Merry Christmas

This morning the kids woke us up earlier than we have ever been woken up before. Rachel and Jacob slept in Rachel's bed so I don't think that helped them sleep in. They were waking us up at 7 AM. I made them go back to their rooms till a little before 8. I was so tired and did not want to get up. We finally got up and just as we were getting up Kaelen got up as well. I had figured we would all get up and Kaelen would get up later. The kids were so excited. It was fun too to have them go down the stairs this year. So much easier to make them not to peek. We have always done Christmas upstairs in the living room but because we have our piano now and the tree won't fit upstairs we for the first year did it downstairs.

The kids were so excited to see everything. I love the magic of Christmas. Santa after he eats his goodies always leaves a note to the kids and a small gift to the family. He left an electric sharpener. It is so funny as to how excited our kids get with stuff like that. We then always open our presents from Santa that he places in our Santa bags and wraps as well. Everything from Santa is wrapped in special Santa paper. including the things in our Stockings. It is so fun to open all kinds of little things. This year I think the kids were excited to get their presents from Santa. Kaelen got a little broom and dust pan. After he opened it he right away started walking around the room trying to sweep everything. Jacob got an electric car and Rachel got "the biggest littlest pet shop kit." That is exactly what it is called. The funny thing though is that I think Rachel was most excited about the books she got from Santa. She got the Percy Jackson and the Olympian series. She had already read book 1 and 2 and was so excited to read the rest of the series. She is our bookworm. She reads till almost midnight most nights.



After opening all of our Santa presents and stockings we went upstairs for breakfast. I made a ham, cheese and french bread casserole. I make something like this every year because I can always make on gluten free for Enoch and I can make it the night before, have it in the fridge all night and then pop it in the oven in the morning before we start on presents. We once again opened some poppers. The kids liked them more this time because they knew what was going to happen.


Once we were done breakfast we went to open presents from each other and family. This year we really downsized with the gifts. The kids got one present from Mom and Dad, present from their cousin they exchanged with, a present from each other and presents from Grandpa and Grandma. This year when the kids exchanged presents they did it in pairs. Rachel and Jacob got a present for Kaelen, Jacob and Kaelen got a present for Rachel and Rachel and Kaelen got a present for Jacob. This year we really didn't have the overwhelming amount of presents like we usually do. I did though have way more presents than everybody else. Enoch gave more more than my one present. He always goes above and beyond for me. Also Enoch and I decided that since we were going to San Diego and bought a brand new bed that we were not going to spend a lot on each other. Really we shouldn't have gotten each other anything but I am not going to complain about opening some presents. Oh wait I did. Enoch bought me a $100 gravy boat. I wanted to kill him when I heard that. He actually only paid $50 for it but I was so shocked. It was beautiful though. I decided though to return it because after 2 glasses being broken eating dinner and 3 of my really nice home decorations broke recently as well I figured this would break the first time we used it. I love having kids but things break with them it seems. I don't have a place to store really nice stuff. I want to have stuff right now that I can use all the time.

Here is a list of the presents that the kids got and pictures of them opening their presents. I took over 300 pictures and so I have seperated them into pictures of just them.

Kaelen didn't get as much as everybody because he is little and really didn't need much. He loved opening his presents though. He opened them all by himself as well. It was so cute.

• His broom from Santa
• A bowling set from Rachel and Jacob
• A real vacuum that works from Mom and Dad (Kaelen loves to clean and help around the house. We figured if we gave him the real stuff then he could actually clean as well)
• Some really fun books from his cousins
• Books from Grandpa and Grandma Fisher

Jacob would kiss his presents or lay on them when opened them. I guess that he was excited.

• From Santa an electric race car that was broken before he even played with it. We returned it and got an even better one. The new one drives on the walls and floor. It is amazing.
• A disc jammer Frisbee from Kaelen and Rachel
• A bunch of wii games from Mom and Dad. Yes for Christmas we bought the kids a wii. They were so shocked. They had no idea that they were getting one. They screamed so loud when they opened the gift. It was so fun. They both asked for Nintendo DSI's from Santa but we had bought them the wii months ago and so Santa didn't bring the DSI's. They were not sad.
• A cool book that plays music from Grandpa and Grandma Fisher.
• From his cousin, Morgan he got an electric car.

Rachel screamed so many times opening presents. She didn't scream as much as I would have thought when she opened the wii though. She screamed the most when she got her books in her stockings.

• From Santa she got her littlest pet shop set
• From Jacob and Kaelen she got 2 Camp rock barbies that sing
• From Grandpa and Grandma Fisher she got a Webkinz and earrings. Oh yah I need to mention this. We made her close up her ears where they were pierced years ago because she kept tearing them. Well for months she has asked to get her ears pierced. Santa left in her stocking a gift certificate to get them done as well as professional earings for piercing. She was so excited.
• From her cousin she got this awesome rock band bracelet making kit. She was so excited to get started on that and make some large bands to wear.

Enoch didn't get much because I was spending a lot on his gift from me. I didn't even have the kids get him something. They didn't like that but I was trying to not spend too much. Also Enoch is not the easiest person to shop for because he really doesn't want much.

• He got from Santa much needed new garments.
• a pancake grill (well we both did) from Heather and Mike
• From me he got a gym membership. He had no idea about it and was so excited. He is running the Ragnar relay with me in June and so he really needs to get his muscle strength up so he doesn't injure himself like he did before. I am excited for him to go and exercise 3-4 times a week now.

I got more than I needed. Like I said before Enoch always spends too much and does too much on me.

• I got a GPS for the car. So excited to take it to San Diego with us.
• I got much needed garments as well.
• Some porcelain cooking dishes from my Mom as well as a poppy picture that matches my other ones downstairs. Thanks
• Some really awesome cooling racks that I really needed.
• Really fuzzy socks. My feet are always cold and so Enoch was so nice to think about that for me. I love them.
• I also got a bag for church. I am now teaching in primary and needed something for my stuff.

We had such a nice relaxing Christmas. It was so nice to have such few presents and to really take our time to enjoy hanging out together.

Around 5 we then left to go to the Heileson's. We always spend Christmas evening with them. We went up for dinner, open the rest of our presents and play games. We always have so much fun. For Christmas we got my favorite item. We got food storage. I ask for it every year. To me there is nothing nicer than opening food storage. Even if I know ahead of time what it is. It is so nice to have one less thing that I have to buy. We got powdered milk and rice. So awesome. Our kids got awesome presents but I think that Kaelen got the best. Rachel got a beautiful cardigan/shrug that she can wear to church, Jacob got a game for his leapster that he plays non stop now and Kaelen got a shopping cart. He has loved it. If anybody touches it he freaks out. That is his toy and he knows it. He loves putting his footballs and basketballs in it and pushes them around in it. Very cute.


Madeline and Brytton brought their wii and their wii fit plus so we played that. It was so funny to watch Gloria try to play some of the balance games. We were laughing so hard. We also played a bunch of card games together. It was so fun. I love hanging out with the Heileson's because of how much fun we all have playing games.

I really loved Christmas this year. I think that we all did. We all loved how simple it was but fun. We all enjoyed hanging out together as a family. We wish that we could have spent Christmas with everybody though too. We love you all.

Ears Pierced

Rachel for Christmas got a gift certificate from Santa to get her ears pierced as well as a pair of professional earrings made especially for piercing. They are her birth stone. They are a amethysts. A nice dark purple. She was so excited to get her ears pierced. She had her ears pierced before but she tore them and so we let them heal for the last few years. She has been asking every few weeks about when she could get them done. She was so excited that Santa helped her get it done.

She wanted them done right a way so today (December 28) I took her finally. She had to wait a whole 3 days after Christmas. :) She was so nervous when we went to get them. She got them done one ear at a time. They actually didn't hurt. She was more scared than she needed to be. After she got them done she kept looking in the mirror at her self. She was so excited. She looks cute. She is very excited to get them out a few weeks after her birthday. She is excited to wear different earrings. She has probably40 pairs of earrings that she finally gets to wear again. She is not aloud though to wear dangley earrings especially to bed. We are not ripping her earlobes again.

More Christmas Eve

We had a Christmas Eve stew for dinner on Christmas Eve. That was nice but I think our favorite part of dinner was getting our Christmas poppers to snap open and get our prize and crown inside. These were a regular Christmas tradition growing up and this year I found some. I was so excited to get them. The kids were so scared at first to pull on the ends because they were not sure what was going to happen. I had to keep reassuring them that it wasn't scary. They liked the crowns and toys inside. Rachel was excited as well because I put sparkling cider in wine glasses. Rachel for DARE had been on a no pop challenge for 3 months. Well she went a little farther and decided that she would go a week longer than everybody else and go till Christmas Eve. I think she drank 3 glasses full.

After dinner we did our Christmas Nativity story. The kids changed it up this year and were different characters. Jacob was still Joseph but I was Mary. I think that this was the first time that I have ever been Mary. Rachel wanted to be the angel and wise men. Enoch was the narrator and the shepherds. Kaelen was a shepherd as well as our entertainer. He found it more fun to jump off the couch and yell real loud and laugh oh and he loved to run off with baby Jesus as well. If you notice in the pictures we had no Donkey so instead we used a little train. It was old days meets modern days. It was fun. We usually don't do the pageant with so few of us but we had a lot of fun anyways.

Oh yah before the pageant and after dinner I ran to Walgreen's to get some drugs. Thank you 24 hour 7 days a week Walgreen's. Even on Holidays it's open. I have had a really bad cold and cough and nothing I was taking was working. I had gone to the doctors and they said that they weren't going to get me anything. I wanted to get better before we left for San Diego in a week. I got the strong drugs. Well as strong as over the counter drugs can get. I got a bunch of them. It was nice to sleep that night.

Anyways on with Christmas Eve. After the pageant we opened our Christmas Eve presents. Surprise surprise as to what it was. We always open pajamas. We love it. Enoch and I don't really buy pajamas through out the year so it is nice to get new ones. The kids really love having new ones to sleep in on Christmas Eve and then wear the next morning while we open presents. I got matching ones for Kaelen and Jacob. I love that I can buy matching clothes for them and they are still okay with it. I wish that I could have found ones for Rachel too.

After our presents and getting ready for bed we read T'was the Night before Christmas. Right after we were married my Grandpa sent us some money at Christmas and we bought this book for our family. I grew up with us reading it every Christmas Eve. I now have it memorized because of it. Rachel almost does now too. The kids really enjoyed it. Kaelen loved the moon. He kept screaming MOON and wouldn't let Enoch turn the page. He just wanted to see the moon. He is so funny. I am glad that the kids didn't mind looking at the moon on the page longer than normal. In the pictures Kaelen is screaming at the moon and yelling moon. So funny.

We ended the night with the kids by drinking their sleepy hot chocolate. We have hot chocolate with candy canes and chocolates that they throw into it. Everybody loves it. This year I added candy cane flavored Hershey kisses. They were so good in the hot chocolate. Yum. We of course after left our cookies, milk and vegetables for Santa and the Reindeer. One year we almost forgot to leave stuff out so now the kids really remember.

Enoch and I wrapped a couple of presents before we went to bed. Oh and we had to watch some of a 24 hour Christmas Story. A Christmas Story is on 24 hours on Christmas Eve. It is fun to watch it at starting at any point because when it is over you can start watching again. Still not sure why we watch it on TV though because we own it and we could just put it in and watch it with out the commercials.

We had a good Christmas Eve despite me being very sick and 2 Christmas glasses breaking. Oh yah my kids at dinner broke a wine glass that was a wedding present and very dear to me and then a beautiful Christmas glass that we have had since our first Christmas together. Oh well though after being very upset we enjoyed Christmas Eve together and hopefully our kids at one point remembered why we celebrate Christmas.

Santa Claus is coming..

We finally took the kids to see Santa on Christmas Eve and I am so glad that we went when we did because we had the 'real' Santa. He only has been at the mall twice a week and I figured we had missed our chances. I was at the mall picking some pictures up and walked by and got so excited when I saw that the 'real' Santa was there. The kids were excited to go see him as well. Jacob walked right up and gave him a hug because he was so excited. As you can see Kaelen was not as excited. He was happy watching from a distance but anytime Kaelen got close he freaked out. We had to have all the kids in the picture though and you always have to have one kid at Kaelen's age right now screaming and crying. It just wouldn't be Christmas without the picture of the screaming kid on Santa's lap or in our case Rachel's lap.

Boys pretending to Sleep

I recently came across these pictures taken in the middle of November and I love them. Rachel must have taken them of the boys pretending to sleep on the kitchen floor. It's so cute. Kaelen loves to copy what Rachel and Jacob do. He also loves to lay down with Jacob. When we tell Jacob it is time for Bed Kaelen runs a quick as he can and runs to Jacob's bed and climbs in. Jacob and Kaelen will lay in bed together for quite a while but Kaelen is yet to actually go to bed in Jacob's bed. It is so cute though and fun.

18 month Pictures

I finally went and got Kaelen's 18 month pictures taken. I was 2 months past due but I was happy just to get them. I was worried about how he would act but he did good considering he is so shy and really doesn't like a lot of people. I brought him his favorite thing in the whole world, footballs, and he was then happy for most of the pictures. He loved just throwing the footballs at the photographer. He thought that it was so funny. He also loved throwing them at the curtain behind him because they would roll back to him after he threw them. My favorite picture is of him trying to pick up all of the footballs at once. He does that at home and will cry out of frustration because he doesn't understand why he can't carry 6 footballs at one time.

They asked me to get into the pictures with him. I didn't want to but did it anyways. I had zero makeup on that day. I was glad that I was wearing a cute sweater though. I actually ended up liking how they turned out. I actually ordered for me a picture of the two of us. I ordered the picture of him laying down facing straight up to replace the one in my room and then the picture of him looking straight forward as a close up got that to replace the picture downstairs. I also had to get ones of him playing with footballs. Like I said that is is favorite thing ever. He is so good at throwing as well as kicking them. All balls are now footballs and if you say touchdown he lifts his arms like the referees do after a touchdown at a football game. We love it. I still can't believe how big he is. It is so fun.

Our House Elf

Every year we go and look at Christmas lights and while we are gone one of Santa's elves drops by and leaves a present for the family on the kitchen table. It is wrapped as well. The kids have named out Christmas elf Buddy. So buddy is who comes and leaves a gift. This year we got a large gingerbread house kit. This is the 2nd year that we have gotten that. We love it and I am hoping that Santa has the elf drop one off every year. It is something we all have fun doing together. We didn't get back early enough from looking at lights to do it that night so we did it the next day for Family Home Evening. It was so much fun. The kids give ideas and decide how they want to do stuff. This year our steps to our house were peppermint candy's and we also put frosty on the roof like they do in the movie Christmas with the Kranks. We don't get to start eating it till Christmas Eve. We usually just eat the candy off and the throw way the gingerbread. We love it though and I am thinking that this has now become a family tradition.

Letters to Santa

This year we actually sent letters to Santa in the North Pole. North Pole Alaska. The kids really enjoyed writing their letters. I really liked them. In Rachel's she mentions having him help two families. These families are from our ward. They both have had cancer. The Caldwell's had their mom with it but last week was told that she is cancer free and then the Woosley's he has bone cancer so bad that really anything they do is to help by time. They are moving for 6 month to Boston to get treatment there. They have 5 boys. Two with behavior problems and one with Autism. It is really sad. I was so touched with what she wrote. We pray for these families every night and Rachel came up with this all on her own. Jacob's letter is so cute because he wrote it all himself. Kaelen's is very sweet because his sister wrote it but it is funny because of all the spelling errors. I have asked her 100 times how she got the words wrong that she did. It ads personality to the letter. Also on the back he didn't really want to draw. He wanted me to draw moon, star and football on it.