Christmas Morning

 

Jonah called us at 8AM on Christmas morning. Keith and I talked to him for a while before we woke the other kids up.  It was great to have that time to talk to him without any distractions.  He told us about his Christmas Eve and Christmas. It's been hard for him to be away for Christmas, but he always has a positive attitude and says it's fine.  He said he did get really nostalgic for some of our traditions. He said it was hard when they watched the Nativity at Zone Conference because he has only watched that at grandma and grandpa's house on Christmas Eve.  It was sure hard for us to have him gone. I'm glad we could at least have him with us virtually.

We got the kids up around 8:30 AM and got them all lined up to come in.

We had the kids sit on the couch so Jonah could see all of them. He said he was excited to watch them open their presents. 

Wyatt was really excited when he found an invitation in his stocking for a Jazz game with dad! They are both looking forward to that. 

The kids wanted us to open our presents first.  Caitlyn surprised us with Panda Royale. We played the game at Tiff and Paul's on Thanksgiving and we all loved it. 

That was so generous of her, we love it!

Hallee asked Tiff to order our presents for her so we wouldn't see them. She gave Keith a calendar and gave me a jar with scriptures in it that you pull out and read for different situations.  She is so thoughtful. 

Keith surprised me with a book light and a stocking full of treats. 

After that the kids took turns opening presents. 

It's hard for me that they want expensive things so there aren't as many presents.  Every year I struggle with that.

Wyatt wanted clothes.

I tried to surprise each kid with at least one thing. 

Caitlyn was surprised and excited to get this book.

I had the hardest time getting presents for Jonah.  After how long it took for him to get the credit cards we sent him, I didn't want to send him a package so I decided to go with Amazon France.  I had Sawyer help me pick out some clothes for him.  Every time we talked to him he kept telling me that he didn't need anything and he didn't have room, so I kept deleting things out of the cart.

I waited until close to Christmas to order them and when I finally ordered them I got a message saying this vest I ordered him would arrive in June. So I had to cancel that and scramble to find another one that would ship quickly.  I was excited about this gift because I thought he would be surprised and really like it.  Well they shipped it in a clear package so he saw it before Christmas. He did like it though.

Hallee really wanted this curling iron.

We surprised Wyatt with some new Airpods. 

Caitlyn wanted pictures of her and Dream printed up and these frames.  They will look great in her room.

When Jonah told me he was worried about space I thought I would surprise him with goldfish crackers and poptarts because he has really been missing them.  They are hard to find on Amazon France and very expensive, but I thought it would be fun and then we wouldn't have to worry about the space issue. When I went to order them, I got a message that I couldn't send them to a locker which is how Jonah got all of his packages.  It was too late to send them to the mission home, so I was out of options.  I learned a lot this year and Jonah was a great sport about it. He kept saying he didn't need anything and he loved everything he got.

I ordered him some thermals because he has been freezing this winter.  He said the humidity in France makes the winters so cold. 

I surprised Hallee with Mario Party.

We lost ours and Keith and Hallee love to play this game together. 

Wyatt is officially a man, he wanted socks for Christmas.

Caitlyn was very excited she got the new boots she wanted. 

Jonah mentioned that he wished he would have packed some long sleeve t-shirts so I sent him a couple of those. 

Hallee needed new sheets and she is loving the satin sheets.

Wyatt wanted Nike pants and Nike socks.

Caitlyn wanted this cute stained glass with horses on it. 

At one point Jonah said he would really like some pens for Christmas, so I sent some of those.  

Jonah had fun watching the kids.

Wyatt has been really into puzzles lately, so we got him a new one.

Jonah needed new, thick dress socks so we got him some of those too.  It wasn't the most exciting Christmas for him, but he said he loved it.  

We had one big surprise for Hallee.  We didn't put this under the tree, we brought it out at the very end. 

She had mentioned on and off that she wanted a keyboard because she wants to take piano lessons, but she hadn't brought it up for a while so I don't think she was expecting it. 

I've been comparing and shopping around and I think we got her a good one.  She has it in her room and she loves it. 

We survived our first Christmas without Jonah, just one more to go! I'm so grateful that we can stay so connected with him through video calls. I think all the kids had a great Christmas and that makes me so happy.  As a mom you just want to make Christmas magical for your kids and it's a lot of work, but so worth it. 

We invited Alexys over on Christmas and had a present for her. I wanted to make sure she wasn't alone on Christmas.

They had fun playing Panda Royale while I made the eggs benedict. 

We invited dad over for eggs benedict too. We all love eggs benedict, it was delicious!

Jonah was able to call back so he could say hi to grandpa.  I'm glad they got to talk.

He got to say hi to Alexys too.

We loved having Alexys and grandpa over.  We had a great Christmas.  We were leaving for Arizona first thing in the morning so we had a busy day, we took down Christmas and got packed up and ready for our trip.