Christmas 2009

Every year my mom hosts a fun Family Home Evening the week before Christmas... we share talents (mostly the kids) and reenact the Nativity and enjoy the craziness with our family.

Coleman sang "I Feel My Savior's Love" while Ryan played... Olivia played her recital pieces too but I didn't grab a photo of that...

The kids love being with their cousins... Chaim (on the left) quickly became Coleman's buddy... he lives in Georgia so we don't get to see him nearly often enough. Abi and Olivia are on the right.

Olivia got to play Mary on one of the run throughs (we did two to give all the kids a chance to play the roles they wanted to) and Tayden was Joseph. This year we were lucky to have a live baby to play Jesus... and baby David (Katty and David's baby) was adorable.

Even though he was almost as big as the basket he was so smiley the whole time. He's such a cutie!

Chaim, Coleman, and Evan made great Wise Men.

On Christmas Eve we spent a quiet night at home with just our little family. I was feeling exhausted and not up to going anywhere or doing a whole lot of anything. The kids always look forward to our tradition of opening new jams on Christmas Eve.

Ryan rolls his eyes at this unwavering tradition of ours... but I know he was happy to get some new comfy pants too :).

Mine were snowflake jams, Liv got penguins, and Coleman's had the abominable snowman.

Christmas morning was fun... the kids were so excited about their gifts. Santa brought Coleman a giant Indiana Jones Lego Set (which he is still working on building). He got some fun Star Wars trading cards and a remote control car too that were easier to hold up for a photo. Honestly, after the letter Coleman wrote to Santa, there was no way Santa wasn't going to deliver just what he asked for.

Coleman wrote this letter in his kindergarten class... I love the line "I believe in you!" When questions arise about whether or not Santa is real (which are becoming more frequent as the kids get older and their friends and schoolmates share their suspicions) we always tell them that Santa doesn't come to people who don't believe in him. I love that Coleman felt it necessary to reassure Santa that he likes him AND believes in him. Anyway, obviously Santa had to bring the cute boy the thing he wanted most--a giant Lego set.

Miss Olivia learned on her 7th birthday that she would only get one American Girl doll--they are cute but ridiculously expensive--so she figured that Kit Kittridge (on the right) would be her one and only. This year she asked for some "stuff for Kit" like a new dress or some of her furniture (also ridiculously expensive) but Santa decided that a good thing to go with Kit would be Ruthie... Kit's best friend. So much for enforcing our promise of only one doll, huh? Really, this is the last one though. Santa is such a sucker for cute and obedient kids.

On Christmas afternoon we went back to my mom's for brunch (even though it was at 1:00 pm!). All of the kiddos got flashlights or headlamps and were so excited. Chaim and Coleman looked so cute with theirs on.

Coleman and Liv with my mom... they love being at Grandma's house!

Here's one of the sisters... Steph, Katty, Erin, my mom, me, and Lindsey. (Cheristy was there but wasn't in the picture.)

Finally all of the grandkids with Grandma and Grandpa... Abi and McKenna, in the front Coleman has the best expression ever, and Chaim is on the right... Mike's in the chair with Eliza, my mom, and Evan, and in the back are Tayden, Jonah, and Olivia. Asher and Brady aren't in the picture for some reason...

We spent Christmas evening with Ryan's Grandma and Grandpa in Springville. We loved spending time with our family over the holidays!

**Do you do pajamas on Christmas Eve?
**Is Santa a softy for your kids too?