Ho Ho Ho!!

The best Christmas present our family got, by far, was the gift of daddy not being on call! We all recall last Christmas with a shudder and a bit of pouting (still) when daddy was being paged all morning and finally had to go in for a very stressful few hours and continued to be on call and stressed out for the days following - even though we spent some of those days at a beach house with my parents and sister. I wanted to flush that darn pager down the toilet. This year, we chose to have him be on call over Thanksgiving (which was eerily quiet the whole time) and enjoy a peaceful Christmas. One top of that he took the whole week after Christmas off and boy was that needed. We got Benji* all to ourselves for a good chunk of time and he got some much needed relaxation time. It was the best gift we could have received this year!

So these pictures are actually backwards - it drives me nuts how blogger puts them up opposite of the order you upload them and I'm too lazy to go back and fix it. Maybe someone out there knows a trick besides just trying to remember to choose pictures backwards.

Angela doing a little Christmas yoga. (o:
The kitty was in heaven on Christmas day - so many things to climb in and explore. Plus, Santa did not forget Twilight. She got an "exercise" rocking toy with rattly balls and dangling things, a book about Devious Cats (perfect for Twilight - although she already knows how to be devious) and the girls got her some kitty treats, a new food/water bowl and another toy. Grandma and Grandpa even sent Twilight a hilarious fuzzy, bouncy toy on a string that Twilight goes bananas over. We had a lot of laughs watching Twilight play on Christmas.

I love the expressions of the kids when they are opening gifts. Above and below...

After we look at what Santa brought, the girls play while I do the finishing touches on our yummy breakfast - EggStuff, Sticky buns and bacon. The same breakfast that I had ever since I can remember and that my mom still makes back at home. The EggStuff tradition was passed down from my mom's mom. Then after our delicious breakfast we head back to start opening presents under the tree. My personal favorite thing that Santa brought this year was Angela's cute Melissa and Doug wooden castle. (In the foreground below) It is adorable and the girls have played with it every single day since it arrived. (I am actually writing this on Jan 6) They use Playmobil dolls and their millions of Polly Pockets. Twilight likes to play inside, around and on it too. She pretends to be the big dragon that comes to take over and destroy the castle. The girls laugh their heads off when she comes to play in it too.

Santa came! Natalie wearing her robe he brought and Angela is listening to her "earphones" she asked for in her letter. I don't know many three year olds who would ask for that - definitely the influence of older siblings. All of the kids got "earphones" - Angela's were more of the toy variety, but she doesn't know it. She loves her fairy "IPod" (o:

We had such a wonderful Christmas. Opening gifts, playing together all day long, watching the Sound of Music (a gift to all of us), talking to family on the phone and staying in our jammies ALL DAY LONG. Ned* knows I love more than anything - photography paraphernalia. He spoiled me this year for sure. His GPS that I got him has turned out to be both fun and very useful at the same time. All our adventures the following week were thanks, in part, to our Magellan. And the cat owner manual he received was also a big hit and improved his relationship with Twilight over Christmas break! (o:

Now going backwards to Christmas Eve...

Christmas Eve in the traditional new pajamas! I'm gonna have a hard time finding matching ones next year - Sarah is outgrowing the little girl sizes. (o: Since they've figured out that their Christmas Eve present is always pajamas (you'd think they'd be bummed) they are sooo excited and can't wait to find out what they'll look like each year. Every Christmas Eve we eat our traditional cheese fondue (a fun idea I stole from two good friends a few years ago). We check online to see where Santa is and have a little story or scripture reading about the true meaning of Christmas. This year, we have been reading the scriptures and using the pictures from the "scripture a day" activity in the Friend magazine for children. There was a scripture reference for every day of December that followed Christ's life through His resurrection. It was neat to study and remember His entire life, not just the time when He was born. In typical "me" fashion, we weren't totally consistent and had to catch up on Christmas Eve! I loved the idea so much, we read all of these and used the pictures from the Gospel Art Kit for our Christmas lesson in Young Women's. http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=ae20e975d2a2b010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD&locale=0

We did a fun advent calendar this year. It was a Playmobil Princess one. Not very Christmas-y, but a huge hit. When I first gave it to the girls on December 1st, Natalie didn't get it and thought it was a boring present. Once they caught on to the idea, however, it was the highlight of each day. Angela, especially, would ask several times a day whether or not it was her turn to open a box. This just happened to coordinate very well with Angela's castle she got from Santa.