I cried the day I took the tree down...

Happy day after Christmas to you all! I woke up this morning with this song from the Forgotten Carols running through my head. Of all the songs it is not one of my favorites, but it is fitting for the process that is to begin shortly. I LOVE Christmas! I love decorating, baking, serving, giving (and receiving), being with family, feeling the spirit of Christmas everywhere I go (which hasn't been many places due to the weather...). I just plain love it; however, I have to admit a small part of me is glad when I can take the tree down and get rid of the pine needles that plague my OCD...you can never vacuum all of them up! I think I might take it down today...does that make me ba-hum-bug? Who knows.

Anyways, on to our Christmas! We had an awesome Christmas this year. I hope all of you did too. Since Andrew works in retail he had to work Christmas eve and he is at work today, but we still are having an awesome time. On Christmas eve I convinced Adrian that Santa doesn't come to houses that aren't clean. I can honestly say I have never seen that kid work harder and faster on cleaning projects! I felt really good when it was all done. He just kept telling me: "our house is so full of Christmas spirit. Can you feel it? Do you FEEL that Christmas spirit?" It was so cute. All day he was worried about making sure we left out cookies for Santa. I talked to him about past Christmas holidays and he said he didn't remember any of them, just one when he was like 3 or 4--he remembers getting a batman lunch box. This is the first time that Andrew has had Adrian for Christmas morning since he was a baby and it was truly the first "real" Christmas that Adrian has had so we wanted it to be special. I tried to do all the things that I remembered from my childhood, I want him to remember Christmas and look forward to celebrating it. As yesterday was Jonathan's 8 week "birthday" he could really care less about what was going on!

On Christmas eve we usually drive around and look at lights, but since the roads were so cruddy we decided to fore go that tradition. We did get our Christmas eve present of new pajamas for everyone though. Adrian thought it was pretty awesome that he got a present a day early! Per Adrian we left out 3 cookies for Santa (apparently the perfect amount), eggnog (he must get sick of plain old milk), and carrots (for those reindeer). I thought he would never go to sleep! I realized late that night that this was the first Christmas eve of my life where I was not with my brothers and sisters. We usually all slept in the same room on the floors every year, but with the baby and having our own "family" to wake up with we stayed here. It was bittersweet, I loved being here, but I missed the family. After Adrian went to sleep Santa could finally get to work. It was fun seeing what he had done and the air was filled with anticipation.

Christmas morning we woke up a little after 6:30, we had to wake Adrian up! As he was getting out of bed he kept asking: "why do I have to get up now?" I couldn't believe he wasn't bouncing off the walls! I think he wasn't expecting much and so he didn't know to be excited. As he came into the living room he saw the remote controlled trucks first and flipped out. He immediately started driving it around chasing Reese around the house. (The dog was terrified!) I was amazed that he had apparently lost all interest in all other gifts when there was a huge Millennium Falcon sitting there in front of the tree. I asked him if he wanted to go back in the living room and see if he missed something under the tree. As he came in his head was angled toward the floor and I wish I had a camera for the instant that his head popped up and saw IT. The best gift ever! He went crazy. This is truly a "doll house" for boys. Andrew and I each opened one gift. I got Andrew a digital camcorder and he got me an awesome nativity. It is the largest one I have, most of the others are miniatures so this will take up the whole piano next year. I cannot wait. This brings the grand total up to 16 nativities...does that make me old lady? Note to self: next year take pictures of each and blog their "stories". After this it was time to get dressed and head to my parents for more presents and breakfast. It was so much fun to be there with everyone. I was sad that I missed out on their gift opening, but it all worked out. We did get stuck in my dad's driveway so the guys had to help push the car out! I think that makes 3 or 4 times getting stuck for Andrew? Not to mention the know broken chains...how did that happen?

All the while the snow was really coming down in huge flakes out here. It was amazing! I have never seen this much snow at Christmas! Andrew had to leave around noon to pick up Luke, he was supposed to get him in Oregon City, but then ended up having to go to Canby to get him...sucky! He was gone about 4 hours:( The price we had to pay to have Luke on Christmas. When they got back we had a huge ham dinner and then Luke opened his gifts there and we headed back home to finish our Christmas here.

The kids got some sweatshirts, Wii games, light sabers, scarves, Kung Fu Panda, and slippers. The boys wanted to stay up all night until they fell asleep, but I put them to bed at "10" (not really, they weren't asleep til almost 11). They have been up since early this morning bouncing from game to toy and they are going to bounce me into insanity soon! I told them that after lunch they have mandatory play out in the snow time:) All in all it was a wonderful Christmas.

You may have noticed I didn't mention Jonathan that much. His Christmas went something like this: mom woke him up way too early for him, he "opened" one toy (which he could care less about at this point), slept, eat, slept, ate, etc. for most of the day with being awake spells scattered throughout. He "opened" presents in his sleep at my parents (quite gifted, I know) and then "opened" presents here before bed. Next year he will probably be more into it, but mostly for the wrapping paper and boxes!

I would be remiss if I didn't mention my love for the Savior in celebrating this holiday. As much as I love the tree, Santa, snowmen, and all of those things-the highlight of the holiday is remembering the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. I have so many nativities because I love to think about that side of things. I was saddened this year that the weather caused church to be canceled the last 2 weeks. I feel like I was cheated out of singing Christmas hymns in church, hearing the primary children sing in their sweet voices, and hearing the story of Christ's birth again in that setting. But mostly I have been sad that I have not gotten the opportunity to partake of the Sacrament for 2 weeks. The savior's birth was obviously important, but his life, death and resurrection were as well. When I think about what that moment in a cave in Bethlehem meant so many years ago I cannot help but think of what my life would be like without that single event. I am so grateful for my Savior and for the people that lived at that time in a manner worthy to be a part of his birth. I look forward to the day that I can meet them all and thank them for playing their part in that first Christmas all those years ago. My goal this year is simple: to make Christmas last all year long. I have been talking to my mom a lot lately about ways to celebrate and I think we could be doing better. Next year I hope to be more centered and focused on Christ. I love you all and wish you the very best as we get closer to a new year. Merry Christmas!