!!!!

The traditional Un-Talent Show!

Nana truly is "un-talented" at playing the piano!

The Teens and Tweens performing an American Idol skit. Amber is not so "un-talented" at singing! She's very very talented at it. Expect to see her on Idol in a couple of years!

TJ on the guitar while my dad sings about getting older! He re-wrote the words to "When I'm 64." It was "Now I'm 64" It was quite simply HILARIOUS!

Adam and Mar's family performing "I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" It was very cute!!!!

There were other un-talents performed that evening as well. Some highlights were Ryan's infomercial, Cleetus Clydesdale and the Bee Money Music Video.

It seemed that after Christmas Eve and Day I left my Camera at home so not many more pictures to post but we had a blast being together, playing games, sledding, chatting, eating and most of all laughing!

I am so grateful for my family and I'm so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ that allows us to be together as a family forever! I love Christmas and the time it gives us to reflect on the birth of our Savior. It was so wonderful to have everyone together and hopefully it won't be another 7 years before we do it again!