Christmas 2011

We had a lovely Christmas! I enjoyed everything except for the lack of snow. It seemed a little odd to not have any snow around Christmas; It was certainly cold enough for it. We had a great time at home on Christmas. Troy worked on Christmas Eve until 7 or so (the joy of retail), and then we read the Christmas story together and had the children act it out. Kira loved being Mary and wrapping her doll up like baby Jesus. We sent the kids to bed and locked them in their rooms... with a cell phone. We have a small home, and wanted the boys to wait for us on Christmas morning. We also didn't want snoopers up in the middle of the night, so we locked them in with one phone so they could call us in the morning when they got up (after 6:30 was the rule), or if they needed to go to the bathroom or something. Sounds like a pretty good plan, right?

Well, the plan didn't work so well because Troy forgot that he had turned his phone off at work and didn't turn it back on. So the boys tried to call us, but to no avail. Luckily, their mother was antsy for Christmas morning (I swear I'm like a five year old!), and kept waking up every hour or so. I heard the boys knocking on their door around 8 (they slept in more than I thought they would), and we let the festivities begin.

We had to wake up Kira, and so she was a little confused. She saw some toys on the couch, but didn't seem at all interested in them. She asked for her stocking and went through that first. Then she wanted to see everyone else's stockings and what they got. Finally, she warmed up to the idea that the toys were for her. She said, "Who gave me all this stuff?" We told her it was from Santa. Later that day, she asked why Santa didn't give her any presents. I think she was confused that Santa's presents weren't wrapped, so they didn't really count as "presents". We've put in a special request to have Santa leave ours unwrapped each year. :) I think Kira will remember that for next year and be less confused.

TJ and his marshmallow shooter and new NFL gear. He is a fan of the Broncos and the Cardinals. In the background is our favorite Advent Calendar. We started it a little late because I didn't even set up Christmas until the 17th.

Douglas got a new Bronco's hat from Kira, and a Harry Potter wand from Santa. Here he is concentrating on learning and casting new spells.

Kira got a doll house for Christmas. My friend at work asked if I wanted it, and I took her up on it. Kira LOVES it! It was not easy to hide for the week before Christmas. I had the doll house hidden at work, and she managed to find it when she came to visit my classroom after preschool. We convinced her it was for my classroom. Later that week, she found the furniture bagged up in my bedroom closet. Really? I was getting pretty bumbed out that she would have nothing surprising for Christmas. We figured it out with some Holiday stress put aside. Troy and I wrapped up the furniture in a box and while she opened it, we put the doll house in her room. We took her in there after opening the furniture gift, and she was very excited.

I liked that Christmas fell on a Sunday. It was nice to take a break from the Christmas mess, and celebrate the Savior's birth. The kids looked darling in their new church clothes.

Douglas got a Harry Potter lego set of Hagrid's hut. He built it all by himself! We had a little drama when it fell apart, but Douglas was amazingly able to rebuild it. It was hard to convince him that the destruction could be fixed.

TJ got a Star Wars Lego set of the Millenium Falcon. It was quite the chore to put that puppy together, but he is pretty proud of his work.

Kira got a Belle doll and horse from Santa. Belle is her favorite princess. She is my favorite, too, because of her passion for reading. :)

My Christmas gift was the complete set of Harry Potter movies. Perfect. :) We've started watching them from the 1st movie on. I was hoping to do a marathon and get them all watched before school started, but it is a good few weeks later and we are only to movie 5. I may just have to marathon it on my own since it's hard to find time to sit all together and watch a show. Either way, It's awesome to have them all at my fingertips. I love me some Potter.

Really, my favorite part about the holidays is having time off of work to hang out with my kids. We had a great time together. It was weird not to have snow to play in, but we played some card and board games, and even a little guitar hero. Kira had me playing with her and the dollies, and changing Belle's clothes (we had to make a rule about only changing her once a day). We also all got some books and enjoyed time reading. Douglas got a book called "The Janitors" by a local author. The author had come into Troy's store to do a book signing, so it was personally autographed for Duds. He was VERY excited about that. TJ got a book called "Michael Vey"by Richard Paul Evans (author of The Christmas Box). He had a difficult time putting it down once he started. It's the first of an upcoming series, and TJ highly recommends it. I may just have to borrow it.

Life just seems super busy lately. It's nice to have a little time today to blog and finish taking down the Christmas stuff. I love Christmas! Maybe I should just leave it up another month or so...