Christmas 2011

This year's Christmas was awesome! We started it out with the annual Christmas Eve party at my parents' house. This year, we decided to do our little bingo game in the afternoon because the evening gets a little too busy. This year, my parents had bought over 70 Bingo presents...


A good time was had by all...


After dinner, it was time for the feast...

There was ham, turkey & all our favorite appetizer foods: bean dip, shrimp with cocktail sauce, spinach-artichoke dip, a relish tray, baked brie, meatballs, little smokies, etc. So yummy...

After dinner, it was time for the "talent show," which is really more of a "comedy show" in our family's case. We had to start with the girls singing "Jing a Ling" in our "special voices." Ashlee sings in her opera voice, Kristin sings in her British-monotone voice, & I sing in my baby voice. We couldn't keep straight faces this year...

Then the kiddos did some singing...

And some AWESOME dancing...

And then told some Christmas-themed jokes...

Next, it was on to the presents. First the kids opened their Christmas PJs & then they did their cousin gift exchange...

After that, we did our sibling exchange. We gave Kristin & Dan a clock & an Eagles shirt and hat...

Kristin & Dan gave Ashlee & Greg an electric skillet and Wits & Wagers (I love that game)...

And Ashlee & Greg gave us this doormat & a Brian Regan DVD...

Then we opened all our gifts from Nana & Poppy. They spoiled all of us rotten...

At the very end of the night, my parents & I gave Mike a joint gift. Back in the fall, my dad got a new mountain bike. Because he had a new one, he put his old bike up for sale. One day, Mike was telling me that he wished there was a way he could by my Dad's old bike. It's a really nice bike & my dad hasn't ridden it that much (he rides his street bike way more than his mountain bike). Mike's bike has been having some major issues lately and needed a $250 repair after an accident that happened when we were in St. George. So, I called my parents & asked them if they would sell the bike to me for a good deal, as a joint gift. They agreed. My dad then hid the bike & told Mike that "some lady had bought it for her husband as a Christmas present" which was, technically, the truth. So, we gave it to him that night. I didn't take any pictures, but he was shocked...and very happy!

After that, we took four very tired kiddos home & put them to bed. It was a great Christmas Eve! A huge thank you to my parents for always putting this fun party together & for being so good to us!

The next morning, the kids woke up at about 8:15. We took our annual "picture on the bridge" as the kids got their first glimpse of what Santa brought them...

Both Connor & Aiden were super excited to see that they had made Santa's nice list (there was some question this year). Everyone was spoiled by the man with the bag. Cohen got his Buzz Lightyear Spaceship that he's been wanting...

Connor got a Nintendo DS...

Aiden got some Super Mario Bros. plush turtles & question mark boxes that he's been DYING for...

And Vivvie got a baby doll & stroller...

Next, it was on to opening presents...

Viv wasn't really into opening presents. In fact, she was terrified by the sound of the wrapping paper being ripped...

Eventually, she got bored of unwrapping presents, so her brothers opened her presents for her while she played with her reflection in the fireplace...

Here's a picture of Mike with his "Christmas socks." If you like Mr. Bean, you'll get this reference...

And here's me with my new cordless phones (since mine barely work anymore, and everyone who calls me on them thinks I randomly hang up on them)...

And my new alarm clock. It's pretty fancy, and probably smarter than me too. I still have yet to figure out how to turn it off. It wakes me up to my favorite Pandora station & gives me the latest Facebook updates when I wake up. I'm pretty sure it's not going to do a very good job of getting me out of bed on time, since I'll be tempted to surf Facebook while listening to my favorite tunes, but oh well...

Throughout the morning, the boys kept unwrapping Wii games. They were a little surprised because our Wii has been broken for several months. Whenever you stick a disk in, it gives us some error about how it can't read the disk. The boys have still been able to play some of the "Old Fashioned" games that Mike downloaded to the Wii, but they haven't been able to play any actual Wii games. So, as the kept opening up Wii games, we would say, "Oh, well I guess you can play that when we get our Wii fixed someday." But, what they didn't know was their last present under the tree was this...

A brand new Wii! They were shocked! And there was much rejoicing...

And even some hugging...

It was a "Christmaskah Miracle" (fans of The O. C. will get that one).

Once we were done, I took a picture of the "final product" before cleaning up a little bit. What a disaster...

It was a great Christmas! We hope yours was too! We are so grateful for our Savior, who this day is really all about. --Lindsay