Christmas Season 2015

 I feel like this was the year of Santa's. Last Christmas, when we lived in Cedar City, we couldn't find any Santa's to go to and get pictures with the boys. This year we saw so many Santa's I finally started to avoid them, and the lines that usually accompany them.

The First Santa we saw was at Robin's work party. They had a mini family party during their lunch break, where families could come and see Mr and Mrs Claus and eat some pizza. That night was also Steve's party, and since I knew there was going to be a Santa there too and that Spencer would realize they were two different men, I told him only one was the real Santa and the other was just a helper so he would need to decide which one was which because only kids can tell. (He decided the one at Steve's party was the real one). When Santa asked Rod what he wanted for Christmas he said, "A present!"

 They had an ugly Sweater contest at Steve's work party. He wore a kittens in stockings sweatshirt with a turtle neck, khakis and had a mustache to complete the creepy look. You can see the sweater better in the picture below. He won by the way.

 When Santa and Mrs Santa (as Rod called her) arrived Rod ran right up and gave both of them a hug. As a side note-this is actually the mom and dad of the CEO of Steve's company. He also works as the Santa at the Orem mall. So we had met him before.

 Before the kids sat on Santa's lap to talk and get pictures they sat in the semi-circle and sang Christmas songs together. At one point there was a baby, who was being held by an older sibling, who started crying. All the other kids just ignored her, but this was Spencer and Rod's reaction (above). Our new baby is going to be a shock to them I think.

 Santa and Grandpa the next day at BYU.

Making snow angels while sledding with Dad.

 This was the other picture Steve sent me from sledding. Apparently Rod went off a jump and landed on his face. That made me feel better about Steve taking the boys by himself. :)

 Ward Christmas party.

 My friend Jessica had 2 extra tickets to the Zoo Lights at Hogle Zoo. She was kind enough to give them to us so the boys and I made an evening of it. We drove up early to avoid the traffic and went to McDonalds for an early dinner (If I ever give the boys a choice, they choose McDonalds ). Then we arrived at the zoo a little after it opened so we got a great parking spot and avoided the crowd that was pouring in right as we were leaving. The wind also started blowing right as we were leaving which turned the air bitter cold, so glad we missed that. We had perfect traffic on the way home. It was a great, spur of the moment, evening. Only downside-I forgot to charge my phone so I only had enough battery for one picture. Unfortunately we chose to take a picture in front of a flashing light display and of course the picture took when the lights were off. :)

Spencer's "Christmas Sing" at school. This is the Assistant Principal and Principal who acted as the MC's.

Spencer in the middle in the green, striped sweater. He sang and danced his little heart out. But he was so concentrated and determined he didn't smile once the entire time on stage. Still super cute.

Boys playing with Grandma's wooden puzzle nativity set that she finished making. In this picture the boys were yelling at each other and fighting over a certain piece. Grandma has the same reaction I have everyday when they fight... non-stop!

Christmas Sunday.

Christmas Cards!

Spencer discovered he LOVES cutting out paper snowflakes. I think he probably made at least 20 or 30 of them. They started out a bit rough but he got the hang of them and they got better and better. After this one he said, "Look at my totally grown up snowflake!"

Roddy helping Grandma make her chocolate mints. He doesn't love the taste of mint, but he had to "test" a lot of the chocolate. 

Christmas Eve Day:

I'm not going to lie, this day was pretty awful for me. It was fun, but I had a lot of late-third trimester of pregnancy aches and pains, plus a few other TMI things I won't even get into. But bottom line, I got about 4 hours of sleep the night before and it hurt to stand, walk or move positions. It was slightly less painful to sit or lay down. So pretty much I was miserable all day. I had planned so many things I wanted to accomplish and fun things I wanted to do but I spent most of the day resting, which was hard for me. I realized I am a very go go go person and I don't like to ask for help or let my boys down. (I don't know how women can put up with being on bed rest for long periods of time). Luckily Steve and Robin stepped up and were a huge help. Steve even took the boys sledding again so I could bathe and rest in peace.  I also learned the importance of taking people's advice even though it's not what you usually do or were planning. Robin and Steve had a lot of practical suggestions of things to do (or I should say-NOT do) to make my day easier. My initial instinct was to say no and do it the way I had planned, but I swallowed by pride and went with the flow. And you know what? The world did not end and everything turned out fine. The control freak part of me was very proud of myself. And by Evening I had started to feel a lot better.
The boys were also driving us crazy (which was not helping) so I had to take drastic action. Spencer Started crying when I read his. I only felt a little guilty. 

 Christmas Eve:

We made gingerbread cookies but had to let them cool before we could decorate them. So we let the boys open their Christmas Eve present (Spencer- a Ninja Turtle Poncho Blanket and a Christmas book. Rod- a Christmas book). We read their books and they went to get their jammies on. Then we each decorated two cookies. One for Santa and One for us to eat right then. After we did our Christmas Eve program (which because I was not feeling well was short and sweet). We each chose one fun song to sing. Then we each chose one spiritual song to sing. Then we dressed up and acted out the Story of the Nativity while Steve read from Luke 2. (I realized if we never have a girl I'll have to be Mary forever!)

Joseph leading the Donkey to Bethlehem.

Jesus is Born.

Angel appears to the Shepherds.

All Worship Jesus. 

Then the boys were off to bed!

Christmas Day:

We woke up to a VERY white Christmas. (8 inches of snow)

The boys shocked us by not waking up until about 8:10am (They are usually up by 6:30am). Steve and I woke up before them! So I went downstairs, had breakfast and started making the pumpkin pie. It was good they slept in though because David and Brian didn't come until about 9:30am. So the boys had time to go through their stocking, eat breakfast and play with their gifts from Santa (Spencer-Lego Batman game for the XBox. Rod- a Pirate Potato Head)

I wanted us to be in at least one picture (even though we both look extremely tired and not at our best). In memory of my mom I wore the Tweety Bird Pajama pants she gave me for Christmas when I was 17, and one of her old sweaters.

This was the first Christmas the boys both understood what was going on. They were so fun to watch I was too distracted to take pictures. But believe me, between their grandparents, great-grandparents, Aunts and Uncles- they got totally spoiled. My favorite gift was the Coon-skin hats my dad gave them. So cute!!

Brian unwrapping his present from David (awesome wrapping job right?)

Steve got me a sewing machine!!! And it's purple (he knows me so well. I was telling Amber the other day- one of Steve's strengths is he an excellent gift giver. He always gives me things I love). Although I'm going to be so busy with a new born I won't be able to use it for a while, I am still really excited. Utah Valley University offers community classes every few months. One of them is a beginner sewer class that you bring your own machine so they can teach you how to use your machine and basic things to get you going. So I think this summer I'll take the class.

Right as we were finishing up presents Robin got her Skype call from Jessica in the Mission field. It was really fun to talk to her. At one point we did a 4 way call with Phil and Jennifer and their families. We had a lot of good laughs.

After Jessica we played and rested until it was time for dinner. Luckily I had planned a very low maintenance dinner (I felt SO much better than the day before but was not at 100%). Ham, Cheesy potatoes, Cranberry jello salad and the normal sides. I thought it was good, if I do say so myself.

We ended the night with the Pie in the Face game we got from Uncle Jace. The boys LOVED it. Spencer got hit first and Rod was very upset it wasn't him. He eventually got hit too (we all did-even daddy).  I don't know if I've ever heard Rod laugh this hard. The picture is blurry because I couldn't stop laughing myself.

It was a very blessed and special Christmas day. As always, it was over too soon.