Merry Christmas!

I have been putting in 11-12 hour work days all week (except for Levi's birthday) so Christmas Eve was so nice when things started to slow down and I was home before 2:00 p.m. We headed off for Nanny and Poppy's house so the kids could make their gingerbread houses (or trains) and cookies for Santa. The littlest grandkids were the cutest with everything pretty much going in their mouths.

After Poppy's famous Christmas Eve burgers we headed off to the big room to get ready for the presents. I try my hardest every year to get something spiritual in before we rip open the presents but unfortunately most of the ADULTS, not children, are pretty unruly and ready for those presents. I used to get a special Christmas book geared towards the kids, to read right before opening all the gifts but since Barbara, David's step-mom (though David calls her mom. I've always thought it was neat that he never calls her his step mom) has been working for Deseret Book, we always get as Christmas gifts some kind of Christ centered book. I opened up our Christmas present from her and Steve early so that we could share with the family. They didn't let us down and I showed some pictures of Christ with a few scriptures before opening the presents.

Here are the kids waiting as the presents pile up and up and....

....spoiled much??????! Elder Rodriguez was looking at these pictures as I was putting them on the computer and he said, "Your family is ridiculous!" He then teased about adopting him into our family or waiting for Shaylee.....creepy, but I guess it is all about the presents! We got a good laugh considering it made me think of Shaylee's dad, Elton. His first Christmas that he spent with our family before he married April, he told her, "I'm sooo marring into this family!" after seeing how many presents are under the tree!

We had the boys open their gift from Uncle Chuck first since we all knew it would be their favorite. One blessing that I can see that comes from not having the same financial blessings as others is that my boys are not spoiled. We only bought them one gift; not that we would have even had to have done that with all that our family provided. But because we don't have a lot, we never have the new things. The Wii has been out for quite some time and just like any other kid, the boys have been wanting one for a long time. They looked forward to every Nanny and Poppy night or going over to Me-Maw and Poppy's house because they new they would get Wii time. I tell you all this because it can help you understand just how very excited they were to finally be getting one! Levi's exact words were, "IT'S A WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS!"

My hat boy!

We had April and Elton's name for Christmas this year and I LOVE getting Elton crazy gifts. David got him a real gift (the DVD) and I got him some festive toilet paper......for some reason this morning, the inside of our van had been toilet papered.....not sure why......

Then this morning the boys woke up to Santa and Elder Grigg making us German pancakes. If you have never had them before, it is like having dessert for breakfast. Sooooooooooooo yummy!

Later we went over to Me-Maw and Poppy's house for our Christmas meal. I can't express how nice it has been to just be around the boys. I don't think that people realize just how busy I am. Even when I am at home, I am usually locked up in my bedroom trying to get homework done. A lot of the "nurturing" is coming from Daddy and there is a lot of guilt that comes from that....on both sides. But we know that this is what has to be done right now in our little family and we can't ignore the blessing that I have a job and that our kids don't have to go to day care and that we are both finally going to finish school. And I can say that because of our situation, I appreciate days like today when I just watch the boys and cuddle with my husband all the more than I would if life were easier.