The Christmas Season

I love this time of year. I love everything about Christmas. I love the music, the shopping, wrapping presents, Christmas music, food, gingerbread houses, Santa, and the remembrance of the birth of our Savior. I used to put all of my Christmas stuff up right after Halloween, but my poor husband asked me to wait until after Thanksgiving. So giving in to his embarrassment I have consented. I have found this to work because usually the day after Christmas I am ready to take it all down (and do) but I am going to leave it up until New Years this year. This is my second Christmas not being with my extended family (not counting my mission) and it was a bit easier than last year. James said last year I was extremely depressed and did not try to hide it from him at all. (this is appropriate seeing as how it is because of him that we are here!) I think that my trip to Salt Lake at the beginning of the month helped to easy the way in to Christmas. So, here is a list and some pictures of some of our Christmas season (and day) activities.

The kids saw Santa and he was delivered to them via Border Patrol helicopter!

The kids in some kind of dune buggy.

Here comes Santa....don't you just love our friend Adam's hat?! (snicker...hehe)

And there is the big man!

The twins on one of the bouncies

Parker and Santa

Kylee and Santa. We have the original pics of the twins with him, but they were afraid so James had to stand with them (and they had to do it together) so we didn't get on on our camera.

Snow Parker

Snow Kearney

Snow Kylee...I am not sure what happened to Ireland!

While I was in Salt Lake Santa came to the Border Patrol station and James took the kids to seem him. They had a bunch of bouncies, food and activities for the kids to do. They had so much fun. They got to sit in a Border Patrol helicopter and then the day finished with Santa arriving by helicopter. The kids loved that! I guess the reindeer needed their rest for the big day.

The kids made gingerbread houses.

My mom and dad gave the kids two gingerbread houses to make. The first was was made while I was in Salt Lake. James let them eat the house right away to keep it from going stale and just being thrown away. We made the other one the Saturday before Christmas. I was there for this one. I am not really good at the house making. I tend to make it look worse, so I just watched and snapped a few pics.

Working on the gingerbread house. The kid's friends Alexia and Jacob were helping.

The finished product!

The kids singing in school.

We got the joy of listening to our kids sing in their school. It was supposed to be held outside, but we have had a cold front come through, so it was held inside. Not enough room for all of the families! We were lucky enough to have our kids sing in the first three groups. Kylee sang two songs and Parker one. Then we slipped out! I bet there were some parents that were glad to actually get a seat when we left!

Poor Kylee. She told me the night before (late) that she needed a Santa hat...as you can see, no Santa hat!

This is Parker....can you pick him out?!

Our one and only Christmas party. (sorry, no pics)

Yes, not counting just our family 'parties' we only went to one party this year. It happened to be our ward Christmas party. I happened just days after our Enrichment party which went really well (I am over Enrichment...but had no hand in planning the party). Thanks Kathy!! Anyway, back to the party. James was not there because he had to work so I took our 4 kidlets and two of their friends. I had several people comment that I was brave, but I have to say that I was much more relaxed than if I had done it last year. I know and love the people in my ward and I am more comfortable just letting my kids be kids. We ate and then they had a program which took all 6 of my kids (and everyone Else's kids) away for the majority of the program! Bless the primary leaders! haha

Our traditional Family Clam Chowder Party.

The Clam Chowder...I am hungry just seeing it!

Yummy bread sticks!

Writing to Santa.

Santa, I want.....

Dear Santa...

Every year my family i.e. grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews all get together on my Warner side of the family for a delicious clam chowder party. Surprisingly we eat clam chowder, bread sticks, chocolate fondue, fruits, desserts, etc. We have done this for as long as I can remember. I LOVE this party! We talk, play the great candy bar game, eat, talk, eat, talk and our family elf, Silverspurs, comes and take the kids letters to Santa and leaves them a gift. For me it totally sets the Christmas mood. Last years party stunk! We were obviously in California and so I did one on my own and invited three guys that James worked with. They came, ate and left.....total let down! So, this year I decided to make it better for my kids. We talked about it before hand and got them all excited so that when the day came it just added to it. We had delicious food and then the kids wrote their letters to Santa. We put them out on the back porch and then left to see the lights. When we got back Silverspurs had already been there. The kids loved that. We then put on a Christmas movie to watch while I made dessert. After we ate it we played the candy bar game. It was so much fun to watch the kids get excited about snagging other people's bars and trying to remember what was where. They laughed and giggled and had so much fun. It was the first family party here that felt like a family party. The fun thing was that we were able to have it on the same night that my family had theirs in Bountiful.

Christmas Eve.

I swear that I worked my guts out more on the 23, 24 and 25th of December than any other day! Trying to get everything ready. Lots of cooking was done. Parker helped me to make a lot of our stuff for Christmas dinner. He had so much fun doing that. Ireland informed me that day that she had asked Santa for something that she hadn't told me. Tinkerbell makeup! So I had to do some quick shopping a luckily I found exactly what she asked for! kids! James had to work that night, so it was just the kids and me. We usually go out to dinner on Christmas Eve, but the kids and I stayed home and had Chinese food. I use that term lightly because I am not really sure where each item originates from! We had pot stickers (my favorite), spring rolls and orange chicken. The kids get to open a present on Christmas Eve (always pajamas....and yet they are still surprised....when does that change?) and were so thrilled with what they got, although Kylee informed me that she would rather have Ireland's then hers. We then had the conversation of how to react when you receive gifts! We read from the Book of Luke about the Saviors birth and then watched 'A Christmas Story'. Okay, I remember it being edited a lot more when I used to watch it! I am not sure that my kids will be allowed to see it anymore! The kids were in bed by 9:00 and asleep by 9:20! Wow! I don't remember that ever happening to me! It used to be the longest night! I had decided that I was going to wait until James got home to do the presents (after midnight) but I decided to get them out of my closet and get started at 10:30. Well, I couldn't get the closet door to open! I tried until James got home at 1:00. He almost had to break the door. We would have except right as I was praying for it to open it did. He took the handle apart (from the inside...who puts in on that way?!) and got their toys out. We were in bed by 2:30 and at 3:00 I had kids having nightmares. I finally got to sleep at 4:30 and by 6:20 the girls were up!

Making Funeral Potatoes....hmmmm....

Opening the jammies

A mouth full of Orange Chicken (this is Ireland).

Open wide!

Too busy eating to smile!

Watching 'A Christmas Movie' in their new jammies

Trying on their new jammies. Parker's: WallE, Kylee: Hannah Montana, Kearney: Pink w/snowman, Ireland: Tinkerbell

Christmas day!

Well, the kids did pretty well in the morning. They stayed in their rooms without peeking while James took Chancho out to go to the bathroom. I went in to tell Parker that Santa had been to our house and he said he hadn't come. I asked him who had brought the toys then. He informed me that I had done it. I told him I hadn't bought those toys and where would I keep them. He said 'In your closet!'. Uh-oh! I said 'Did you see them in there?' 'No mom....Santa is real!'...yeah right! I have a strong feeling that he knows but does not want me to know that he knows! The kids loved all of their presents. Kearney and Ireland were shocked to see that Grandma Warner's house was given to them. Kearney said 'You tricked us mom!'. James didn't have to work that day so we were able to relax and take things slowly. We let the kids play with their Santa toys before opening the others. Parker got an X-Box and was a little bummed at first that it was not an X-Box 360, but when he saw all of his games (17 that he could play...we have some that he is not allowed to) and heard his friends comment on how many he had he was THRILLED with it. Boy, the power of peer pressure! It was a nice day. I was able to talk to most of my family (I missed talking to Jayci and Dann and Karen) and James was able to talk to some of his. I missed them a lot but it was not as hard as last year. Although, Katie made me a card that I read today and I burst in to tears and then said to James 'When are you going to take me home?!'. hah , would say poor guy, but I am thinking poor me!

Parker's Santa stash.

Kylee's stash. All she wanted was teaching supplies.

Kearney's loot. She wanted Littlest Pet Shop (after prodding from her mom)

Ireland's supply. She wanted Tinkerbell....anything Tinkerbell!

Even Chancho received something! Santa loves ALL of us!

This is what Parker did all day long...

Kylee getting ready to teach the girls.

Playing with Grandma Warner's doll house....I LOVE it!

Grandma and Grandpa Higbee gave them the cutest charm necklaces from Disney world. So cute! Kylee, Kearney and Ireland.