Christmas.....

Well, this is our first Christmas that we are staying in Utah. The last couple of years we have stayed Christmas morning and then packed up and headed to Idaho but this year we decided to stay home. It was bittersweet..we missed being with the extended family but we also enjoyed being together as our small little family.

Because we are staying home, we are able to start our own family traditions. We made cookies on Christmas Eve day and set some out for Santa. We have a special Santa key that we leave outside on the front door because we don't have a chimney. (Calista was worried that someone else might find it and use it to get inside our house..we had to explain that Santa used magic to make it work so it wouldn't work for just anybody.) We had home made Clam Chowder for dinner. The kids got to open up new jammies and the family got a new game - UNO Attack - we played it for awhile. We tracked Santa via www.noradsanta.org and when he got close to our house, we settled in and I showed the kids this video and reminded them again that this is the reason we celebrate Christmas.

The kids had a great Christmas...Calista wanted a DSi SO SO SO bad..but Jeff & I didn't really like the idea of the kids having a game to carry around with them all the time. But as Christmas grew closer - she was determined that a DSi was all she wanted. We warned her that we wouldn't get her one...BUT lucky for her...Santa Claus did!!!

She was so excited!!! And then just periodically throughout the day she would.."I can't believe I got a DS!!!" Isn't that what Christmas is all about...dreams coming true!!

Chance got a Transformer Destructicon..which he really wanted and Hailey got a LIV doll with a pink wig.

It was a nice relaxing day..we stayed in our jammies for most of the day and played with our new toys...we got a couple of new Wii games and who knew that I would end up LOVING Rockband so much! I stayed up until close to 2am playing the guitar. I have the blister on my thumb to prove it!

Our Christmas was wonderful and I hope all my friends and family had a MARVELOUS Christmas too.

Here are the kids waiting at the top of the stairs...

The BIG SURPRISE from Santa...DS & Games

They are so excited for their DS's

I love Hailey's expression in this photo!

Transformer Destructicon

Barbie Nail Printer
(still haven't gotten this to work..but it will be cool when it FINALLY works!)