Christmas Day!

One of the best days of the year arrived...Christmas!  There was a little contest going on with a couple of my sisters of who was most excited about Christmas.  I think Shanna won!  She's been squealing and jumping about it for days leading up to Christmas.  I love that my kids still love Christmas and I feel like it's still magical for them.  I think it helps too that we never do "Santa".  I like Santa and Santa stories for sure. But I've told my kids ever since they were little that Santa is not real. The idea of him is fun, but that's it.  He's a fake. It seems many people have to redirect thier kids on what the real meaning of Christmas is--about celebrating the birth of Christ.  So, why not start teaching that from the beginning?!  Why even get Santa involved?  Again I'm not anti-Santa but I've never led my kids to believe in him and outright say so...I want them to believe in Christ.  Not some mythical person.  Plus I was crushed when I found out Santa was not real.  I got a "note" from Santa when I was in 2nd or 3rd grade.  It was in my mom's handwriting.  I TOTALLY believed in him.  He and Jesus were pals. So yeah, I did not do that with my kids.  And guess what?  They LOVE Christmas still!

They have to wait till I'm "ready for the day" before we start anything.  They say it takes me FOREVER to get ready. I finally did get ready.  Clark had presents waiting for everyone at breakfast which was really sweet.  Pumpkin pie and eggnog!

Time for the line-up photo!  We let Clark go first since it's his last Christmas home before his mission.

This one was pretty good but I did get Shanna's head. 

Okay, official line-up!

Oh and Clark got this for me and Lee!!!  It was so fun and thoughtful of him! 

Time to see stockings!  We bring the kids in one by one.  It's mainly treats in the stockings.  I gave the kids Baby Yoda hand sanitzer, except Shanna. She's not a Star Wars fan.

I guess Haley was practically running away from Lee.

Break time. I guess it was time for song and dance.  More Shanna jumping too!

We opened presents from friends and extended family first.  My mom was on for a little bit which was fun.

Sheldon gets my kids Lego minifigures every year and they love it.  Elden got to open them this year.  He is pretty much the favorite uncle. 

The Peterson kids gave our kids presents as well.  Haley gave the Peterson kids all gifts all on her own and Shanna and Cal then did more gifts.  So cute.  

Our good friends the Frankes gave all of us fun presents which was super fun.  I don't know if I got pictures of that but I took a movie and sent it to them.  We then opened the gifts from the Bunkers. 

They were so fun and so many of them!

The kids also opened gifts from each other.  Though Elden didn't participate this year. But I did make him get each sibling a small gift. 

I don't tease very often, but I always tease my kids about their Christmas gifts and even birthday gifts. This year I kept saying I would get them an empty pickly jar.  Shanna bought Haley some pickles and gifted her that.  Then she pulled out the real gift.  It was funny she wanted to go with the the pickle teasing. 

And then we opened gifts to each other.  For now Lee and I decided not to exchange gifts with each other on Christmas.  We can save up and buy things we would like throughout the year.  And it's nice not having to worry about what to get each other!  It just makes it more simple all around.  We got the kids basically 4 gifts.  Elden: books, a mouse, bow & arrow and drone.

Shanna: video camera, film, weighted blanket, moccasins 

OH.....CHRISTMAS MIRACLE!  It snowed Christmas morning!  Some awesome, big flakes too!  It has NEVER snowed on Christmas since we've moved here in 2011.  We loved glancing out the window to keep looking at the snow. 

Cal: mp3, telescope, bow & arrow (which was returned and he got some Magic cards), and high school hoodie

Haley: Lego set, moccasins, sketch pad and markers, mp3 player.

Clark: books, high school hoodie, two drone parts and a "certificate" to replace his windshield and window trim on his car when it's up and running. 

The final gift for everyone...season passes to King's Dominion!  Each week we go around and say something good that happened to us, something we are looking forward too, and something we didn't like--rose, bud, thorn. Since this summer some of the kids keep saying their bud is "Kings Dominion". I looked online to get tickets to a theme park, even Kings Dominion.  But they are closed for the season and Hershey Park and Busch Gardens were only open on inconvenient days.  But I thought this would be fun. We also bought season passes for 2 friends so they can come whenever it will work. 

Time for building Legos!  My kids love building Legos Christmas morning but I didn't necessary want to get everyone Legos.  We have LOTS!  Cal gave a set to Shanna, we gave a set to Haley.  So for the boys we came up with this plan.  I asked my friend who works for the Haven House--a place kids can live if they are abused or traffiked--if they would take used Legos and she said yes.  Maybe this is weird but we bought three other sets for the boys to build.  In the new year we'll donate them to the Haven House. 

Deborah gifted these cute signs for a hot chocolate bar. 

And the earrings she gave me at Thanksgiving.

Ahh...can't believe he'll be on his mission in 8 months!

We did a couple of Zoom calls with family, hung out, played a game or two, watched "Christmas for a Dollar" and had bbq pork nachos for dinner.  We loved staying home all day in our pjs.  

We know Christmas is very different for everyone this year, but I hope each of you found joy this day celebrating the birth of our Savior.  Merry, merry Christmas!