Faces of Christmas

Keith and I loved watching the kids open their presents.  

I could sit and watch those happy faces all day.

Hallee wanted to stop and open each toy after she unwrapped it.

Jonah was excited with his new movies and wii games.

Wyatt was so excited about every present.

Caitlyn and Hallee got matching outfits, I guess that calls for a hug!

I think the kids were genuinely surprised by every gift.

Hallee's blender was a big hit!

The kids all got so excited for each other.  It was so fun to see them get excited about what everyone else got.

Wyatt loved his star wars gun and light sabers and his science set.

Hallee loved her new Doc Mcstuffins dolls. It was a wonderful Christmas morning!

Christmas Morning

Keith and I were up so late on Christmas Eve night putting things together.  I think we both got in bed around 2 AM.  This is how it looked when we went to bed.  

I love Christmas morning just as much as I did when I was a kid, probably more.  I get so excited that I can't sleep on Christmas Eve.  I love the excitement!  I love shopping and I love picking out gifts for other people, especially my kids.  I was so excited for all of the things we found that I knew they would love, but they didn't even think to ask for. 

I love the excited faces and the squeals of excitement. 

I love the glow of the Christmas tree and the sound of Christmas music in the background.

I love how giving gifts to each other reminds us of our Savior who gave us the ultimate gift by atoning for our sufferings and sins and then laying down his own life so that we can return to live with our Heavenly Father.  

Every year I start shopping too early and I end up buying too much, buy hey, it's only once a year.

We got Caitlyn and Jonah the new Amazon Fire (tablets) and they were shocked!  I don't know how much they thought they cost, but they both couldn't believe that they got their own tablets.

Jonah's reaction was priceless.  He said, "No mom, no, I can't take this, it is way too much."  I would have bought him a million presents in that moment!  I loved that reaction, what a sweet boy.

The other big family present this year was a basketball hoop.  I bought this on clearance last year for $20!  It is crazy big and took forever to put together, but it will be a lot of fun for the kids.  

The kids loved every present they opened.

This year they each asked Santa for one thing and gave us a couple ideas, but I pretty much just picked out what I thought they would like or what I wanted them to have!

I have a lot of pictures of Caitlyn and Wyatt because they will always stop and pose for pictures.  Jonah and Hallee are moving so fast and have no interest in stopping for pictures.  It is funny how similar Cait and Wyatt are and how similar Jonah and Hallee are.

Christmas Eve with the Hams

After we left Keith's family we went straight to my parent's house.  The kids were all excited to see their cousins.  We ate a lot of good food and visited first.  

After dinner we went downstairs for the nativity.  Dad always reads it from this Bible. 

Caitlyn and Wyatt were Mary and Joseph this year.  They sure looked cute!

Hallee was so excited to wear her angel costume and be the angel.

Hallee kept asking Caitlyn if she could hold the baby.  Later Hallee was rocking the baby and kept saying, "sshh Jesus is sleeping."

Jonah was a wise man and Dante was his donkey!

After the nativity grandma showed us a video about the Savior that was set to beautiful music.

I love my nieces and nephews!  EJ and Elijah are so much fun to be around.  Who knew teenagers could be so fun?

Tessa played Bingo with the adults this year.  She was so cute, she got so excited when she got Bingo.  I could listen to that cute, little voice of hers all day.

Hallee didn't want to take off her angel costume, so she stayed in it all night.  After the video we played Christmas Bingo.  The kids loved their prizes.  The girls sure looked cute in their hats.

Wyatt and Rockwell loved their guns!  These boys crack me up.

After Bingo was the grab box.

The kids all loved their new books.  I love that my mom sat down and read Hallee and Tessa their new book.  Best grandma ever!

All the adults love the grab box too, we look forward to our gift cards!  It was another great Christmas Eve, one of my favorite days of the year.

Christmas Eve with the Looslis

We started Christmas Eve off with a party with the Looslis.  Kelly planned a great party.  We had it in the rec room at Garth and Pat's apartments.  It was great to have so much room and not be squished. 

The paper on the tables was a big hit, the kids loved drawing on it.

Wyatt sure looked cute!  We ate some snacks and visited for a while.

After visiting we sang the Twelve Days of Christmas, that is one of their traditions.  Jonah, Wyatt and Jacob were number five.  They sang "five roast beef sandwiches" instead of  "five golden rings" and they laughed every time!

Hallee was a little shy, but she came out of her shell.

Keith and Hallee were "two turtle doves."  Hallee covered her eyes and laughed every time they sang it.

Caitlyn loves singing Christmas Carols, I would to if I had her voice!

The kids were excited to open presents.  All of the kids got a book of lifesavers and inside along with the lifesavers there was a roll of nickels.  They were all excited about that.

The boys were very excited about their Pokemon.

Caitlyn is always so sweet with her grandma.  She always takes time to sit and talk to her and compliment her.  Caitlyn is such a sweetheart.

I love this picture.  Hallee adores Jonah.

We had fun visiting and spending time with Keith's family.  It was a great start to our Christmas Eve. 

Getting in the Christmas Spirit

We have gone back and forth about setting up our Christmas Tree this year.  In the end we ended up buying a little tree instead of pulling out all of our Christmas stuff.  Last night we set up the tree. The kids were really excited to set it up.

They acted like it was the best tree they had ever seen.  Hallee loved putting ornaments on the tree.

Wyatt loved everything about the tree!  He helped me pick out the white tree.

I'm glad we did this.  The kids love decorating the tree every year and I love watching them.

I'm still feeling sick, so I was really glad to stay in last night and have a night at home with the family.

Everyone helped Keith put the star on the tree.

We were all pretty happy with the finished product.

Earlier that day the kids drew names and each bought each other a present.  We all went to the store together, so it was hard to hide them from each other, but that was just the way it worked out this year!  Wyatt and Caitlyn drew each other's name.  They both loved their presents.

Jonah and Hallee drew each other's name.  I love the thank you hugs that they all give after they open their presents. We always open the siblings presents a couple of days before because the kids love it and I like to do it separate from the other presents.  The kids like to pick things out for each other.

We picked out a present for Keith earlier that day too.  It was a fun night and helped us get excited for Christmas.  It has been hard to get into the Christmas Spirit this year while we have been so busy with moving.  We have done some family home evening about Christmas, but it is weird not to have all of our decorations up and do our usual traditions this year.  We don't have all of our decorations up this year, but we have everything we need to feel the Spirit of Christmas!