Christmas, Finally...

Our house was wonderfully FULL for Christmas. We normally spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at Grandma and Grandpa's house but this year we decided to have Christmas celebrations at our home. Since our house used to be Grandma and Grandpa's house, the change didn't seem like much of a change at all. We had our family, Joe's parents, Uncle Grant, Jeff, and Derek, and Aunt Julie, Aubree, and Angela, and friend Todd.

Christmas Eve:

For dinner, we ate the traditional meal of split pea soup, cheese and crackers, jello, etc. Fortunately, we skipped the oyster stew. By the time we finished the cinnamon rolls I made for dessert, we were too full to move, but somehow managed to mosey into the living room so we could re-enact the nativity story. Ada wasn't too thrilled about playing the part of Baby Jesus surrounded by Aunt Julie and Grandpa dressed up as animals in the stable. Jennabee, on the otherhand, loved being Mary. She thought the donkey ride on Grandpa's back was so comfortable, she just snuggled in and rested the entire ride to Bethlehem.

Ada's perfect pout; Jennabee curled up on Grandpa's back

After the nativity story, we let the kids open their "pixie" presents that they bought for the sibling whose name they drew out of a hat. Then Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle Grant, Derek, and Aubree went home to sleep in comfortable beds while Julie, Angela, and Jeff stayed the night and graciously helped us wrap all our presents. There were A LOT of them to wrap because we had procrastinated and not wrapped a single one. Joe and I would have been up all night if it wasn't for them.

All the presents wrapped. Now, to get them neatly under the tree....

Christmas Morning:

Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Grant, Derek, and Aubree came back first thing in the morning with cars full of presents. The "natives were restless" downstairs (as Joe's Grandpa Harris would have said), pounding on the wall, anxious to get the morning started as the grownups stuffed all of the presents under the tree. When everything was ready, Grandpa led the kids up the stairs in a long chain with their eyes closed, walked past the tree and led them to one of the bedrooms upstairs. Then, the kids were let loose, youngest first, and they ran to the Christmas tree with huge smiles and shining eyes.

A couple of hours later, the last gifts were opened, and it was time for the traditional breakfast of Finnan Haddie (codfish, cured in a special brine), skorper (toasted cardamom rolls), and steaming mugs of Hot Cocoa. Austin helped with the huge pot of hot cocoa, wearing his Chef's hat and apron I made him. He loves to cook and has been begging for a chef's outfit for months. It was the first gift he opened Christmas morning and he was VERY excited about it. Thanks to Aunt Jana for giving me the link to the free chef's hat pattern online.

After breakfast, everyone was sleepy, so most of us took naps and Joe took this lovely picture of me, Jennabee, and Angela sleeping on the floor.

Grandpa Davey got the kids a wii fit and the kids had fun testing their bodies and setting up workout routines. Joe brought home a bunch of wii games from China, so those, with the wii fit, kept them occupied for hours.

Austin, Jennabee, and Ada got a play kitchen from Grandma Kimball and they have been "cooking" for me non-stop. It was a perfect gift for them!

Christmas Afternoon and Evening:

In the afternoon, Uncle Grant and Jeff got stuck in a snow drift driving on a country road. Joe and Derek left home to pull them out of the drift, but when they arrived on the scene, a kind man had already beat them to it.

In the evening we had a delicious Christmas feast and spent the rest of the evening playing games and visiting with each other.

We had a wonderful Christmas and are so grateful for our many blessings!