Christmas Morning

Claire tries out her new Rody, the first thing she saw.
This picture sums up Paige's reaction to pretty much every present she opened.

This picture is to show Sparkles, Paige's pink and purple unicorn pillow-pet.
It's her favorite gift. Also, it's the only picture I'm in.

Daddy helping Claire open one of her gifts.
I recall she was saying, "Ooooooooooooo."

Claire and Juliette enjoying the Rodys

Cute babies!
It was a very merry Christmas morning followed by a delicious brunch of (among other things) oranges off of Grandma's tree, avocado on sourdough toast, and the most delicious orange rolls you can imagine. And brunch was followed by a lot of lounging about reading, talking, and playing with our new toys. A great end to a great year.

Christmas Eve

Like many families on Christmas Eve we have a reading (by Grandma) from the bible of Jesus' birth and this year was no exception. However we were a little lame this year as far as participation and costumes go. Claire was not too thrilled about being baby Jesus. Paige was ecstatic to be a cow in the manger (really she was), and Ben was happy to be one of only two wise men.


After the nativity, Honey read aloud 'Twas the Night Before Christmas and we all recited the poem right along with her.

Then the kids got to open their first gift (pajamas, always pajamas), everyone changed, and we sang Christmas carols.


I LOVE these traditions we've done since I was tiny.

Somewhere there's a picture of me, my siblings and cousins in our
pajamas on these same stairs from every Christmas we were growing up.

The only cousins not pictured are William - he was already in bed,
and Allie - she had to be responsible and go back home for work.

Disneyland!

We had Christmas with my grandparents in California this year along with my parents, every single one of my siblings, the spouses, and all of our kids. It was so fun!

The Wednesday before Christmas Honey & Papa (my parents) treated us all to Disneyland. I think there were 28 of us, and it was super crowded since it was the first day of sunshine after almost a week of rain in southern California, but

We had a blast!

I don't have too many pictures, but here are the best of what I took. I remember to take my camera everywhere, I just forget to use it.

Paige, Anna, & Maggie - the 3-4 yr old girls - in their matching outfits.

Paige coming through the turnstile, upright this time.

Our little family out front. Can you believe we didn't try to get a picture of all 28 of us?

We were able to ride almost every ride we wanted to without having to wait long at all thanks to some very serious planning. And Paige rode the Matterhorn! She said she liked it and that it wasn't scary, but when I asked if she wanted to ride again with Dad (we were using the rider switch passes) she said, "No, it was a little bit scary."

Here's a video of us waiting in line for the Matterhorn.

We also had great curbside seats to watch the Christmas Parade. I really liked the toy soldiers, the kids were enthralled with all of it (including Santa at the end) and we all agreed that it was well worth the wait!previous picture downloaded from the internet here

Honey & Papa let each of the grandkids pick one souvenir. Paige choose a Rapunzel doll (we saw the movie just the day before) and ohmygosh, the hair is INSANE. You know how awesome barbie doll hair looks after not too long? Imagine 17" of it. Tangled is accurate, but maybe not a strong enough word.
And I chose this on Claire's behalf. I love Silhouettes.

On our way out of the park we stopped to take a few final pictures in front of Disneyland's tree:

Maggie and Paige with Honey & Papa

We had been there longer than 10 hours and still had huge smiles on our faces!

Thank you Honey & Papa!

Overheard

Paige to Claire (in the voice she uses only with babies and small animals):

Look at you, little one! You're the perfect baby for us. Did you know Jesus created you?

Celebrating Christmas

The Christmas season is off and running. Some of the ways we've celebrated so far include:

bringing home our first REAL Christmas tree,
chatting with Santa,

playing in the snow,

and decorating gingerbread houses/eating royal icing straight from the bag.

Meeting Santa

This a little late, but I just barely uploaded the photos from my mother's camera.

We took Paige to visit Santa at the mall in St. George the week before Christmas. She likes the idea of Santa, but wasn't too thrilled about meeting him in person. She was brave and there were no tears, but she sure was miserable.

Please, Mom. I do not want to do this.


No, No, No, No!


Okay, FINE. But I'm not going to look at you.


This is the best you're going to get, lady. You better just take the picture now, cause there is no way I'm smiling. This is the worst day of my life. Oh, and by the way, I'm still not going to look at you.

Christmas 2008

We spent Christmas this year in California with my grandparents'. It was just like the Christmases I had growing up!

Cousins in their Christmas Eve pajamas. When I was a kid we took a picture like this on these stairs every year. Four of the cousins hadn't arrived in time to be in this picture.


Mad dash up the stairs to the playroom to see what Santa brought. Papa carried Paige. The rest of the mob had already passed them by.


Paige's presents from Santa. I get such a kick out of seeing P sit in her chair with her feet up on the ottoman to read a book. And that baby is her new best friend.

From left to right: Maggie (25 months), Anna (20 1/2 months), and Paige (22 months) on Sunday in their matching dresses. These cousins are adorable together.

Me and P on the porch of my grandparents' home in California. Oh how I love that place. . .
We had a blast! The only thing that could have made it any better would have been having Ben there, of course. But we had the next best thing; Ben was on Skype opening up presents right along with us :)

Consider This Our Christmas Card

Wise men still seek Him
(and some wise guys too)

A Soldier's Christmas

For any of you who want to send Ben something for his birthday (Dec. 9th) or for Christmas, here is his shipping information:

SSG Benjamin Reed
D.Co. 142nd MI BN / TF Wasatch
Bagram AF
APO AE 09354

If you are planning to send a package, the cheapest way is to get a priority mail box from the post office that looks like this:The box itself is free and then you pay a flat fee of $10.95 to ship it, no matter what the weight.

The shipping deadline for letters and packages to arrive by Dec. 25th is Dec. 4th!

FYI you'll have to fill out a customs form at the post office.