Christmas 2011

Christmas this year went well.  It was a week full of fun, excitement, family and togetherness.  Jered took Friday off so we spent the day playing and finishing the last of our Christmas preparations.  He basically kept Camden entertained so I could get things done.  There is truly no better sound for me than when the two of them play together.  There is always plenty of great imagination play, lots of giggles and running around and the occasional tear or two thrown in.  In truth, Jered was almost banned from playing with Camden this weekend.  I'd almost had my fill of the fun and laughter ending in Camden being hurt.

Friday evening we went to temple square to see the lights.  It was so great to be there in front of the manger scene with Camden listening to the prophets teach us about serving others and capturing the true meaning of Christmas.  It's pretty incredible to see trees, seemingly on fire, ablaze with tiny red and orange twinkle lights.  It was really cold so we rushed through the nativity scenes and went for some yummy warm dinner.

Here's Camden moments before we were supposed to be leaving for Christmas Eve lunch.  She was trying to get away from Jered and nearly put her teeth through her lip.  Yep, nice one daddy.

Christmas Eve we had lunch with my family.  We ate a delicious turkey dinner then had some wild and crazy minute-to-win-it games.  The last time I laughed so hard was when my sisters were all together.  We ended the festivities with gift opening and a great lesson from grandpa James.  Grandma Susan made all of the girls headbands and the boys hats.  Our heads will definitely be warm from now on.  Thanks for all of the hard work grandma!

Since I was in charge of the games and Jered was doing who knows what, we failed to get any pictures with our camera.  My brother-in-law, Chase, made a video of the day's festivities (and a few not-so-festivities: dad reading the paper, O on the kitchen table drinking from the water picture...)  You can watch his video here. (Yes, we did keep all of those tissues. With our family being sick they've sure come in handy.)

We stayed way too late and Camden actually fell asleep in the car.  Poor thing didn't even get to put cookies out for Santa.  Luckily we'd made them earlier in the day so we made sure there were plenty of cookies and hot chocolate for Santa and carrots and candy canes for the reindeer.  Camden said the carrots were the healthy part the reindeer need to be strong and the candy canes give them more magic.

We invited my parents over for Christmas morning and told them to come between 7:00 and 8:00 in the morning.  We had ignored our alarms going off and woke only when my parents called at 8:00 to say they were waiting on our front porch.  I'm not too excited for these sleep-in Christmas mornings to end.  I'm really crossing my fingers that we have at least one more year.

Camden thought that the orange in the toe of her stocking was so funny.  She couldn't believe that Santa would think of such a great thing.  Santa also put a new toothbrush, tooth paste, fun hair things, Lalaloopsy pencil toppers, candy and a juice box in her stocking.

Santa brought Camden her very own camera. Yes, we know she is only 5, but we made sure Santa brought a  cheap (aka free), used one.  This was more for my sanity than anything else.  Camden was ALWAYS stealing my phone and taking so many pictures and videos I didn't have any memory for the the things I needed.  (I may have to do a Camden video post just so ya'll can see how funny she is.) Now she can load this camera up with whatever she wants and I don't care.

I think this is the gift she was most excited about, a Sleeping Beauty doll.  It was the only thing she told Santa she wanted.  I guess Santa thought she was a good girl because he brought her more than just that.  Like some new Polly Pocket dolls, some new movies and new shoes.  I also spent some time at the sewing machine making some new dolls clothes for her babies.

I know I look so lovely, but I really didn't feel to great...oh let's be honest, this is what I look like every morning.  Jered bought me a laptop.  I got him a meat thermometer.  A little one sided eh?  Well, in all fairness he went WAY over the agreed spending.  We are planning a trip to Thailand in May so we were supposed to get a little something and then save for our trip.  However, our home computer decided to die an untimely death (as did our microwave) and I think Jered was tired of hearing about it.  (P.S. He even made the wrapping paper.)

After present opening we had hot, fresh, homemade bagels and quickly got ready for our 10:00 church meeting.

Our meeting was very nice and the perfect fit into our morning.  Next came a pulled pork lunch and lots of play.  Since my sister Kim's husband was working, we invited her and O over for some more play and fun.  Camden is so sweet with O and he adores her so it works out nicely for all of us parents when we get together.  We can rest a bit and not worry about the two kids getting along.

With the rush of the morning and the excitement of the day we almost forgot to take our family Christmas picture.  Gathering together by the tree was the perfect ending to a fun day.

The day after Christmas we headed off for a week in Washington, Utah.  We arrived Monday evening at the "Red Neck House" and spent a few hours washing sheets and towels.  Tuesday morning we played a bit then headed out for some errand running.  During our running around we got the terrible phone call that Jered's grandpa had passed away.  We decided to wait to hear when the funeral would be before we headed for home.  We heard Wednesday that the funeral would be held Friday, but that Jered was invited to help dress grandpa Thursday morning.  Instead of rushing home we stayed Wednesday and relaxed a little (aka Jered went golfing and Camden and I stayed home to watch a movie and play).  We woke early Thursday morning and headed for home.  We arrived at the mortuary just in time for Jered to meet his brothers.

Even with the unplanned event and cutting our vacation a little short, our Christmas break was great.  It's always wonderful to spend time with family and friends.  We are truly lucky to have such loving and caring people in our lives.  How blessed we are to celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, at this time of year.    We will ever be indebted to Him for His life, teachings and especially His infinite and eternal Atonement.

We hope your holiday was full of love, laughter and a little cheesiness!