Christmas Day of Days of '12

;)  I like the title.  Why?  I'm not sure, but it makes me want to wink and smile at all of you.  It's a Band of Brothers thing (HBO series).  ;) 

This is the second Christmas in a row with my side of the family.  Don't worry, we're going to be with Matt's side next year.  It's planned and everything.  (You ready, Idaho?  You have a year to prepare.)

However last year was at mine and Matt's townhome.  A bit squeezed!  (click here)

This year we all made it to Bama.  It was great.  My parents have a wonderful home and lots of space for these 4 boys to run and run and run and run.  

Christmas morning Isaac woke up at 6:10am, ready to go!  Me and Matt were able to keep him back, and wait till the other boys woke up around 6:40am.  We then waited another 10 minutes, then got the rest of the house hold up.  

We had a great day.  And the best part?  No one was sick this year!!  Including me!!  (I've been sick 4 Christmases in a row.  Blah.) 

Titus, the Baby Bird screaming with excitement. 

Titus' first own personal LEGO! 

The HULK MAN GUY! 

Grammie got some bling!  Good job, Gramps. 

LEGO time!

Glow stick writing, the boys love doing this.
Low ISO, extended open shutter, stable position (camera on a table).

That morning we had a big breakfast.
The afternoon had funny games.
Late afternoon had yummy pork tenderloin.
That evening we played basketball (lightning, no bump, + revenge) at the church.
Late evening we went through a quick round of RISK.

Memories, guys.  That's what we are all about.


Merry Christmas!  

Pre-Christmas Rush!

I have to get this off my chest:  it’s just plan wrong to take a picture of someone who is zonked out on a road trip.  Wrong, wrong, wrong.  Wrong… WRONG! 

(Is it just me, or does the word “wrong” look weird, and well, wrong?)

………

Before we left the coast for Bama, there were a few more Christmas items.  “I knew it.” 

Santa visited story time!  Eli and Titus loved it.  (Isaac was at school.  He misses everything, so he thinks.)

Our last week before the holiday break was actually pretty busy. 

-  We had the missionaries over to eat, twice  (including one meal with an investigator and her son over). 
“Can I just say I’m like the most awkward “small talk” talker alive.  Seriously some really flat moments happened at the dinner table, all the blame on me.”

-  We also had some friends over to eat, then talked and played with cameras.  “Very fun, man.”

-  I baked 4 batches of Our Best Bite’s candy cane chocolate cookies.  “HEAVENLY.” 

-  Matt and I went shopping for each other, last minute.  “Joy, right?”

-  Isaac had his last dentist appointment.  “He rocked it!”

-  Then there was cleaning and preparing for a week trip.  “Ugh.”

Eli took this photo... So is this what I look like from their view?  Ew.

Another Eli product of Eli's picture capturing skills.

……..

We arrived in Bama Saturday night around 9:30pm.  “Family! Family! Famliy!”

And went straight into practicing a musical number for church service on the following day.  “Away in a Manger,” pg. 206 in the LDS hymn book was our friend till midnight, and we went to bed!

On Sunday Me and Madison sang soprano,  Ashley stayed strong with alto, and Matt anchored with his bass and guitar accompaniment.  Dave had not flown in yet, so no tenor this go around. “I actually tried to learn tenor, but got really confused and squeaky… Musical fluidity is not my strong suit.”

That evening we brought out the ginger bread house and train.  “What’s better than being allowed to play with candy and frosting?” 

Yeah... he doesn't look like me!  Sweet lil Luke :) 

PS,  Santa-on-a-Firetruck came by my parents' home that night.  We ran like the wind, shoeless, to flag Santa-on-a-Firetruck down.  It was pretty exciting.  We put the candy canes on the tree.
"Know, you cannot eat these 2 minutes before bed, I'm so sorry."

…………..

Monday was interesting.  Dad had gotten a text from Dave on Sunday night saying that he was flying in a day early, on the 24^th instead of the evening of the 25^th. 

“And keep it a secret from Ashley.”

Our original plan: 25^th Christmas Eve,  26^th Christmas Day.   

“Need to spend Christmas together, ya know?”

So we spent all day acting like Christmas was still 2 days away:

-- Ashley asks, "Why are you worried about wrapping presents?"

"Oh," we shrug, "just wanna get it done so we can enjoy Christmas Eve."

-- Ashley asks, "What day do you want to see a movie"

"Oh," we shrug, "let's not worry about it, it'll work out." 

-- Ashley asks, "Why are we making so many Santa cookies today?"

"Oh," we shrug, "We don't have really anything else to do this evening."

We had a lot of fun getting these reindeer cookies together:  

-- Madison started making clown reindeers, putting the nose right in the MIDDLE of the cookie. "Hahaha!"

-- Isaac was freaking out, thinking that everyone was going to be burned by touching the warm cookies."

"I can't watch!  I can't watch!  Oh, no Luke!"  

These were peanut-butter cookies, recipe found on the side of a peanut-butter jar.  Before baking, Mom smashed the dough into triangles.  Small brown m&ms for the eyes, normal red m&ms for the nose, and small chocolate covered pretzels for the antlers.
"Mom and Dad, you got skill."

Eli gave a deer a mouth :)
He liked the "pretzel mouth" look.

Because Dave wasn't getting to the house till 10:30pm that night, we had to figure out a way to let the boys know that the next day was Christmas but still: "KEEP IT A SECRET FROM ASHLEY." 

At 7pm Madison took Ashley out to the gym.  We had 20 minutes... and... GO!! 

We go to Isaac at the tub, "Get out, Dude!  Christmas is tomorrow!  We miss counted!"

Isaac, "WHAT?!  We miss counted?  I can't believe we miss counted!  AWESOME!"

Too much fun for the day, Eli had to take a cat nap.  

Got the boys a set of Christmas pjs to open, wrote the Santa letter, set out cookies and milk, put them to bed;  THEN took the cookies, milk, and santa letter away so that when Ashley came back from the gym the house looked just the same as before the madness. 

"Wow, that was the easiest bedtime.  Ever.  Christmas should come everyday!"

BATMAN!

Ashley came home, and didn't have a clue about the madness that had just ensued.   

"Oh, we're just sweating for fun... we always are sweaty, don't you know?"

At 10:30pm, Dave comes in the door with my dad and Ashley was floored!

"Hooray for Christmas tomorrow!  Wow, what a memorable Christmas Eve."