Christmas Morning and More

We had a very merry Christmas at our house! Christmas Eve was spent at Joel's parents' house, which was wonderful. They have a very sweet tradition that I think we will continue with our family. Instead of having a large meal, they have a humble dinner of chicken noodle soup and crackers, which they eat by candlelight. They do this to reflect the humble circumstances that Joseph and Mary were in. Then they read the Christmas story from the Bible. It was very fun to do that with them. Noah always loves going to Grandma and Grandpa's no matter what we do there. We got back to our house relatively early, so Santa was able to get the presents under the tree at a decent hour. Joel and I sang some Christmas carols together, and I enjoyed singing songs to my guitar that I only get out at Christmas time.

At about 3:00 in the morning one little boy discovered that Santa had come. He got up to go potty and saw the tree was lit up. He didn't actually say anything to us, but I knew he knew. I knew because He sleeps in our room on the floor by my side of the bed (something we're desperate to change but don't know how) and kept tossing and turning. When I looked down at him his eyes were wide with wonderment, and I knew exactly what he was thinking- "There are presents downstairs and I want to go down there so bad!" Then he kept getting up to "go potty." Finally, I shut our door and told him to go back to sleep. Then I covered my head with my pillow to drown out the noise of him tossing and turning. There was no way I was going to get up at 3:00 in the morning to open presents! I wasn't that excited.

He did eventually go back to sleep and didn't wake up until Clara did (she's the alarm clock around here). We told him to see if Santa came (as if he didn't know), which he did, and his eyes got so wide . He was so excited. We all gathered and went down the stairs together (but not until Mom grabbed her camera, of course). We gave everyone their presents. Noah wanted to just go at it, but we made him wait so we could all open one at a time.

Now that I have kids the more I realize that most festivities associated with most holidays are really made for children. For instance, Halloween is now one of my favorite holidays because I love watching my kids go trick-or-treating. That's how I am with Christmas too. I've always loved Christmas, like most people, but I love it even more now. It is so much fun with little kids. Noah opened a present with a simple pair of pants and couldn't have been more thrilled. I enjoyed the presents I got (thanks Joel), but the best was watching the kids open theirs.

This was Clara's favorite present. Her face lit up when she saw it.

This was Noah's main present- extra stuff for his train. He LOVED it!

This was Clara's main present- a ball popper. It was a big hit for everyone, including Mom and Dad. It's a very mesmerizing toy.

Here's Joel reading the 2008 Memoirs written by him and his siblings. Even though I don't share the memories, I always look forward to this part of the holiday.

Playing a new family game- Chutes and Ladders

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Here are a few pictures from when we went to see the light display in downtown Ogden. It was fun but extremely cold. After we came home that night the fun continued: we warmed ourselves with hot chocolate, got in our jammies, snuggle on the couch and watched a movie, and camped out by the Christmas tree. It was a fun night.

Noah's in the "I don't know how to smile for pictures" phase.

"Why are we out in the freezing cold Mommy?"

I hope you all had a very merry Christmas too!