Merry Christmas 2008

We had a really great Christmas this year. Ethan and Ally were old enough that they knew what was going on and were so excited for Christmas to come. They asked everyday if they could open their presents yet. I'll give a rundown of our happenings from the past week or so. This is a long post, I'll warn you now.

We started off decorating a gingerbread house. Thanks to Grandma Shannie for giving us the kit. The kids loved it, even Ryan. (Can't you tell.)

Here's the finished product. Looks pretty good.

We had the Shumway Christmas party at Grandma Patsy's. We were actually supposed to go over to Monticello for it but it snowed so much and the roads were so bad that the family from Blanding stayed home and celebrated together. Here's Ethan, Ashlynn, Ally and Ella.

Here's a picture of the snow. It just slides down our metal roof and makes these crazy overhangs of snow. Brrrrrrr.... it's so cold. And slick.
Our next Christmas party was at Grandma Heather's. We played in the snow and then had a yummy dinner, and let the kids open their cousin presents. Here's Ally, Kamron, and Ashlynn (and Carter) doing some dancing, feeling the Christmas spirit.
We even had pinata, you know that was a hit. (No pun intended.) Here's Ethan taking a whack at it.
Then we went over to visit Grandpa Kelly and Grandma Lucinda. The kids are always sure to have a good time here.
Here's Grandpa Kelly and Ryan.

On Christmas Eve we went to my mom's house for our traditional soup and scones. Yum Yum! My brother Michael and his family are here for Christmas and my Uncle Rick and his family came down too. The kids got to open their cousin gifts. Here's Ethan, Ally, Carson, Davis, Payton, and Ryan.
Ryan loved his little caterpillar.

Another tradition, that I think a lot of people have, is jammies for Christmas Eve. Here are the kids just before bed and anxious for Santa. It was so fun to see how excited Ethan and Ally were. We set out cookies for Santa and Ethan made sure that we also set out some milk. He insisted on milk even though Javan told him that Santa liked Pepsi with his cookies.

This is the before picture, everything in its place. This is after Santa had come of course.

The kids were so excited on Christmas Eve that I thought they would be up early and ready to go. They didn't get up until almost 8:00. Which was nice for Javan and I. I guess we have few more years until they want to get up at the crack of dawn, and that's fine with me. My Mom and Dad came down to watch the kids open their presents. I think everyone had a good time.

Looks like Ryan sure did.

Ally was really into the opening phase this year. She didn't care much what was inside the package, she just kept saying "what else, mom?" So she got through her presents rather quickly.

Ethan on the other hand was very interested in what each package contained. He wanted to open each one after he had unwrapped it, take it out of the packaging and play with it for awhile before moving on to the next present. His Christmas lasted a little longer.

After we opened presents at our house we went up to my Mom and Dad's for our traditional Christmas breakfast, and to open presents up there. All of us siblings got together and bought my dad some new golf clubs and we got my mom the coolest thing . . . .

. . . . . a leopard tortoise! She has been wanting one since Davis got one several years ago. It is so awesome. Here's the kids and Grandma with her new pet. You can tell Davis -our resident reptile expert-was a little nervous that Grandma was going to drop the tortoise.

Here he/she is. You don't find out the sex for a few years. It is so dang cute.Ethan even got to hold it.

Javan started his own little tradition a few years ago where he gives me the ugliest Christmas sweater he can find. You know the type, with snowflakes, snowmen, reindeer, flashing lights, and all sorts of Christmas decor. And I have to wear it on Christmas day. (Sorry to all of you who really have this type of sweater and love it.) It's actually pretty funny. So I dicided I would also participate this year and found Javan this gem. (Sorry to all of you who have or want a sweater like this.) Unfortunately, Javan didn't get me a sweater this year, he felt I was a poor sport last year and had decided to discontinue the Christmas sweater tradition, but now that he knows I am fighting back, we'll see what happens. Watch for next year's Christmas sweater.P.S. He said the sweater (vest, no less) was actually quite comfy and we might see it on him again.

Here's my little Christmas reindeer.

On Christmas morning Ethan kept saying "This is the best Christmas ever!" Which of course I loved to hear. I am happy that he had a good one. Then after my parents left and we were just home alone he said "This Christmas isn't so fun." When I asked him why such a sudden change of heart he said "Well, there's no people" Ethan is just like me in that we love to be surrounded by people and family. I hate to be left out of anything, and I love spending time with family and friends. That's hard for Javan sometimes. Anyway, I think everyone had a good Christmas. I know I did.

Here's a picture of the living room after all was said and done. Man, where's the cleaning lady?

I hope everyone had as much fun as we did. I wish everyone was here with us to celebrate this holiday season. We love you. Merry Christmas!!