Christmas

Christmas was wonderful this year, and it is every year. We started off with a busy Christmas Eve. I had choir practice in the morning and then got the food ready for the our big dinner. I wanted to have our main meal on Christmas Eve, so I could take it easy on Christmas day. I got the turkey in the oven around 11, and it was a good thing too, it took 6 1/2 hours to cook at 325. We were glad when the thermometer popped up. We did some Face Time with my parents around 11:30 and let the boys open their presents from Grandma and Grandpa Datwyler. Damon and Tyler got Star Wars figures, and Christoper got a wooden car carrier. They all loved them and played with them all day, it was great. Thank you.

I helped a friend with her 'Santa' present for her kids. That took up most of my afternoon, I was glad I had all of my side dishes ready and the rolls already rolled out. We had a very nice dinner (at least for Doug and I - we were begging Tyler to have one bite of practically everything on his plate, and Chris didn't eat much either - roll and jello). I made a cheese cake for dessert that is my favorite recipe. It is so creamy and not as dry and rich as some baked cheese cakes - worth every calorie.

Doug read bits from the Christmas story and we placed our Little People Nativity Figures into place as he read.

The boys went to bed fairly well. It took Damon awhile to fall asleep. I took care of the turkey while we watched War of the Worlds that was on TV. Then we finally got things ready for Christmas and went to bed pretty late.

I woke up around 5:00 thinking I had heard someone, it took awhile to me to fall back asleep, then Damon woke up at 6:00. Damon was cute and came into our room very excited and said "I got General Grevious." It was by his stocking. We had the boys look in their stockings and then we opened presents at 6:30 when Chris got up.
We started a new tradition of having a new family ornament to represent a present for our Savior and we are going to write down something that we can work on to be more Christ-like throughout the year and then we will open the box next year and see how we do. I thought is was good to not just jump into the presents so fast, but take a minute to remember the true meaning of Christmas.

All the presents were a hit this year. Christopher liked the Finn McMissile that Tyler got the most. He wasn't as excited about his presents, but Tyler was very good at sharing thankfully.

Damon could tell it was Legos by shaking it.
Chris basically walked around all morning with as many cars as he could fit in his hand/arm.

For my benefit here is a record of what everyone got:
Damon:
Santa: Cars 2 playset, General Grevious, Professor Z car, Mom and Dad: General Grevious Lego Set and clothes, G & G Petersen: Klutz Lego Contraptions, G & G Datwyler: Star Wars figures and church outfit, Tyler: Star Wars puzzle.Tyler:
Santa: Finn McMissile, Mace Windu, Acer car, Mom and Dad: Bounty Hunter Pursuit Lego Set and clothes, G & G Petersen: Klutz Paper Airplane book, G & G Datwyler: Star Wars figures and clothes, Damon: pull-back car.
Christoper:
Santa: Ride on car, Wicket, Francesco Bernoulli car, Mom and Dad: Weeble Tree house, G & G Petersen: Children's songs DVDs, G & G Datwyler: wooden car transporter, Damon: motorcycle, Tyler: cars.
Mom:
Digital thermometer, flirty apron, bedspread (from my parents), the rest of the Harry Potter DVDs that we didn't have, Tangled, Avon stuff, and Down East shirts - see previous blog.
I love my new bedding!
Dad:
Shoes, vacuum cleaner, drill set (from my parents), David Archuleta and Mormon Tab CD, Star Trek DVD, and Old Spice Men's scented body wash :)
For the family my Grandpa Fish got us some Living Scriptures DVDs, and we bought Cars 2 and a math game.

We had Church at 11:00, we were a little late because we were trying to get some family pictures, you can laugh at the shots of the boys, no one wanted to cooperate.

Chris was bad from the beginning,

Now Damon was acting like a 2 year old.
Then it was Tyler's turn:
a sucker helped Christopher and silly faces for the boys:


This might be the best we got, sigh.
Church was nice that we only had Sacrament Meeting. I was up on the stand for Choir and poor Doug had to be with the kids on his own. Christopher did not want to be good from the beginning. Doug had to take him out twice. Our friend that sat in front of us said he would keep an eye on Damon and Tyler, but he more played with them than watched them. Tyler was tickling Damon and bugging him. Damon was trying to be good. I was trying to give Tyler the "be good" look from the stand, but he wasn't looking at me. That whole side of the Chapel was pretty entertained with our little side show. Oh well, we won't have a two year old forever, thank goodness.

The rest of the day was great. Doug let me take a nap. We built Legos and had leftovers for lunch and turkey noodle soup for dinner. It was a great Christmas, I was glad that we didn't have to go anywhere or feel rushed. Yes, it would have been fun to see more family, but we'll see them next week. Hope you all have a Merry Christmas.