Merry Christmas!

This year we had a wonderful Christmas Eve party with the hubby’s family, and it was a blast! We ate yummy food, had a White Elephant gift exchange, opened presents, and played some games. It’s so fun to have lots of people over and I always tell myself to do it more often!

Of course, I don’t have any photos from that night, since I completely forgot to bust out my big camera, and I hadn’t opened my presents yet, so I didn’t have a handy one. Maybe I can steal some shots from my sisters-in-law. I’ll update if I do.

After Christmas Eve was over, we cleaned up and got ready for Santa to come! Our Elf on the Shelf, Dave, went back to the North Pole and left us a note saying that both boys made it to the Nice list! Of course, they were excited to hear that.

Here are the kids ready and waiting to book it down the stairs!

E had asked for a kid’s sized Jeep this year, but we knew it wasn’t going to happen, so Dave left him a note saying to be on the lookout for one next year, as per our request. E was so excited that Santa knew what he wanted that he didn’t mind having to wait another year! Phew.

W was easier to please, he only asked Santa for this stupid, horrible cute little game called Pop the Pig. The premise is that you feed this pig plastic hamburgers until his belly explodes. Yeah, like I said, stupid and horrible cute. We tried and tried to change his mind and gently persuade him that he wanted something else, but that’s all we heard for 2 months. So that’s what Santa brought W. He was over the moon. :)

The hubby made out like a bandit with new clothes, 5 shirts, 1 sweater, and some socks. I guess it stinks being an adult at Christmas when you need new shirts and your wife wants to buy them for you but can’t find a good reason until Christmas comes around…

But he also got some fun magnet balls (like Bucky Balls), which he’s had a lot of fun playing with, a Kindle case, and some tools from the kids.

One of the coolest things was a LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean ship from my Mom and Dad, for him to put together with E. I’ll post a photo of the complete ship soon.

I love the little minifigs that come with it:

I was extra lucky and got a brand-new digital camera! I’ve been wanting one for a long time now, because lately I’ve been having to choose between lugging around my big mama professional camera or my cell phone, and it seems like the cell phone was winning out more and more, just for convenience’ sake. So I got a little Canon Elph and I’m super excited. Not only does it take great photos and videos, but it’s so tiny that it fits in my pocket and I can carry it around with me wherever I go. No more missing the shot because I didn’t want to stuff my camera into a diaper bag! So while the quality of the actual photos will probably be less than stellar, the quantity will go up and I’ll have more to share! And that’s really what you read this blog for, right? Pictures of us?? :)  (And by “you”, I mean you, Mom. Because you’re the only one who reads this, I’m convinced…)

I also got a sweet Elder wand from you, mom, which is awesome in and of itself. I was on the phone with my family later in the day and my mom asked me what I was going to do with it. I said, “Cast magical spells on people, DUH!” I mean, what does she think it’s for, decoration? Don’t make me laugh!

After we had opened our presents, we got ready for church and left. We had just a sacrament meeting, which was filled with wonderful music and great narrations about the birth and life of Jesus Christ. I do love getting to be centered again on the true meaning of the season and focusing on what it means for me and my family.

I was sad, though, that I couldn’t sing in the choir or do my duet with another woman in our ward. We had had choir practice on Thursday night, and I woke up Friday morning to a sore voice. I thought it would get better, but since we spent the whole day at Disneyland with two little kids, I wasn’t able to rest it as much as I wanted to. Needless to say, I woke up on Saturday morning with it even worse – I could barely make any sounds, let alone sing. I was so bummed! Especially since I had really practiced my song and was ready. Ah well, there’s always next year.

After church, we loaded up the kids and headed out to the in-laws for the rest of the opening of the presents, some dinner, and lots and lots of game-playing!

The kids got spoiled, of course, and had lots of great fun. I’m just going to dump a bunch of photos here and you can see for yourself. :)

 

Merry Christmas!!