Our Holly Jolly Christmas 2009

Christmas with kids is the very best!

Christmas Eve:
HY (Joseph)
Mini-E (Mary)
Daddy( Narrator)
Mamma (everything else)


The kiddos opened one gift each. New Pjs and it was off to bed after putting out a plate of cookies for Santa.





Christmas Morning began about 8:30am (not bad for mamma and daddy). And it was presents galore!









Our traditional breakfast Christmas Morning. French toast with Chunky Bread and Hot Cocoa!

Merry Everything!

This week, or was it last?

What Christmas looks like at our house

We had a great surprise this year for Christmas...Grandad & Grandma J came to visit Christmas Eve & Christmas morning. HY couldn't have been more excited to have visitors.

We re-inacted the Nativity ( Mini-E was Mary, HY was Joseph, Grandad was the wise men, Grandma J was the Angel, Mamma was a shepard, and Farmboy the Narrator). Grandad also took the photos so I'll have to post those later.

Mini-E waiting patiently for something. Or she's getting into trouble. Not sure which one.

Grandad read the "Night Before Christmas" to the kids before bed. He's so animated, they loved it.


We baked cookies for Santa. And left him with a plate full and a glass of milk.


Then it was off to bed for the little ones. I've never seen them get to bed so quickly!!! I mean, it was FAST!

And Christmas morning was better than I ever remember. HY was up at 8 am, knocking on his door and asking if Santa had come. And in fact, he had!

HY really got into it. And Grandad and Grandma J sure had the time of their lives watching all the action.

Mini-E got a kitchen set & HY loves it too! Oh the messes we'll be cleaning up. She's a bit short for it, but we're hoping she'll grow into it. Check out the panties that Santa brought her.

The kids got a ton of gifts from aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, & grandma & grandpa.
Check out some of Mini-E's this loot!

HY loved all the Thomas stuff and even had Grandad read him some books in all of the rush.


Farmboy shoveled snow, and snow, and snow. And watched the weather predict more of it. I think we got 2 feet at least! And he set up our new computer camera compliments of Uncle JB and Auntie T so that we can talk and SEE family.

Grandad loved his gift from us.




And I? I was preparing this. Christmas Dinner.
Ham, potatoes and gravy, veggies, salad, rolls, pudding, and pie.
Complete with Grandma Z's china.

It was a great day---

By the end, I think I finally understood why my own mother was so exhausted all those years. She did a lot of work. Thanks mom! No wonder you never warned me.

A Merry Little Christmas

Let your hearts be light!



Special thanks to Moda Photography for pictures and ONEHM for the card design!

Trax, Lights, & Free Hot Dogs

It doesn't get better than that, does it? At least not for our HY.
He thought he'd entered heaven when we boarded that train for SLC. And Farmboy was pretty happy to be out of traffic.
When we reached the city, he didn't want to get off to see this spectacular sight!





We walked around Temple Square & sipped our hot chocolate (one of traditions) & tried to keep warm. And we even got a family picture. A rarity indeed.


Then we headed over to the Delta Center (newly named Energy Solutions Arena) for the Carol Sing-a-long & free hot dogs and a drink. Not a bad deal. We even saw a glimps of Santa. HY thought that was pretty darn cool.

Of course, we ended with his favorite part, the train again.


And Mini-E thought the train was pretty cool too. I just thought this picture was too perfect to pass up.


Despite being FREEZING, we lived and had a great time together.
Definitely a tradition we are keeping.

Christmas Past

I'm not a huge decorator, so I'm always so grateful that Farmboy begins the set of Christmas in our house. He puts up ootles of garland and sets up the tree (which we all decorate later). I would never get it done on my own mostly because as I'm putting it all up, I think of how I'll have to take it all back down in a month. But once it's up, I'm so glad.

When I saw this post, I knew that I wanted to journal a bit myself on the favorite Christmas decorations in my own home.

This is definitely one of my favorite ornaments on the tree. It was given to us by Uncle JB & Auntie T HY's first Christmas.

This ornament reminds me of my childhood. My mom had some old wooden ornaments on our tree when I was a kid. When she went on her mission, she gave a bunch of her Christmas decorations to us (for storage) & I found this one in the bunch.

This is a fairly new addition to our Christmas decor. Farmboy begged and pleaded with Santa to bring him a train set last year. I guess he was a good boy because this is what appeared under the tree Christmas morning of 2007. Our kids love it!

Here's Mini-E's first Christmas ornament. This year we found that many of the ornaments were disappearing & we later found them in the garbage. It wasn't until a few days later that we found the culprit. Miss E herself was chucking the. I saved this one!

This is my very first Christmas ornament (that truly belonged to me). Given to me in 2002 by ONEHM. I cherish it for every memory I have with that angel of a woman.

My handmade stockings! I love these. Not everyone has beautiful designer stockings. But I do because I have a very sweet and talented Sister. Aunt Runnie made us these stockings years ago. When we added Mini-E last year, she graciously gave us a matching one from her own family stack! She is the most generous person I know. I love how beautiful and one of kind these are.

This last item is a true treasure. It's a hand carved nativity scene from Madagascar. Nonna sent it home from her mission one Christmas. I look at the detail and think of the time and talent that must have gone into making it. And I love love love that Mary is holding Jesus!


As I look around my home, most of my favorite Christmas things remind me of my mother. She wasn't a big holiday or birthday celebrator, but when it came to Christmas, she went all out. In her own way.

She loved to decorate the tree as elegant as she could. The lights on the tree had to be strung just so that you didn't see the wire and every inch was covered evenly. She is quite eccentric and so we never knew what new things she'd bring home-- Glass balls that she's bought at the day after Christmas sale where a given. As we got older, the items became even more beautiful. I suppose because we were less likely to break them.

One year she even bought a white flock tree. I guess she was trying to bring Az a white Christmas all on her own.

Each year, one of my brothers (usually L the great) would dress up as Santa and we'd go caroling around the neighborhood.

The lights on the outside where always a treat as well. One year we changed the lights on the roof each night creating a new design. We even sat up there ourselves in black and twirled lights for the passer-bys. Priceless memories.

She wasn't about a lot of presents but she always made Christmas special and memorable. I hope that I can create the same wonderful magic for my children that she created for me.