How I Spent My Christmas Eve

This year, we opened presents on Christmas Eve, making for one long day of festivities!

The calm before the storm

Ben creates the world's (or at least Orem's) longest Play Doh snake

Apparently Ben really likes his new Fly Guy book

The only think missing from this photo is a giant foam finger (the light up sign says, "Merry Christmas" and don't worry, it's stocked with Diet Coke)

One Lucky Daddy (you can tell by his shirt) - and check out the awesome new lampshades behind Steve!  They say, "Joyful, Pray, Thankful" to keep in line with our 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 living room theme.  Steve and the boys made them!  Definitely one of his best presents ever.

Ben discovers his gift at the end of the treasure hunt - a new bike!

Taking the new bike for a spin

Sam was definitely excited about his Lego Space Shuttle set

Sasha had a princess-tastic Christmas

The whole fam shows off our 2010 tie dyes - family shirts that say "little sister", "Dad", "Grandmother", etc and all in Chinese, of course!

Merry Christmas!

From the (soon to be) six of us to all of you...

Merry, Merry Christmas!

"Walk with me and work with me - watch how I do it.  Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.  I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you.  Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly"

- Jesus

Matthew 11:29-30

Getting Ready for Christmas

We started a little slow this year, what with our epic early-December Disney trip and all, but I am pleased to announce that we are now fully decorated, and all before Christmas Eve!

I admit a little jealousy at my east coast friends' photos of happy and unhappy children traipsing through the cut-your-own-tree farms. That is one of the things I miss about Maryland... still, there is a certain delightful ease to heading down to the garden store, selecting a tree, and being over and done in 15 minutes.  One of these years we'll go get a Forest Service permit to head into the wilds of Utah and cut our own tree, but this was not the year.

Sam considers, "could this tree be the one?"

Alas, no, the tree is rejected

Sasha echos the tree's rejection - they are harsh tree critics

But we did eventually agree on a tree

Honestly, Steve and I were just planning to get the lights up that evening and save ornaments for another day, but our children could not be swayed!

My favorite part was hearing them recite over and over again, "oh, do you remember this ornament?  This brings back so many happy memories!"  I don't know how they remember ornaments from my childhood, but apparently they are intimately connected to each and every one.

Ta dah!  The tree is fully decorated (from 4 1/2 feet on down)

Sasha's holiday cheer extended to Church on Sunday where she masterfully led the congregation in Joy to the World (between waves to Mom and Dad and exclamations of, "I see my mommy!")