Merry Christmas 2011

I decided to blog pictures instead of do a facebook album. We had such a lovely Christmas and I'm so thankful every year that we are together. The entire week before Christmas we were battling a really horrible stomach virus. Donald and Jared started with it Sunday night and then all 4 big kids came down with it Tuesday night. It was a doozy! Then Dan caught it Wednesday night and no one was 100% until Christmas. In fact, our usual tradition on Christmas Eve is to go out to eat as a family and nobody even felt like going out. Like I said, I am just so thankful we were together, even though everyone was sick.

On Christmas Eve the kids get to open a present from their loving parents and instead of the usual pajamas we gave the girls new comforter sets. It makes their room look so bright and cheerful, especially with the smiles on their faces!
Jared got a big kiss on the face because he doesn't know about presents yet and we want to keep him in the dark as long as we can. Look how happy he is just to have his picture taken:)
My big boys both wanted bath robes so that is what they got. Adrian's didn't fit so we will be heading to Walmart to wait in the return line at some point.
Donald got an awesome football outfit. He loves all things football and is very proud of it.
On Christmas morning we got ready for church and then let the kids look in their stockings. They were happy and excited and then we headed off to church. I loved starting Christmas morning with Sacrament Meeting. It really helped me appreciate the true meaning of Christmas. For our ward program they let the congregation sing a lot of the music and that is my favorite part.

Charlie was so excited by the time the meeting was over he folded his arms and closed his eyes for the closing prayer but bounced through the entire thing. Dan and I were laughing so hard because he just couldn't contain his excitement. When we got home he was the first one out of his church clothes and back into his pajamas to unwrap presents.

I love present unwrapping pictures so I decided this year to take a series of pictures for the first present they opened. This is what I got.

Here is Jared's first present!

Donald was so excited for this one, but my camera wasn't fast enough to catch him jumping off the couch.

Charlie was so excited we told him he was getting wet ones and he still had a smile on his face. One of these days I'm really going to give him a box of wet ones.
This is kind of Nightmare Before Christmasish, but he just loves Halloween!
Adrian already knew by the shape of his presents that he was getting either a DVD or a game but he was still excited!


I'm guessing Shari could guess what she was getting as well, but she was still surprised and happy!


Rebecca was super happy to get an IPOD and then she saw her Dad's Samsung 4G MP3 player and was a little bit jealous. She got over it pretty quick and has listened to her IPOD non-stop every since Christmas:)

Yay for Bearpaws! I got warm boots and I love them. It's like walking on a cloud!
Dan opened one of his most boring presents first.
He's thrilled to get a new surge protector for the living room. Really the Samsung MP3 player was the highlight but I was pictured out by then.
It was a great Christmas and since stomachs were still sensitive that day we postponed our Christmas dinner and will be enjoying it this Sunday. We hope you all had a Merry Christmas too!