Christmas

Okay, now for Christmas.  We decided to stay home for Christmas this year.  It was our 9th Christmas being married and the first time we've ever stayed home.  It was wonderful!  We were lucky enough to have the best of both worlds - we got to be home for Christmas with just our little family, and then we were able to travel to California and see so many of our wonderful family members.

Jeremy had been working a lot and traveling a lot, so he was SO excited to be home.  He got Christmas Eve and Christmas off and all day Christmas Eve he kept walking around with a big smile on his face saying, "This is the BEST Christmas EVER!"  It made me happy to see him so happy.  We definitely made the right choice. :)  The night before Christmas Eve we went caroling with a bunch of people from the ward (church) and then a lot of them came over after for cookies and wassail. I think we had about 35 people!  It was a fun thing to do and helped add to the Christmas spirit.

Then on Christmas Eve we had a wonderful time baking, reading Christmas books, listening to Christmas music, and relaxing together at home.

Our best attempt at a kid picture, pretty bad...

I bought a small ham and we had a delicious feast of ham, roasted garlic mashed potatoes, rolls, roasted green beans, and spinach salad.  It was soooo good!

The kids were really excited about the sparkling cider too.  It doesn't take much to please them. :)

After dinner we read Luke 2 and acted out the Nativity.  Eli wanted to be Joseph, Connor wanted to be Mary :), and Anna crawled around as the sheep.  I was the angel and shepherd and Jeremy was the narrator, donkey, and wiseman.

 Oh, and Connor's bear was baby Jesus.  Classy, I know.

The kids were really cute.  We then sang a few Christmas songs.  They each had a few favorites and it was sweet to sing them together.

Then we had our dessert, opened up some Christmas jammies, and put the kids to bed!

Christmas morning was a fast one.  The kids were up by 6:45 and we were all done opening presents by about 8:00am. :)  It was great though!  We relaxed, had a nice breakfast, played with our new toys, and then got packed for our trip to California the next day.

They weren't quite ready for the lights to turn on...

Headlamps in the their stockings! 

 Ahhh, new wool socks!

 This basketball hoop was for both of the boys, but Connor is definitely more interested.  It's pretty much all he wants to play with all day everyday.

 Burt's Bees - happy Jeremy.

 I love this face!

 Hehe, and this one.

 Connor got this big dumptruck from his cousin and he exclaimed upon opening it, "I would like this!"  Haha, I told him, "Good!  It's for you!"

 Legos!!

 And lego duplos!!

 Yum.

 And double yum.

 Finished lego product:

It was a very successful Christmas at home!