Christmas "Slide Show"

On Christmas Eve we cleaned our church building, then visited
Todd's mom for a family gift exchange and dinner. 

Lainey was super excited to get this little ballerina-style tutu!  She gracefully waltzed around in it throughout the evening.  She doesn't just love to dance, she is dance.  Her whole little being is a dance wherever she goes :)

Watching the football game.

Fencing

Dancing again.

Sometimes boxes are just as fun as the gifts that came in them!

Mmm mmm mmm, he's handsome :)  I love him!

Brielle and Makya performed a Christmas song for us all.

Back at home, Todd read us the Christmas story from Luke 2.   I read the kids the story, "Twas the Night Before Christmas."  We sang several Christmas songs around the tree, and then they each got to open a gift- pajamas and slippers, 

same as every year!

Then we all got to spend some time with my family online.  My dad and several siblings got on google+ where you can video conference (like Skype) with more than one person at the same time.  Whoever is talking is whose video streams in the larger screen.  Everyone else is smaller down below.  It's pretty cool!  I love technology!  It was great to visit with all of them.

As tradition, the kids each had a small glass of Sleepy Time herbal tea to hopefully help them fall asleep quicker... and thus wake up to Christmas morning sooner!  They set out cookies and milk for Santa and set out some straw on the sidewalk for the reindeer.  We also pulled each of their mattresses into the play room to let them all sleep in the same room together.  They loved the slumber party feel to it and you could cut the combined excitement for Christmas with a knife in there!  

It was so cute.

Here they are first coming down to the tree on Christmas morning!  

Lainey is still dragging feet a bit.  She slid all the way down.

With talk of opening presents, she livened up quick!

Finding her Boise State bear.

Thanking Brielle for his ball.

Lainey loved the lady bug tutu outfit until I made a big deal doting on her antenna hair clips!

Going through their stockings.

Ashton's night vision spy goggles and his BIG HAND.  He's always asking us to scratch his back.  ALL the time.  Now he can reach it himself!  Not that we mind helping him out from time to time :)

My main Christmas gift was a GHD machine (commercial grade Glute-Ham Developer) that was recently delivered to the house.  But Todd still spoiled me with things I love.  Like Coldplay music for piano, Jimmy Stewart movies, and Paleo cook books- that's basically how I eat already, but I eat repeat meals a LOT so I'm excited to try some of the ideas in the book.

Todd got an iPad from me and a few small things.  This Boise State wall hanging is for his "Man Cave" downstairs.  It's supposed to be done in time for the Superbowl next month- it just needs carpet but we better get crackin'!  That's coming up!

Helping Daddy put Lainey's doll cradle together.

 

I sang in church with several friends, a piece called, "The Hands That First Held Mary's Child."  It was a great Sacrament Meeting filled with a lot of beautiful musical numbers.

Brielle and I after church on Sunday.

 We roasted a small turkey and ham and video conferenced with my family again while it cooked.  We ate Christmas dinner, then headed to Grandpa Stice's house 

where we did a gift exchange and had yummy desserts.

My brother-in-law, Travis, proposed to his girlfriend, Kishi, on Christmas!

She said, "yes!"

They haven't set their date yet.

Grandma and Grandpa Stice.

At bed time we went home and tucked the kids in.  They had a wonderful day.  Todd and I put in a movie and digested all the naughty food.  Which took all the energy left in ME!  Still took me the whole next day to recover too.  I had way too much fun this Christmas.  Hope y'all did too.

I did another post today but you'll have to click, "older posts" to see it because this "slide show" hogged the whole page :)