Christmas 2009

We had a great Christmas this year. The past few years we've gone to Escalante for Christmas, but this year we opted to stay here since it was our 1st year in our new house. Ya'll have no idea how excited I was to celebrate Christmas the way that my family does it. Chris got off work early, so we thought we'd go see a movie (he really just wanted to try to keep me occupied for a couple of hours HA!) but that didn't happen. We got there all excited to see Avatar (well I wasn't but the kids, Chris included, were ecstatic!), got the kids all settled in and the dang projector broke. So we went home and Chris made the kids pick the house up a little, cause Santa doesn't come to a dirty house lol.
Once the house was picked up, we decorated our Christmas stockings. I started this tradition when Shelby was a baby. Every year I get the cheap Christmas stocking and we decorate them as a family. I LOVE Preston's this year! Ha!
After decorating Christmas stockings, the girls and I started dinner. While it was cooking, we went to look at lights. This is, by far, one of my favorite traditions. I remember doing this with my mom and sisters for HOURS. We "Ooo and Awe" at every single house with lights and we alternate. One house gets an "ooo" and the next gets an "awe". It cracks my kids up!!!
By the time we got back, dinner was ready so we ate and then opened presents. Yes, we open our presents on Christmas Eve. The reasoning behind this is that Santa usually brings the big presents that the kids want the most, so the family gifts get ignored. This way, they have a chance to play with and enjoy the family gifts as well. I love this picture. They're all making the same face as they open their presents.
Once family gifts were opened, they played for about an hour and then it was off to bed. Poor Morgan fell asleep on the living room floor before she got to hear the bed time stories. Chris reads Luke 2 and The Night Before Christmas to them every year.
These are the Santa gifts. This year the kids had to share their present!
I have to admit, I'm far worse than the kids on Christmas. I was up half the night waiting for them to wake up! They finally woke up about 6:15. After they got their Santa presents (and Chris spent much of the morning "showing" the kids how the Wii worked HAHA!), we went to Escalante. It took us a few tries to actually get out of town, but we finally made it. We had a great time over there and the kids LOVED getting to spend time with Grandma!!! We were able to spend Christmas night over there before having to come home so I could work.
One of the gifts that the girls were most excited about were their new boots. It's funny how excited little girls get when they get stuff like their mom's. HA! Today, we all wore our boots to church and of course had to have a pic.
I'm trying to upload our family Christmas video right now. I'll post it when it's finished!
p.s. Andrea, all the single HA!'s were for you! lol