Our Christmas celebration

On "Christmas Eve" (which was on Fri Dec. 27th for us), we put out a cookie and some milk for Santa- they each made a cookie for him, but Hannah ate hers before it got to Santa's plate- and sprinkled the lawn with glitter (to sparkle so Santa could see our house) and oats (reindeer food, so they would smell it and want to come down). Then the kids ran happily off to bed (which NEVER happens) in blissful anticipation of Santa's arrival.

Once the munchkins were in bed the grown ups set to work! Jeremy and Ken set up the trampoline in the back yard, and I wrapped the box with paper and the finished product with a ribbon and bow. Then Jeremy and I set out to wrap all the other presents hiding in our closet, set them by the tree, stuff stockings, and set them on the fireplace hearth.

It was quite the sight to behold by the time we finished with it!

Levi was the first one up! When Nathan saw Levi's Christmas PJ's he said, "Hey, baby Levi is dressed up like a package!"

When Nathan saw that the cookie was eaten and the milk was gone he exclaimed, "Santa DID come! Look, the snack we left him is all gone!"

We did stockings right away

Hannah was sooooo excited to have her very own chapstick (and I was excited that she would stop asking to share mine!)

The magnetic letters and numbers were also a big hit!

After stockings we let the kids open the giant present (the box for the trampoline) so that they could jump on it while we got breakfast ready for everyone.

Since it was rather chilly, Jeremy and Ken moved the trampoline into the garage so they could continue to play.

We had a yummy breakfast of sweet breads (orange cinnamon rolls, regular cinnamon rolls and pumpkin bread) and eggs with juice.

Hannah also decided to eat the hostess cupcake in grandpa's stocking!

Levi was ready for his morning nap by the time we finished breakfast :)

He actually ended up staying alseep for almost the entire rest of the day while we opened all the presents! (which worked out well because none of them were for him)

The whole rest of the day we spent opening presents. Yep- all day. Pretty much all the presents under the tree were for the kids with a couple of presents that were from the kids, so we took the time to enjoy each gift as it was opened.

Here are a few of the highlights:

We started by opening a gift from Uncle Tyler to the whole family. He sent it as a gag gift, but I have to say that the kids were beyond stoked about it! Here is a quick clip:

Nathan got an army of GI Joe's and accessories:

The kids both got bow and arrows.

Santa's one gift to each of them this year was Nurf guns. Nathan actually wrote a pretty good letter describing the gun he wanted and emailed it to Santa :)

What do 2 little kids do with Nurf guns on Christmas?... shoot daddy (who is wearing the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle costume)!- see video!

They got him!

Then we combined the Nurf guns and the GI Joe set for a real shooting frenzy!

Here's the target:

and the shooters:

Hannah and Nathan both love pretending to be pediatricians to Hannah's dolls, and now they have the Dr's kit to go with it (so the dolly pacifier no longer has to double as a stethoscope!)

Hannah got her own electric car, and Dad fixed up Nathan's (again!) so they could drive together too!

Our diva in her new Cadillac

They drove until they both ran out of battery (Hannah had to call for a tow!)

And then they finished up with more bouncing, but this time we added balls!

They both loved the idea of a bouncy ball pit :)

Here is some of the video highlights from opening presents:



We finished opening/playing with presents around 4:30pm and the kids sat down with grandma and grandpa to watch Arthur Christmas while Jeremy and I made our Christmas dinner.

Looking good! Ham, bread rolls, yams, corn pudding, asparagus and sparkling cider!

WAIT! Feed me first!!!!

Here is Jeremy's masterpiece he made of our ham:

After a lovely dinner, some more play and pie- grandpa and Hannah were both down for the count!

It was very different for us to take and entire day to open and appreciate all our presents, but I loved it. We got to play a ton with the kids, they got to really enjoy their gifts in a way that facilitated not only greater appreciation for but remembrance of what they received, AND somehow also felt far more connected to what they had worked hard and thoughtfully considered to give.

This year was also the first Christmas in a long while that we did not travel, which allowed us to uphold our favorite traditions on our own turf and really focus on our kids. It was really fun and brought an abundance of the Christmas spirit into our season. More than anything I loved having the time to be together as a family- from ward parties to baking and caroling, decorating gingerbread houses, festive Castles, train rides, spreading reindeer food right down to the last bite of Christmas pie- it was wonderful!