Christmas day...

Our Christmas began very early this year. The kids just wouldn't go to sleep. Brent and I were up until close to 3 am. Then our wonderful children got us up a little past 6:30. They came running into our room screaming Santa came and we've already opened some of the presents. Of course being parents who actually want to watch our children open their gifts Brent and I were a little disheartened. 

"It was all an accident," the boys exclaimed.

You see the night before our family got an awesome basketball hoop from Mark and Katie and Aunt Renet got each kid their own basketball. (I can't believe they make pink basketballs)

Apparently the kids had been up for awhile before they came and woke us.

They had gone thru their stockings and then decided to play with their basketballs. I'm not quite sure how but one of the basketballs landed in the presents tearing open two of the presents. These presents were the Master Chief Halo action figures both of the boys desperately wanted. One blue and one green.
We later learned that Bryan wanted the blue one when we found Connor's name scratched off of his blue Master Chief.
Once we kind of figured out what happened and had a little talk about waiting to open gifts or stockings until mom and dad are awake it was time to open presents.

Santa was good to us this year. He brought the kids new bikes.

 

I think almost every box Heidi got this year was pink.

She got almost everything on her list. 

A bike with a "honker" on it so she can tell people to get out of the way. A baby that talks. (The one she got laughs and cries while moving its arms and legs) A baby bed. A horse that her dolls can ride on. Santa also brought her a remote controlled My Little Pony scooter and a Snow White picnic set.

 

One of the items on the boys' list was a Nerf machine gun. It fires 3 darts a second.

I think Santa has an odd sense of humor. He brought Heidi a tiny Nerf gun to defend herself. It only shoots one dart total.

The boys also wanted Lego Star Wars. 
(It took Brent and the boys 2 days to finish putting these together.)

The rest of their gifts included GI Joe guys and Bionicles. These were only some of the things on their list. They also wanted Santa to bring them tvs, Xbox 360, NintendoDS and many other electronic gadgets. Mind you they each wanted one for their rooms. 

I'm glad Santa kept it on the smaller side this year or I might not have ever seen my boys leave their rooms again.

The highlight was that Santa brought us a Wii. We were all so excited. He had been without a Wii since ours got fried over the summer when Connor stuck a pair of scissors in it.

Our kids were happy and I needed caffeine.

While the kids played with their new treasures I got myself a diet Vanilla Pepsi and worked on breakfast.

On Christmas Eve the thought of having apple stolen for breakfast danced thru my head. While getting everything ready for our Christmas Eve Fiesta, I made these wonderful stolens and left them to rise while we celebrated with family. 

When we returned home, much later than we had planned, I found our lovely breakfast to be had risen and expanded consuming my pans. 

I decided to bake them anyway. They still might work right? Wrong, these were a horrible failure. So our Christmas breakfast consisted of scrambled eggs, bacon, and fresh squeezed orange juice. (Oranges hand picked from the Crandall citrus plantation.)

Next year I will tackle that stolen again.

Later in the day it was time to go to the Crandall house.

On the way there is when we learned that the kids (the boys at least) had been up since just after 4. My darling little boys fell asleep in the car.

Our gift to Brent's parents this year was a flannel quilt. They almost didn't get to have it because Brent wanted to put it on our bed. It was very warm and very soft.

After we opened gifts we had a wonderful ham dinner. It was so delicious. The next few hours were spent building with legos. Stephen and Timmy helped the kids to build their car/airplane/spaceship only to have to help build them into something else a half hour later. Each kit could be assembled into three different things. 

4 boys...

2 uncles...

12 possibilities...

hours of fun.

Christmas this year was amazing. Things are still tough financially on all sides of our family. Some are out of work, others are facing layoffs or reduction in hours or pay. 

But this year for my small family things were perfect.

This time last year we were in the process of loosing our house. Brent was still a full time student and I was working crazy hours at Walmart. I remember sobing while putting up our Christmas tree last year, uncertain where we would be in the coming months.

This year was different.

Brent has a job.

I'm at home again with my children.

We are in a home we love (even if it's rented)

and 

We know we are exactly where Heavenly Father wants us to be. 

The greatest gifts this year weren't found under the tree.

They were gifts of time spent together and the sharing of love for one another.

I'm so thankful to have been able to spend time with my family making cookies, seeing the Temple lights, and watching old Christmas movies drinking eggnog. 

I'm grateful for all of the friends we were able to take goodies to, and the ones who brought some to us.
I'm blessed to have memories of laughter and feelings of contentment with what we have and where we are.

It was truly a Merry Christmas.