Christmas Morning

This year we spent our first Christmas all by ourselves. Last year we were kind of by ourselves, but Julie and TJ were in town with the Brinks for Christmas so we don't count it as being all alone since we got to see them quite a bit over the holidays, including on Christmas Day night. So, this year was officially our first Christmas with just us! I was a bit worried about being all alone for the whole Holiday but as it turned out, we all loved every minute of it. Christmas Eve was spent at our Friends, the Petry's, home where we had yummy homemade soups and dessert, sang Christmas Carols and exchanged family gifts. When we got home we were surprised by a traditional delivery of new jammies by two of Santa's elves. They come every year, figuring out some sneaky way of delivering the jams without us catching them. Hmmmmm, quite an exciting part of our Christmas Eve. After getting the kids settled and sleeping on the floor in our room (another tradition to all sleep in the same room on Christams Eve), Adam and I spent a few hours wrapping gifts and getting ready for Santa to come.

Christmas morning came with all the magic that comes with it. Honestly, it doesn't matter how old I get, I will ALWAYS love Christmas morning. The mystery of what presents Santa has left, the excitement of tearing the wrapping off an unknown, but sure to be loved gift, and the looks on the faces of the receivers and the givers of the gifts. It never gets old to me.

We spent some time looking at the Santa gifts and then started opening presents. Anyone who knows Adam knows how slow he can move and anyone who knows me knows how fast I can move. Let's just say that on Christmas Morning, Adam ALWAYS wins. He passes out the presents, in order of youngest to oldest, one at a time and then we each watch as the person opens their gift. This is a tradition that both of our families have always had and I love it. But, true to his style of moving slow, Adam takes it a step further. He wants all of us to not only watch the person open their gift, but then we all sit and watch and help as that person opens the box, takes out the toy or outfit or whatever is in it and we all spend about 5 to 10 minutes analyzing, examining, congratulating and playing with the new item. With only the 6 of us, we were opening presents from about 8:30 to 1:00 in the afternoon with a pause in the middle for breakfast, which took about an hour. By the end, I was laughing at how long it took our little group, but enjoying every single, long, drawn out moment of the morning. Nowhere to go, no rush, and everyone getting along and happy! It was all we had hoped for and more for our first Christmas alone.

Once the opening was over, Adam convinced me that we didn't need to clean it all up right away but to let it sit and be enjoyed. I'm not sure if it was my lack of energy and motivation due to feeling yucky, or that I simply didn't want to cause contention on Christmas, but I let him have his way and our Family Room stayed a DISASTER for the rest of the day. And guess what? Shockingly, it didn't bother me at all! (I know, GASP, right?) I think the reason is that we had received a Christmas Card this year with a quote on it that said:

One of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the living room on Christmas day. Don't clean it up too quickly."
~ Andy Rooney (1919-), American writer, producer, humorist.

Its funny how we followed that advice and I found it to be so true. It was a glorious mess and we all loved it.

That night, I made a Ham dinner with potatoes, jello, rolls, vegi's and pie for dessert. Again, though we were small in number, we ate everything in sight and had a wonderful day together!

The rest of the holidays we just spent together. We went to a few movies, bought and put together a 500 piece puzzle (starting small since we've never done that before), played new games and watched new movies we'd gotten for Christmas. For New Years we stayed up with the kids watching "Iron Man" and one day Adam took Annie and Spencer Snowboarding while Garett, Logan and I stayed home playing games, going to lunch and watching movies.

The thing I loved most about us all being together is that we learned that we really do LOVE being together. We always seem to have friends or family around and have started to think that we need other people around to have fun but this Christmas we all realized that we can have just as much fun being together with just us! Playing together, laughing together and loving together, this Christmas will go down as one of my favorites ever!
My Boys!
Poor Annie was such a trooper through the Holidays. She had her tonsils and adenoids taken out just 3 days before Christmas and was such a good sport. Despite her discomfort, pain and STINKY breath from the surgery, she didn't complain and smiled through it all!
G loved all of his presents including this bow and arrow set from Spencer and Dad.
Santa was good to Spence this year bringing him a bunch of his Boy Scout camping equipment. Pack, -15 degree sleeping bag, sleeping pad, etc. He's all set for the upcoming Klonderee winter campout!

Me with my new Coach shades. My best friend Mindy wrote a note with the gift that said "When you wear these, you'll feel hot and sexy no matter how terrible you feel". I couldn't imagine what could possibly make me feel hot in my current state of Morning Sickness that lasts all day long, until I opened the box and pulled out these babies! Yep, she was right, I DO feel hot when I put these on. Thanks for a much needed pick me up Min!!!! Love Ya!
Logan wrapped all snuggy in his new double fleece batman blankie. Gramma made each of the kids double fleece blankets. They are SOOOOOOO warm and perfect for cold winter nights when we hunker down and wathc movies!
This is a shot of my Favorite Gift this year! Adam bought me this painting called Take My Hand. Of course I cried when I opened it! I LOVE LDS artwork and someday plan to have my house filled with these beautiful paintings! Thanks babe! Love You!

Some of my little helpers setting the table for Christmas Dinner