Christmas 2008

So you all know that I'm like the Queen of writiting wordy messages & this is no exception. Why, becasue I like to talk, I like to share & it's my blog so I can do what I want. Right? Yup...haha

This year was a little different. We were blessed to have Grammy Cheryl & Papa Blaine, & Sasha spend Christmas Eve with us & enjoy our tradition of fondue...we had a chocolate fountain again this year with strawberries, pineapple, grapes, & pretzels. Morgan walked around all day saying in a very mesmerizing voice, chooocolate, chooocolate! The Grandparents spent the night & in the morning we ate scrambled eggs & waited for everyone to wake up. After presents we had Jesus' birthday cake. This year I made an apple coffee cake. When I asked the kids if they wanted some apple coffee cake none of them had a very cheerful answer. I worked hard, okay, it was really easy to make but I still took the time to make it & didn't want them to not try it. Then I realized they thought it was made of coffee & didn't want it because they don't like coffee. Haha LOL. When I explained what it was & showed it to them they were a little more eager to take part of the cake tradition. We sang Happy Birthday to Jesus & then dug in. I served it up & then got everyone something to drink & hadn't even had a chance to taste it when to my delight every one was saying how yummy it was. Recipe to come in next post. I finally sat down & tasted it & had to agree. It wasn't like a traditional coffee cake but it sure was good. Opening presents....My favorite was Adam's present. I bought him a nice winter wool dress coat. We tried finding one in the land of leather, camouflage and flannel patters (otherwise known as the U.P.) but didn't find anything to our liking. So good ole' Kohl's online helped me out. I also ordered him an ipod Nano which came by FedEx. It's the only time I was happy that I didn't give UPS business because then I could keep it a surprise. I tried to come up with a way to disguise that little apple box & finally thought of putting it inside the coat pocket. It worked beautifully! Adam opened it up & tried it on & started to pat the coat to show how it fit & that he liked it a lot (I was counting on this since he's done it before when trying on things), and he felt something in the pocket. It took him a second to figure out whether the pocket was on the outside or inside of the coat. He pulled it out & smiled even bigger....an ipod. Beautifully executed!!! And a HUGE smile on my face. :D The kids finished opening all their loot & throwing it all over the living room floor and then off to play with things & open boxes & plastic like crazy. Braly seems pretty thrilled with his Indy Jones fedora & whip (complete with sounds & Indy theme music). Gabby got lots of Hannah Montana stuff & books. I'd say her fav so far is her new scooter that lights up (it will after I install batteries haha). And Morgan was so adorably cute. "For Me?" she'd say when we'd hand her another present to open (note, don't call them packages in front of Adam because by the end of December he's tired of hearing about packages). She loved this light up spinner thing that I found at the Family Dollar for about $3 each. It was a big hit with all 3 of them (great stocking stuffer). And Morgie's fav toy was her new kitchen. There seemed to be a Star Wars theme too for some reason in our house. Braly got this super cool book that has a little computer attached to it & it asks over 2000 SW questions & keeps track of your correct answers & your percentage correct while you play it. Then it shuts off & clears your score so someone else can try. I stunk at it & only had 40% correct after playing for about 10 mins. You might be wondering what I received as presents...I got a beautiful popsicle stick tree that Gabby made at school, along with a penguin whose feet are Gabby's hands & it has a cute poem on it. I also got a scrapbooking recipe book kit that I look forward to making & sharing with my children for years to come. Some bath & body lotions & soaps, and admission into a class I've been wanted to take for almost a year now...LOM from Big Picture Scrapbooking it's the Library of Memories class that Stacy Julian has put together. It's a system for organizing & categorizing photos that aren't necessarily in chronological order. She encourages one to scrapbook photos along with meaningful memories, or to find old photos of a particular something & relate it to a new particular something. It's a way to scrapbook without the guilt of being behind. I started putting the system together but had to put it on hold for awhile when things started to get busy around here & I am looking forward to getting back to it on a weekly basis so I can start scrapping more. I'm also taking an online how-to class so I can better understand how to use Photoshop Elements to scrapbook. I'm pretty pumped for furthering my education with these classes about my hobby.

After presents, Auntie Nat & Uncle Todd showed up. Auntie Nat made punch from a recipe I got from my friend Heather & it was delicious. Thanks Heather L for sharing the recipe. I'll post that one & the coffee cake in a separate post.

We played Papa's Wii for awhile, set up the new car race track & then ate Pizza for lunch after reading the Christmas story in Luke 2. Gabby & Braly still had one more present but they had to solve the riddle that Adam came up with. He's so clever...I just love him!

Gabriella's clue: A Wise person travels to the Place where Jesus was born. Go there Kindly to find a great reward!

Braly's clue: You have a mission. Should you choose to accept it, the reward will be Great! Go to the Place where Jesus was Born!

The answer of course is Bethlehem Town. My parents gave us this remarkable Bethlehem Town scene & last year was the first time we had a place to set it up. It is on our fireplace mantel & is sooooo cool. They found their reward of a new leapfrog Didj for each of them complete with 2 games each (courtesy of good deals on eBay about a month ago).

After lunch, a nap for Morgan, & a Disney trivia game for Nat & myself we made birthday cards for my Great, Great Aunt Pansy whom is turning 100 years old on Dec 31st. There is a group of family & friends heading for a nice lunch on Saturday with her to celebrate her many years. Our family thought it would be cool if everyone made her a card in hopes that she will receive 100 cards for her 100th birthday. I hope it happens. She's a remarkable woman & just a few years ago stopped making her favorite holiday meal, Thanksgiving, for a pretty decent crowd.

To conclude our very special Christmas day we took the time to get all 9 of us in a family picture on my mom & dad's camera (so I don't have a copy of it yet to share with all of you but when I do I'll post it). It took a lot of coercing to get Braly to be in the picture & it took only 2 times to get a great shot of all of us. Talk about cooperation & patience on everyone's part + a really nice camera helps. ;) Our celebration was mostly over. Grammy, Papa, Auntie Nat, & Uncle Todd left & we were left with a pile of toys to play with & clean up. It was a very blessed day. Not too crazy, not too long, nor too short. It was just very nice.

Hope all of you enjoyed your day. What was your favorite part of Christmas day? Or of the whole holiday season in general? Mine was getting to spend time with my family celebrating Jesus' birth. I also enjoyed decorating, reading our many Christmas books (can you tell we are a family who loves books?) and my favorite part has got to be singing Christmas songs & listening to them on the satellite since I don't have copies of all the old records I used to listen to as a little girl.