Since Christmas Eve was on Saturday, we did have a few momements in the morning to clean and tidy up a bit for the big day. The children spent some time playing the Wii then with such nice weather and the ponds outside finally frozen and safe to be on Spencer hauled us all out to do some ice skating. This was a first for this winter season. The ice surface was a bit rough but we managed and skated for about 45 minutes. We brought along a folding chair for the children to push around and then after that we pulled them around in our sled. Megan got the hang of it again, Evan struggled a bit more and Aaron was doing great since he has 4 bladed skates that strap to his boots. This will definately have to be a monthly activity for us so we can continue to hone each of our skills. Megan's word to the wise....remember to wear long socks; that go up past the skate boot; for a more comfortable time.
We headed home and I hid the pickle on the tree. Then sent the children back into the livingroom to see if they could find the pickle and thus be the one to open the pickle gift. It was Evan's lucky year! He spotted it fairly quickly and proceeded to open the gift for the family......Kung Fu Panda 2. So we settled down and watched that later in the afternoon.
We then had our dinner of cheese, crackers, sauages and some mexican type appetizers that I heated in the oven along with some sushi. As I was putting everything on the table I realized that it was kinda a mix of everything and it really didn't go to well together. We've had similar food in the past but it doesn't really suit my family's tastes. So next year we will have to try something else.
We then played some games; I read the Christmas Orange Story and we shared a chocolate orange then Spencer read the Christmas story as the kids put up my flannel board figures. It went over ok. We are also still tweeking our Christmas Eve traditions. They all had showers/baths and jumped into their first present of some new jammies.
I had fun picking out these PJ's for everyone. I think that they look great. Aaron especially loved his buzz light year ones, Evan is good with his woody ones as long as I don't say stuff like..."ride 'em cowboy or Hi there my names woody or look...there's a snake in my boot!" he really doesn't like that I enjoy his fun PJ's that much. Megan was in need of new PJ's and was a good sport to agree to wear some Jessie PJ's. I only wish that they had Jessie PJ's that actually looked like Jessie's outfit like the other ones do but I'm pretty sure that no 9 year old girl would be too into that!
Next it was off to bed with them. Spencer and I took a moment to sit down and watch some TV before doing our thing.
Since Christmas Day was on Sunday this year we told the children that they could open up thier stockings and enjoy them before getting ready for church. So that is what we did.
Here is Megan going through some of her stocking. We put in a few smaller gifts for them to open.
Every year we write letters to each other about something that we remember about them and their accomplishments or something we appreciate about each other, then we go through and read them out loud. It is a lovely tradition and you can never be told too much about how much your appreciated. Then we had to have a quick breakfast and get dressed and out the door to our sacrament meeting. Our numbers were few since so many in our ward go away to visit other family members at the holidays. We had our bishopric speak and a few musical numbers and some singing by everyone else too. I was glad for the focus that attending church on Christmas Day brought to our Christmas celebrations.
We quickly drove home to open our presents. We try and do it in an orderly manner....we all enjoyed some really good gifts and some really useful ones too. The children said that they had a really good Christmas. It think they enjoyed everything they got and all the experiences that we shared in this season.
Here is Spencer with a runner's ID tag that he can attach to his shoe....since he runs alone early in the morning. This makes me feel better about him being by himself.
More tools for our handy man. Hopefully there will be enough to share with my other handy mans'.
After we opened presents and before our little Christmas dinner, we had some dear friends stop by to help celebrate with us. We had a few more treats and some hot Christmasy drinks. More gifts to open and friendships renewed.
Then I proceeded to make our christmas dinner, we had a large chicken (I didn't want all the time and prep of cooking a turkey, I already had my turkey fill at thanksgiving), mashed sweet potatoes with turnips, buns, salad, Savoy cabbage with sage butter and of course cranberry sauce. It tasted delicious! The perfect way to end off a perfect day.
