Christmas Catch Up

We had a wonderful Christmas. It was full of family! I'm not going to try and write about it all, but here's a picture summary with some commentary.

First off, Calvin's preschool Christmas program. He was a wise man. And yes, that's our tall guy on the back row!


Brennan lost his 2nd front tooth just before Christmas...priceless!


First celebration was Christmas Eve morning with Grandpa Walt and Grandma Deb. We always open gifts in new jammies with them.

The kiddos waiting patiently to open gifts!

He was so excited about a wii!


We went back home that evening so that we could be at our own church for Christmas Eve service. We also like to have Christmas morning with just our little family. It's become our favorite part of all the Christmas celebrations. Just the 5 (almost 6!) of us, reading the Christmas story, opening gifts, eating a yummy breakfast. I don't have very many pictures, but here's a couple cute ones.
Does everyone do this picture? I know we did growing up! Here's the kids waiting at the end of the hallway before getting to go and look under the tree. Such suspense!

Tyler and Char taking a little break.

Here are the kids with some of their favorite gifts.



(yes, my sons got hunting games and light sabers and my daughter got a vacuum, we're nothing if not stereotypical.)

On Christmas afternoon we drove out to Grandma Janet and Papa's Skips house. There was about 8 inches of beautiful snow on the ground. But that didn't stop us! Again, I don't have many pics, but here's a few.

Here's an ariel view of everyone hanging out in the living room.

Brennan got a set of real (junior) golf clubs!

Me, trying on one of the kid's hats.

All the grandkids (we'll add 2 more in the next 8 weeks!).

We did a lot of this while being snowed in at Grandma and Papa's. Brennan got UNO and we seriously must have played at least 100 hands. It was so strange to have him sitting with all the adults playing cards. I vividly remember chasing him around that house trying to keep him from destroying things! We have entered a new phase.


It really was a wonderful Christmas. The kids (at least the boys) seemed to really understand the true meaning of Christmas this year. Of course they were excited about gifts, but their comprehension of the birth of Christ seemed evident this year. I always worry about Christmas getting buried in gifts and family (don't we all), but they seem to have a simple understanding of why we do all those things. They understand we are celebrating the birth of our Savior.

I'm leaving a lot out. The blizzard of 2009, dead car battery, a very meaningful Christmas Eve service, kids with colds, great sledding, family tension, great food, short nights in uncomfortable beds, greedy children, greedy parents, an addiction to frosted sugar cookies, the list goes on and on. But this blog is only a snapshot of life. You know that don't you? I hope when I look back on this in 20 years I remember all the things I didn't take the time to write about or didn't want to post for others to read.
Hope you had a very Merry Christmas! And now on to 2010. I'll start blogging about that soon, I promise.