Christmas!!!

BEFORE.....

and AFTER!

We had a very fun Christmas Day! We planned on waking up around 7:30 and even communicated this to the girls. September woke up a little before 5 am and was very antsy and couldn't go back to sleep. So she got up and started playing Christmas songs on the piano in their room. It woke up Lisa and Kyle in the next room. Nothing like waking up in the middle of the night to someone playing "Silent Night" on the piano! ;) We didn't hear a thing until about 7:20 when we heard something outside the door and opened it to reveal all 4 children! I guess it was time to get going with the day.

Here's our traditional Christmas morning picture of the kids before going downstairs to open gifts. Check out Logan about to go crazy on Peyton's head. Don't worry, she was unharmed.

Having Lisa and Kyle with us for Christmas morning was a bonus because we had our own personal photographers. So we just got to sit back and enjoy the gift opening without having to pause and take pictures and video. We actually didn't end up being able to get any video because when we went to use it the one and only disc we had for it was saying it had an error. So no video! But oh well, life goes on! Actually we did get a few small clips with the camera.

Logan enjoyed the chocolate in his stocking a little too much. At one point during the gift opening he was missing and we found him in the kitchen hiding in the corner eating all his chocolate!

Peyton is a shoe-aholic. She doesn't really own many shoes herself, but she loves putting other people shoes on. She was excited to have a pair of her own and immediately tried to put them on.

Kya, our little songstress, received "Singstar" as her big gift. And then together, Ember and Kya got the High School Musical game that you can play on it that has all the HSM songs.

New hoodies.....just what I asked for!

Matthew + a Blu-Ray = pure joy on Christmas morning

We woke up to even more snow on Christmas morning. I opened the door and found a gift that somebody had left on the doorstep which was now covered in snow.

My parents came and visited and brought a few more gifts, including some new slippers for the girls that my mom made.


Here's Kyle goofing around with the stockings. I wish I'd gotten a picture of him wearing the gift my mom made for him. She knit him a hat that would help him fit in a little better in Utah. It was a blue and white beanie with a "Y" on it.....and then you turn it inside out and it's a red and white one with a "U" on it! He can make friends wherever he goes.


My mom made a delicious (but random) lunch. She made white chicken chili (so good!), garlic bread, guacamole and chips, mini quiches and deviled eggs. Oh, and wassail....my favorite!


With all of the snow from earlier in the week plus the new stuff, there was plenty of snow to play in and make a snowman. Ember and Kya went out and made one, but we didn't get a picture of the finished product. Within an hour of them finishing it, it started raining which pretty much melted it and made it topple over.

September was either exhausted or needed to go the bathroom very badly when she came in because this is what we found. She pretty much jumped right out of her snowsuit. We had a good laugh!

We also had a visit later from Grandma and Grandpa Cluff. The kids had fun with them and got to show them all their new things.

It was a fun and relaxing day! We feel very blessed and are very thankful for family, food, shelter, and of course the reason for the season, our Savior. I hope all of you had as wonderful a Christmas as we did.