Christmas 2012

Christmas 2012 was really very nice.  I was a bit concerned that it would seem sad or lonely since we were so far away from our immediate families in Utah, but it ended up being a wonderful two days.

That was largely because we got to spend some time on Christmas Eve with our Georgia Yarn family.  The Coles invited our family, along with the Montgomery family, to spend Christmas Eve day with them at Fox Hall.  It was a rainy day, so we mostly stayed inside which wasn't what we originally had planned, but it was so nice to be with those two wonderful families, and we had a great time.  

The Coles make a pinata and break it every year on Christmas Eve, and we got to be a part of that fun tradition.  The kids decorated bags to gather their candy in, and then they took turns hitting the pinata till it broke and they filled their bags with candy!

 Rudolph Reagan

 These girls LOVE Miranda.

 We also ate lunch, played board games and a little croquet, and the dads and some of the kids went shooting.  It was a fun afternoon.

On our way back home, we stopped in downtown to check out Centennial Olympic Park and the plaza between Coco-Cola World and the Aquarium.  It had cleared up at this point and it was fun to walk around a bit in an area of Atlanta we hadn't ever stopped in before.

 Bennett had a duel with the fountains, and lost!

 Oh my silly Bennett!

 We also got to play at a fun park.  It was a little cold, but how fun to be able to play outside at a park on Christmas Eve!

 The kids found this giant mound of snow (which must have been from the nearby outdoor ice skating rink because we have not had any snow) and threw snowballs and Reagan even ate some (totally disgusting, we know), and they proclaimed it to be a "Christmas Miracle!"

Then we headed home.  We had our traditional candle-lit dinner of take-out Chinese food.  I LOVE this tradition -- so nice to not spend all day Christmas Eve making dinner.  Campbell was exhausted from our day and was on the sofa resting, but the rest of us toasted to a wonderful Christmas Eve.

Since everyone was exhausted after dinner, we skipped right to the opening of their one gift, since they knew that gift would be jammies, and they were all dying to get into their pjs.

 Love this picture of my five darling kids in their Christmas pjs.

We tried to get a good picture of Mr. Claus, but that proved to be very challenging!

 Cute, cute little blue-eyed baby boy.

We played with the train for a little bit and sang a few Christmas carols (convenient since the train and piano were in the same room!)

 Having the train was so much fun this year, and we are looking forward to using it with our tree for many years to come!

We read the story of the birth of the Savior from Grandpa Yarn's "Four Gospels as One" book, and then set out the cookies and milk for Santa while Reagan and Elle sprinkled the oats for the reindeer.

Then it was off to bed.  I actually fell asleep with the kids, and luckily woke up at 2:00 in the morning to perform my duties.  It could have been a very different Christmas morning if I hadn't woken up!

Here was the scene Christmas morning:

Elle's pile -

 Campbell's pile -

 Reagan's pile -

 Calvin's pile -

Bennett's pile -

 The kids asked Santa to leave our gifts in the Family Room instead of the Living Room because there is more room in there.  He obliged (and obviously loved our cookies and milk).

 The kids slept in till almost 8:00.  I can handle that!  They cam into the room youngest to oldest and checked out their stuff.

 The little girls both got Lalaloopsy Dolls as their main gift

 Bennett with his Lord of the Rings legos

 Elle immediately trying out her reading chair while reading one of her new books!

 Cute Mr. Claus

 Calvin seemed to enjoy his first Christmas!

 Cam's favorite items in her stocking: an apple and new toothpaste

 Sure love these sweet girls

 Once we had explored our Santa gifts, the kids brought in all the presents that were under the big tree and we started opening them up.  We always open gifts one at a time, and the first gifts that everyone chose to open were the gifts they had picked out for each other.  Our elementary school ran a little Christmas gift shop for a few days in December.  Elle, Bennett, and Reagan each took $20 and picked out gifts for everyone in the family.  They were so excited for everyone to open the gifts they had chose.  It was the cutest thing.

 Calvin lost his original Sophie on our Disneyworld trip, so Grandma gave him a new one for Christmas.  He was happy to be reunited with her.

 Bennett picked out this cute hat for Reagan.  She loved it.

 Bennett gave Elle this bracelet

 and Campbell this glow-in-the-dark rubber duck.

 Reagan is our resident doctor, so we got her some appropriate gear to help her play the part.

 Bennett was the Rebel Spy on Star Tours while we were in Disneyworld, so we surprised him with this shirt.

 You can tell Elle's getting older -- she got clothes, jewelry, books, and things for her room.

 The kids got dad some new sunglasses to replace the ones he lost in Florida.

Christmas morning was a lot of fun.  The kids are such good ages now for Christmas to be very enjoyable and fun and not stressful.  Everyone enjoyed watching each other open gifts and they were excited about giving each other gifts and the morning had a nice pace to it, and it was just a great day.  We sure love each other and had a wonderful Christmas celebration this year!