Christmas

Here's the thing about Christmas.  It is childhood magic.  Some of my most vivid memories are of Christmas mornings when I was a girl, and those are the family home videos we watch over and over.

But then I grew up, and my bell stopped ringing, and I had finals and work and the magic was still there, but a little more distant.

And then we had kids.  And our kids got old enough to appreciate it.  And the magic of Christmas morning came back.  And this time around, I am enjoying every minute because I know that just like before, it will fade and our kids will be teenagers and we'll say, "Remember the year..." that was so magical.

For Christmas Eve, we invited my parents over for dinner.  I had talked to Caden about something we could do to remember Christ on that night, and he said he would plan a "ceremony" which consisted of him telling stories from the scriptures and Bryce singing songs (some of which were Bryce originals).  It was actually very cute and they were sincere while doing it.  We ate fudge and opened our Christmas Eve book before getting on new jammies and heading to bed.


I'm not sure what Caden is worried about in this picture...maybe if he was on the naughty or nice list?

We woke up to a few inches of snow which was just as exciting as waking up to all of the presents.  The boys opened their stockings first and then we ate cereal (well, Chad and I ate cereal--the boys ate candy from their stockings) before really going for the presents.


I don't think we'll always get the boys to do this, but after opening a present each, they would sit and play with the presents, or we'd look at it, or read about it, and enjoy it for a bit before opening the next one.  It made the fun last all morning.  Caden got a waterproof watch, Pokemon cards, laser tag, a lego table and some books and games.  Bryce got new trains, new race tracks, books, and a game.  They also got a fish tank with a little crab that we named Kringle.





Tessa knew just what to do and was in heaven with all the paper and boxes to play in.  She is at such a fun age and we are so happy to have her in our family.

Later that day, we headed to my inlaws for their traditional brunch and stopped by my parents for dinner that night.  After putting the kids to bed, Chad and I watched a Christmas show and ate even more fudge, enjoying the last minutes of the best time of the year.