Christmas 2009

Our Christmas Season was busy but lots of fun with old and new traditions. Getting the tree this year was different than any other year so far. Jason didn’t come with us so it was just me and the kids driving the VW. Well we picked out the tree and Susie suddenly thought she was a Super Hero or something…it was over 6 ft. tall but she didn’t hesitate at all and she wouldn’t let me help but she let Becca. She lifted it up, carried it over to the van and then heave…hoed it over onto the top of the VW!!! Good grief…all of us laughing our heads off at her too. People in the parking lot were staring at us like we were crazy, one guy came and offered to help. Nope Susie wanted to do it on her own. And then she got to do the fun part. Tying it down. This is Susie remember who has been tying knots into things…anything she could get her hands on since she was 2! Well we did it, picked it out, brought it home, set it up, and decorated it! Whew! I told Jason that next year if he didn’t help I was going to buy a fake tree (and as many of you know in Jason’s mind that is grounds for divorce!!!)

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We also decorated the tree in our back yard that we designated as Olivia’s tree. Most of her ornaments that we have used every year were getting so worn out so we used red balls and icicles instead. It looked really pretty.

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Uncle Davey and Aunt Jackie sent us their traditional Christmas gift, a Gingerbread house. This year it was HUGE!!! The kids were so excited and thought I was the meanest mom ever because I wouldn’t let them destroy it right away. I wanted to enjoy how it LOOKED for awhile….so the countdown to when we could eat the gingerbread house ranked right up with the countdown to Christmas Eve, Yarn Balls, Christmas Day and of course Xander’s birthday!!!  It is such a great gift that the kids look forward to each year! It had all of us on it, even Roxy and then we had a surprise when we did finally tear into it, inside was G’ma and G’pa! Very cute!!!

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We went Caroling with the Martins again this year. It was so fun but much much much colder this year than last. We had to go back and stock up on more blankets and coats after the first house we went to. Brrrr! The kids were so cute hollering out Christmas songs! So fun!

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Finally Christmas Eve arrived…The long awaited night of YARN BALLS!!! It’s hilarious that even though the kids are getting older they still really look forward to this tradition Jason does with them. He did do it a bit different than previous years. Instead of hiding them he lined them up and they had to guess which one belonged to who and he did have a clue on each one, a very hard to notice clue…he had tied the end of the string with knots…13 for Susie, 11 for Becca, 9 for Katie and 4 for Xander. It took them awhile to figure it out but they did! Even Roxy got a special New Years Eve gift from G’ma!

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Christmas Eve tradition also includes new PJ’s for the kids. Well I got a great big fat F for this year. None of the girls PJ’s fit them….not one! Xander’s were fine but I failed miserably for the girls! Urgh!!! And both Katie and Xander contributed to the goodies left for Santa and all the reindeer!

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Xander has been so cute this Christmas season, so excited for everything, the tree, the lights, the gifts, the magic of it all. As it got closer and closer to Christmas I think he was getting a little worried about which of Santa’s lists he was going to be on. At night he would ask me, “Do you think I’ve been good today?” Xander got lots of fun things for Christmas. He was super excited about his Cowboy vest and chaps! He was lookin’ good!!! He also loved his star wars light saber for the Wii we got the kids! I caught him checking himself out in Becca’s mirror!

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Katie is at an age where she has been concerned about what she is hearing at school about Santa. She had numerous discussions with us through the month. As it got closer she came to us and showed us her letter to Santa. It was very sweet, hope you can read it. Basically listing a bunch of stuff and then the most important thing she want is to know Santa is real. Well Santa left her a very special gift, a photo of Santa leaving the gifts at our house, one of his elves took it for him. She also asked Santa when his birthday was. He wrote back that it is August 15…Did YOU know that??? She was in awe as she showed everyone the picture Santa gave her. It was really neat. She has it taped to her school notebook so she see’s it everyday! She was also very excited to get Dance Dance Revolution. She is one of the fastest kids in her class at DDR!

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Becca is such a tween!!! All she wanted for Christmas was a gift card from Rue 21! She scored big time when she went to spend it. They had just marked stuff down to $2-$3 bucks! She was so excited at all the stuff she got! She was also excited for guitar hero!!!  We had to chuckle at her gift from Wyatt. It was the green shirt, before she put it on it looked like it would only fit a doll… it had a note from Wyatt that said on it “call for explanation” I thought that was so cute! She put it on and it ‘stretched’ perfectly!

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Susie’s favorite gift was the clothes and jewelry she got. Porter gave Susie the neatest watch and necklace! (Katie got one too from Parker, very cool!) Santa also loaded her up with WAY too much makeup! What was he thinking??? Susie and Becca were hilarious…several weeks before Christmas we were driving to church and the kids were asking what everyone wanted for Christmas. They asked Daddy and he randomly answered “underware”(where did that come from??? He doesn’t even remember saying that) Well Susie and Becca thought it was hilarious and they came up with this great plan…they wanted to buy him great big HUGE boxers with spongebob or some other character on them and wake up in the middle of the night Christmas Eve and sneak downstairs and take everything out of his stocking and put the boxers in with a note that says “Hope they fit!” They laughed and giggled over their plans and had so much fun keeping it all a secret from him. They were so silly and cute about it. Well they even got G’ma in on it and it turned out perfectly. We all laughed and laughed when Daddy went to get into his stocking and all he pulled out were these obnoxious undies!!! (didn’t get a picture, I was laughing too hard!) Oh and the S.C. stands for Sarcastic Children NOT Santa Clause!!! 🙂

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Of course Christmas isn’t just for kids…we had a great Christmas too. The gift giving and receiving is lot’s of fun but the most wonderful part about Christmas is being together with our family and enjoying the blessing of our knowledge of Christ and His birth and his great love for each of us…

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Last tradition…we actually did it after Christmas…we invited our friends the Andrews over to make gingerbread houses. It was so fun. The kids were very creative and had a great time!

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