Christmas Day 2009

Christmas morning is always the best - especially when there are children involved. The magic is almost tangible! They didn't wake until after 7AM which was a beautiful thing. And the night before they were all given strict instructions that NO ONE was allowed to go downstairs until EVERYONE was awake. So, just after 7AM we hear the pitter patter of little feet running back and forth and back and forth from the loft to the bedrooms. They were so excited to steal a peek! Finally, everyone was up - even Jackson was excited to join us.

A quick pose at the top of the stairs...
And then... PRESENTS!

Checking out Santa's plate - he and the reindeer ate all their goodies!

The morning was spent enjoying all the new treasures, eating food, and being together. Grandma Elizabeth, Grandpa Louie, Mica, Thomas, Amy and Bella all stopped by for a visit too.

In the evening, we headed over to Jeremy's parent's house for Christmas dinner. Before we ate, we sang some Christmas carols, acted out the Nativity, and opened presents. The caroling was my personal favorite. When there are so many people joining together in song it just melts my heart. Especially when none of us knows the 2nd verse to Joy to the World and we sing alternate words (Joy to the World Bill is dead. We bar-be-qued his head!!) Yeah, it was awesome.

The Nativity was equally entertaining - as it always is when Ms. Meghan is in charge. Mary (Lizzie) was great with child... nice profile shot.

Jacob rocked the part of the angel.

And here were some more of the cast members...


It was a lovely day of family and memories. Merry Christmas 2009!

Christmas Eve highlights

Christmas Eve was a rollercoaster of fun family time. We spent most of the afternoon/evening doing a progressive dinner with my side of the family. It was fun to see everyone and their Christmas decorations at each house.

Marcos and Melody (left) started us off with some yummy appetizers at their place. They made those pinwheel sandwich things - you know, the ones you eat at weddings. They were so tasty! And apparently they're easy to assemble - never tried to make them myself. I'm going to need a recipe for those.

We made our way back to our house for the main course - Jeremy was craving some tacos so we decided to roll with it. I liked calling them "Christmas tacos" even though they were just regular tacos - it made them seem more festive that way. A little red tomato and green lettuce on top = some Christmas colors anyway, right? My family thought it was great. They commented that Mexican food tastes like Christmas because that's what we always had when we were kids growing up. So maybe we'll have Christmas tacos again next year?

We finished off our evening at Thomas & Amy's house for dessert. Amy made her fabulous old family recipe for chocolate fondue. Mmmm! It was delicious. They had all kinds of chopped fruit and angel food cake for us to dip. Although, we did not dip our fondue in the traditional dipping fashion. You see, we are all slightly paranoid of germs. Especially with children around, yes, even my OWN children! So, we each served our plate and then poured a scoop of fondue over the top of our goodies and everyone was happy.

These are the babies of the year. Ms. Bella and Mr. Mason (being held by Uncle Jordan). Aren't they cute?! And check out their blue BLUE eyes!

My favorite part of the evening, besides the food, was singing with my family. We haven't done that for a long time and it felt great to get us all singing together. We practiced a song to sing for Dad's YSA ward the following Sunday and it turned out so nice.

Here's a small taste of the enthusiasm that flowed through our car on the way home. It was 8PM. The kids knew Santa was already on his way (Norad Santa tracker said that Santa had already finished in NYC by this time). Check out those faces. Were they excited or what?!

We raced home to open our Christmas Eve gifts - new jammies!

Then ran next door to take a quick pic with all the Ward family cousins.

Sang a quick song

And then finally headed home eager for visions of sugarplums dancing in their heads.

We checked the Norad Santa Tracker one last time before heading up the stairs. Santa was still in Wisconson at 9PM so we'd have to wait a little bit longer, but knew he'd be there soon.

And guess what... he came!

The Christmas Hotel

Every year, just a few days before Christmas, we take a trip up to the Tenaya Lodge. The kids like to call it the Christmas Hotel because it's decked out for Christmas! Santa comes in the evenings, there is a free hot chocolate bar, and in the lobby stand a 50 foot decorated Christmas tree.

It is a great way for all of us to unwind from a busy Christmas season and just spend time together. Our usual activities include, sledding, snowball fights, ice skating, swimming/hot-tubbing in the indoor heated pool, sittin' in the steam room, and hanging out in the lobby in the evening playing games.

Here are several quick snapshots from our one night adventure. I love the last one of Logan coming down the hill - the look on his face just after he hit the bump was priceless!


And here are some short clips from our sledding fun:

Sittin' with Santa

Our annual ward Christmas Party is a fun event each year. The Fresno 7th Ward hosts a Christmas Breakfast at 8AM on the designated morning and everyone is encouraged to come in their jammies - including the adults! We eat a delicious breakfast, enjoy a short program, and then the special guest arrives - SANTA! The kids were all excited to see him this year because they each had specific requests they needed to make.

Uncle Robb was the photographer for this event and did an excellent job. We just love the shared glance between Jackson and Santa - what a perfect moment to have preserved.

Santa was good to us this year. He brought all good things that were at the tops of the kids' wish lists. It was all due to the fact that they got a chance to ask him in person for the deepest desires of their hearts.

Santa was here!

Santa stopped by our house on Christmas Eve. He left a great gift for each of the kids with their own personalized tag made by the elves in Santa's workshop! He even signed every single one!

Merry Christmas...

...from our home to yours.


Here's a short video about the true meaning of Christmas.

Trevor & Logan's Acting Debut

Trevor and Logan both decided to try out for the Christmas drama production at their school. There was much pressure from all of their friends that chose to try out also. They were thrilled when they made call backs and then both got a speaking part! All of their friends also made the show and they thought they were in for a great time hanging with their buddies at all the practices. They went to practices on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings before school. It was difficult to get up 30 minutes earlier most mornings. By the end of the run there was real dread and foreboding about having to go to practice so early. Can you hear the whining? Even I was whining about it.

All that whining and complaining switched to a different tune as soon as they performed for the first time. "Mom, I LOVE being on the stage - applause is the best part! I'm going to try out for the next show too!" It was Trevor who said all that. I was so surprised and thrilled to hear him say it with so much enthusiasm!

They had a chance to perform 4 times. Once for the high school, once each for the lower and upper grades, and then finally they performed at the evening dinner/show production for the parents. They were pros by the end!

The name of the play is "Mrs. Claus to the Rescue". Trevor's character name was "Lights" and Logan's character name was "Sound". They were part of the news crew that interviewed Santa when he couldn't make his deliveries on Christmas Eve due to illness.

Here's a 20 second video of their big scene. Logan's line is cut short - you can only hear him saying the last word because I didn't get the camera recording fast enough.

Logan's line: All set!

Trevor's line: Ok, if they stay on their marks!

Here's where they stood for most of the show - on the risers singing with the choir.

Here are most of their buddies that were in the show with them. From L to R: Maddy, Trevor, Emma, Jacob C., Sammy, Jacob E., Logan, and Carter.

My two proud boys. They were so pleased with their performance and felt good to have finished something that took so much work and dedication.
Good job Trevor and Logan! You were the BEST Lights and Sound EVER!! We can't wait to see you on the stage again in the future - you are our Super Stars!

Sugar Cookie Fun

Jeremy was in a great baking mood this month. He researched the web and found a great Paula Deen sugar cookie recipe he wanted to try out. We rarely do sugar cookies around here only because I am never satisfied with the finished product that takes 4+ hours to create! I can never get the dough to keep it's shape. The cut outs always seem to round out and you can hardly tell that it was supposed to be a Christmas tree shape, or gingerbread man, etc. So when he said he wanted to try sugar cookies I was happy to let him take the reigns on this baby.

He always does a great job with baking. Jeremy follows the recipe to the letter and it always turns out great. The raw dough was delicious. It rolled out perfectly and the kids had a great time cutting out the shapes. (Those are authentic cookie cutters from my childhood. Thanks to Grandma DeeDee for passing them on to us!)


We mixed up some red and green frosting. Mmmm..... sugar.

We decked those babies out! Mmmmm..... more sugar! And no, Logan didn't take one bite of these sugary treats, but he sure had fun decorating one for each of us!

A lovely finished product....

Mmmmmm..... time to EAT all that sugar!
Jackson thought the whole evening was fabulous. I should've taken a picture of his green lips when he finished this cookie. I like to think green dye is essential to happy childhood memories.

Jeremy gets an A+ for an excellent finished product and an A+ for the fun factor. Woo hoo for fun Christmas activities!!

And the tree goes up

Christmas season is well under way in our house. We got an early start this year (Jeremy put up the outside lights before Thanksgiving!) and have been enjoying all the fun that comes with the decor.

We did our traditional "put up the family tree evening" the Sunday after Thanksgiving. We ate a delicious dinner by candlelight, the kids opened their first gift of Christmas (an ornament) and then we decked the tree while enjoying cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate. Lizzie's showing off her 2 most recent ornament acquisitions - Lucy Loo from the Grinch and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer's girlfriend.

We are taking every opportunity to live up this holiday season. The kids open up a door on our advent house every morning and get a special surprise - like a tiny ornament, or a chocolate coin, or a note that says to play a Christmas CD while getting ready for school. We've been out to see some pretty Christmas lights. We've seen the kids' winter programs at school. We started wrapping gifts. And are already simmering our traditional Christmas potpourri every day.

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas around here.

Winter Music Night #1

Lizzie and Logan sang in their Winter Program last Tuesday night. It was a beautiful evening full of family, friends, and beautiful music.

Lizzie (kindergarten) was up first. She was so secretive all month about the songs they'd perform. It was as if she was saving them for a big surprise just for us! They were so cute up there!! They sang Deck the Halls, Silent Night with sign language, recited a poem, Must Be Santa, and Rudolph. Lizzie was big time - she knew all the words and all the hand motions. She did great!

Here she is after her performance with her best buddies - cousin Benny and Kaitlyn.


Logan's group was the last of the evening. Those 3rd graders are soooo much older than the kindergartners! They were well rehearsed and ready to perform! They sang all 4 verses to Deck the Halls, Holly Jolly Christmas (Uncle Samuel sang this one when he was in 3rd grade too - how long ago was that?!), and finished off with their favorite I'm Gettin' Nuthin' for Christmas!
Thanks to all the grandmas, grandpas, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends that came to support our kids on their big night! It was great! Let's do it again this Tuesday and the next!