we had a very merry Christmas

WARNING there are oh so very many pictures in this post!  I tried to keep the narratives to a minimum and believe it or not, I did the same with the pictures.  Problem is that I take SO MANY pictures.  Which is nice, because I have a lot to choose from but not so nice in that I have a hard time choosing!  I hope you enjoy them, and if not, that’s okay, because the truth is that I’m really just doing this for my own memories anyway. :)

Christmas Eve

Dean sleeps well, when he wants to.  He looked so comfortable on Josh.  My girls wish they had a dog… too bad!  At least grandma has one.  :)  The party at Grandma Ellis’ house is always fun; Jack, Stephanie and Jonathan were like rivaling siblings, tickling and joking with one another.

 

We do our sibling gift exchange before Christmas so those gifts get more attention and aren’t shadowed by Santa’s big gifts.  Despite her fake looking smile, I think Joni liked the running tights we got her, she is a running maniac these days!  No matter what the weather she’s out jogging around 10 miles every morning.  I went with her one morning, but I only went 3 miles… give me a break, I’m nursing a hurt knee okay!  Meg seemed to like the purse too.  I didn’t get pictures of us but I got a Jillian Michaels work out video from Joni, which I LOVE and am doing 3-4 days a week, it’s totally awesome and just my style.  And Dan got an “adventure” from Josh.  It was a letter enclosed in an envelope saying that Josh wanted to buy Dan Jazz tickets but it was almost sold out and the remaining tickets were way over-priced, Dan’s present was a promise to go scalp tickets outside the stadium!  Funny huh.  Dan was thrilled. 

 

Christmas Day

 

Look what Santa brought!!!!  Can you tell what it is?  (He sure is good at wrapping isn’t he?)

It’s a…… PLAY KITCHEN!!!!!

Christmas morning was tons of fun this year because I was so excited to give the girls their kitchen.  They don’t pay with it as much as I thought they would, but I’ve learned to give them time with their toys.  They’ll come around, there always seems to be a time when an old toy just “clicks” and is the coolest thing ever for 6 months.  I suspect this kitchen will get a lot of use in it’s lifetime.  The girls seemed to like their cheep dollar stocking stuffers best.

Dan gave me a surprise, it was a digital photo frame!  Genius gift for the pathological picture taker huh?  How else could I display so many photos?  Thanks honey.   Sorry, not picture… how ironic.  Another cool gift we got was a collection of the Living Scriptures annimated DVD’s.  I have been wanting these for a long time, I watched them a lot as a child and they have a lot to do with my scripture knowlege.  Lately Sophie asks to watch a “Skipture movie,” (sounds kind of like whisker movie too, somehow) at least once a day mixed in with her princess movie requests.  She told me to day that she loves Nephi and wants to give him a hug and call him papa!  (a very high honor)

Ok, so at first glance this looks like a less-than satisfactory picture of people not posed for a picture… look closer… there is something wonderful happening in this photo…

Let me zoom in for you…

Sorry Dad, but I just can’t stop laughing at this face!  Either something tickled you really funny or you were about to sneeze.  Oh my, can’t even tell you how excited I was when I discovered that face!  Sure love my happy Daddy.

 

A highlight of my Christmas morning was seeing Joni get this digital piano from my parents, the perfect gift for her.  She’s been wanting a piano of her own for so long.  I love to see her happy.  This picture, posed???? Of course not!

I talked Dan into going running with me after we opened all the presents and played the games a bit.  It was really cold that morning but felt so good, and then I ate whatever I wanted the rest of the day… that’s how that works right?  My mom made us turkey for lunch on Christmas and it tasted sooooo good after the candy we’d been eating all morning.  We didn’t noticed that we’d sequestered Dan until he said (loudly over our conversing), “Merry Christmas everyone… it’s nice we can all  be together (sigh).”  We laughed pretty hard.  I have to laugh out loud every time I look at his somber face in that picture.

 

After lunch we headed over to the Chapmans to get spoiled again! The Chapmans never disappoint.  When we were deciding when to get together on Christmas someone was saying that we met at night the year before last and they were all agreeing.  I couldn’t remember when we met, but I never forget when I get to take pictures with NATURAL light, so I quickly corrected them that it must have been before 5.  It’s kinda weird how I remember things huh?  Anyway, I was glad to have some natural light again this year. :)

Jason got this crazy car that can drive on the WALL!  We were all amazed.

Not only did I get my sewing machine serviced and completely cleaned but I got loads of sewing and quilting gear!  I am so excited, and am already into a few projects. :)  Also, there’s no excuse for it, but the next group of pictures has an extra dose of Melody… I don’t know why but I seem to take pictures of only 1 or 2 kids per event and ignore the rest.  Melody was just looking extra cute on Christmas I guess, I couldn’t help myself.

 

I DARE you to look at this next picture of Tessa and not smile.  Tessa is into dressing up only because Sophie is but knows she looks beautiful and wants her picture taken.  She thinks a camera is called “cheese” and that’s what she says whenever one is in sight.  Sophie was OBSESSED with this white dress up the whole time we were in Utah.  She wore it to bed and every waking hour we’d let her (whenever we were home).  It started out as, “I want the ‘get married’ dress mom, put it on mom, … please.”  Then somehow it turned into, “Mom I want to be Mary ok?”  I guess in order to get married you have to be named Mary, I can see her confusion.  My girls are the cutest on the planet! 

   

We had a wonderful time with family over Christmas, it is so important to me to spend time with our family.  We sure missed those who weren’t there (Jason, Nicole, Sydney, Matt and Cami.) I thank everyone from the bottom of my heart for their kind words, warm hugs, and sincere conversations we love holidays because of you!