Merry Christmas!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Christmas at Papa and MerMer's was great. Santa found us and the kids. We had church at 10. Family was EVERYWHERE. We stayed at mom and dad's with the newlyweds-fresh off of their honeymoon, and Chris's family of 6 boys and 1 girl (with 1 more girl on the way, YAY!). There was lots of excitement Christmas morning.

The kids in their new jammies checking out the loot.

Zach laid out his bear blanket and dumped out his stocking goods on it. The kids were really fun this year. They were super excited and it was fun to relive that Christmas magic through them.

I know, I know. You all love my onesie jammies too. My sister Carrie even has a matching green pair. :)

Santa! What's he going to bring? Hopefully the thing the girls have been asking for for the last 4 months!!

Kate drooling over her new Aladdin Doll!!!

And Jasmine!!! Yay! Santa came through! This girl LOVES Aladdin the movie. She is very good at singing "A Whole New World."

And a blurry picture of Kara with her beloved Rapunzel and Flynn Rider dolls.

And Zach got a Bounce Back Racer!! Sweet!

The Newlyweds! Uncle Cody and Aunt Jessica.

Kara's already got the love story down. They have to kiss of course. It is fun to watch the girls play pretend with their dolls.

We always get my parents a family calendar where we all design a few pages with our family pics from the last year. We were waiting for wedding pictures to come back so we could put those in. I had to get something for my mom to open, so I got her this sweet purse holders! (from the dollar store...HA!) Now whenever she goes anywhere her purse doesn't have to touch the floor and get disgusting germs on it. :) She decided they doubled as bling bling jewelry.

Mom showing off her fancy "earrings" and dad his new winter driving hat from me. Not that you really need it in SoCal, but I LOVE seeing all of the old men come in to church with their driving caps, keeping their bald heads warm. Dad, this of course isn't you! You aren't old or bald! You still have a few hairs up there. This hat will just protect them for you. (Let's see if he reads this ever...here is the test!)

This was AWESOME! I have been looking for backpacks for the girls for a while. Princess ones of course. A few days before Christmas I found these gems! I laughed out loud in the aisle. They have Princess poofy sleeves that cover the shoulders and a little velcro skirt strap to connect between the 2 shoulder straps. YES! :) At last, my search was over then and there!

 Some of Chris's family on Christmas morning. They got the big couch, naturally. :) 7 kids...maybe someday we'll catch up. Maybe...

The fun thing about Christmas with cousins was playing with each other's toys! This take a part truck that Zach got was a huge hit!

Later that night we all got together for a big family dinner/gift exchange. That is a total of 39 people with 3 on the way!

This (along with Dad's digital copies of ALL of our childhood home videos!) was one of the sweetest presents we got this year. My mom's mom, Grandma Jo, passed away earlier this year. I really do miss our phone calls and her sense of humor and how much she cared about us all. Anyway, Grandma Jo's sister, Aunt Dot used to give her these cute Scandinavian statues. She had quite the collection. Aunt Dot wanted my mom to have that collection, to give it to each of us kids. Aunt Dot was also sick. Just a few days before Aunt Dot passed away she made sure that mom was going to receive the collection trying to pack it up and send it out. So thoughtful. Mom got it and chose a statue for each of us kids. For me it is a memory of Grandma Jo and sweet Aunt Dot. I love them, the relatives and the statues. :)

Ours is two little bundled up kids sitting on a bench about to kiss. :)

THIS was the present I was most excited to give! We had Cody and Jessica for Christmas exchange. I kept a blog of all of his pictures and letters over his mission and was excited to make a blog book for him to have it all in writing! It took FOREVER!!! But turned out so good! I had been working on it since October and had it shipped home late November, so it felt like forever. If you know me, I am HORRIBLE at waiting for things I am excited about. Like a treat from the grocery store, or new toys for the kids' birthdays that are months away... but they could use it now! Why not now?!! Anyway, I would have just given it to him right when it was done. It was SO nice to finally be able to give it to him and see just how happy he was to receive it. :) Well worth the work. And the wait I guess.

Oh yeah, and I gave Jessica my infamous gift of 101 cookie cutters for ALL seasons!! Every household needs them! ...AND a pregnancy test. Hey, it could happen!

I love Cody's eyes in this picture on the right. But wouldn't a honeymoon baby be so exciting!!! :) Ha ha! Why wait?

After dinner and presents all the adults (and Kara--portraying the sick and afflicted that Jesus came to heal) sat on the couch and relaxed while the kids reenacted the Nativity for us.

The Holy Family.

 Isn't this the most chill baby Jesus actor you've ever seen? Gotta love Emery! :)

All of the shepherd and their sheep. This was a live nativity, using some live animals! Chris and Sherelda's dog Benji--a very patient well-mannered dog is strung over Spencer's shoulders. :)

Zachy, my little shepherd.

And Kate...an angel coming through the Inn door? I don't know. It's Kate. Enough said!

All the kids taking a bow.

That is one crowded living room! We had a little gratitude meeting talking about a time in the last year where we had really seen the Lord working in our lives. It was special to hear every one's experiences and share that time together. As much fun as all of the food and toys and festivities are, it is all about our Savior, Jesus Christ and what he did for us as he lived and died on this earth. I am grateful for my family and my testimony of Christ.

Then we all got spoiled by Papa and Mer Mer! Does the fun EVER end?! Poor Kara missed out on all of this. She asked to go up to bed. You know they don't feel good when they are asking to sleep. :( I hate seeing my babies sick.

I like this sweet picture of Kate playing with her Great Grandma, Nanny. My dad's mom. They all love her. And the funniest part of this picture is that the toy isn't even hers. It is one of her cousins that she fell in love with. She had present envy. :) At least her cousin was kind enough to let her play with it!



So that was our WONDERFUL Christmas Day.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!