So I guess Christmas officially started on Christmas eve with the Low family party. It was a fantastic party with great food, all of which was prepared by my mother-in-law, great company, provided by the fantastic Low children, and great entertainment, provided by the Low grandchildren.
Although probably no one cares, I'm always looking back on Christmas trying so hard to remember what we did for gifts, so I'm recording it here. Feel free to skip this part. For the gift exchange we had Trisha. We got her the coolest hat/coat rack from Ikea, some earrings, and a shelf for her shoes. Can you tell that from this that she has a new house? I think she liked it, since she picked it out herself. Jesse and Brooke gave us our Christmas present. It is a 14" bronze statue of the prophet Joseph Smith. It's awesome. And Dave's parents gave us a beautiful, soft red blanket, and a generous gift of money which we used to buy Dave some new "metro" clothes for 2010. (More on that later) They also gave our boys Power Ranger costumes and toys, a Zhu Zhu pet, and some Lightning McQueen slippers for Henry that are delicious. Thank you to the Lows!
The Low party always includes a program. For the program the Martineau kids did their singing and piano playing, the Isaacson girls did some singing and a nativity arrangement, the Champlins read a Christmas story, and the Lows..... well we aren't that talented. So we did some singing and dancing that included everyone and Isaac recited a poem. Afterwards the kids performed the nativity, which is always great.
Our kids started falling apart by around 4:00 so we took them home. We made homemade fettucini for dinner which the boys enjoyed. We sat down to eat with our fancy champagne glasses and sparkling cider to drink. Two of the five glasses broke over the course of the dinner, but we tried our hardest to maintain our composure and keep the dinner happy and fun. Next year we are buying plastic ones. We set out some treats for Santa, and read the Christmas story before bed.
Santa came, thank goodness, so I awoke to Isaac in my face telling me that Santa brought us a Wii! Thank heavens that Santa brought it, because IF I were the one putting together a Wii, it would probably include me thinking that two out three controllers were broken, and cursing Sam's Club's name for selling broken controllers, comtemplating running to Walmart to buy some new ones, until I learned that I had to click a little red button to sync it. (That's what we in the computer world call an "ID ten T error".... ID10T, haha) It would also have included us having the sensor way too high and the controllers cutting out as a result. It may have also included us wasting way too much time creating Wii Miis. So, yes, I am very glad that Santa just did it all for us.
This happened around 7:45, which was much later than I expected. We got dressed, the video camera ready, and then kids came right out and ripped into their presents. Isaac was so excited I thought I might hyperventilate for him.
WE gave them piggy banks that digitally count their money for them, and Build a Fort kits which are AWESOME!!! I love them. They are a tarp like thing with ropes and clips to make fort building easier for kids, and cut back on blankets used. I couldn't believe how easy it was, I clipped those things to very un-sturdy items, and it all stayed. Probably, every family should have one of those!
Santa brought a Wii and a huge bucket of Tinkertoys. Smart guy, boys LOVE anything to build. They like the Wi, I think they were less impressed with it than we thought they would be, but we have had a ton of fun. Dave and I have played tennis after the boys are in bed, but I pathetically lose every time. Oh well.
The boys stockings were filled with great stuff as well including: Lego Indy, Star wars watch, candy, Air Buddies, Space Buddies, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Star Wars micro machine ships, batman action figures, and Hemy got a 14 pc set of tiny Pixar cars... a perfect match for him who loves tiny things.
Yep, Santa did pretty good, definitely not an extravagant Christmas, but just perfect for our family, and parents who like to be minimalists with toys.
Shortly after we opened presents, Dave's parents came over to see the kid's Christmas, and they stayed for breakfast. It was SO wonderful, I'm so glad they came. We enjoyed a nice breakfast and then they left to go visit some other grandkids. Does it get much better than that? I don't think so. We were very lucky. Thank you!
We went to visit our friend's Christmas, which was only about 10x more than ours, but we enjoyed seeing all the things they got.
Afterwards, our friend Stu came over. We put up the fort kits to make a tent and had a "Back to Bethlehem" lunch. Dave led the show and we all tried some different foods like what they ate in Bethlehem and wore robes and towels on our heads. The kids loved it. It was definitely a keeper, and we'll improve on it next year.
We had a lovely dinner of Roast, stuffing, and garlic beans and got the kids to bed. It was a great Christmas!
Yesterday, (Monday) was the Biada family Christmas party, since they were in St. George for the holiday. So they came up to our house for the party, which was nice. Grammy and Grandpa were also very generous, Dave and I got Texas Roadhouse giftcards, YES! And our kids got adorable stuffed monkeys, games, movies, and best of all THREE Wii GAMES! Lego Star Wars, Lego Indy, and Wii Ski. Isaac had died and gone to heaven. My sisters gave me a cute handmade scarf, some soap, and a perfecto wallet for me. They win! I have great sisters.
We again made homemade fettucini and enjoyed some Wii Sports.
So back to the Metro clothes. Fashion has never really been a part of my husbands life. I've tried, but never with much success. So he finally declared he was going Metro in 2010(Kind of a joke to mean he is going to actually care about how he looks). So we took our Christmas money and went out to buy him new outfits that make him look hot. Last night he wore his new jeans, Black zip up, and a black hat, all that black with the sweetest blue eyes I've ever seen.... He looked awesome! I hope it sticks, I'm enjoying the new "Metro" Dave.
I guess that's all. Merry Christmas to all. Hope your holiday was absolutely perfect!
Nativity at the Lows
Henry with his cars and slippers. He calls him "Mcqueenie" It sounds Italian. Kind of like Linguini.
Our Bethlehem lunch. Pitas, olives, pistachios, grapes, fish, eggs, dates, pomegranate, and our subsitutes: mustard for something bitter and chicken legs for lamb.
Our tent
Random pic- Dave and I all dressed up for a Christmas party.
4 comments:
Love that last pic, although it made me pine for what might have been.
Your Christmas sounds awesome and I'll have to check out the build your fort kits. My kids get discouraged pretty quick when everything caves in on them. (You know, when baby brother tries to join them....)
Merry Christmas to you all!
OMG was that Brangelina? (;
You look so amazingly fancy all dolled-up like that! P.s. Favorite part of this post, easily, was what WOULD have happened had you had to set up the Wii!!! :) Hahaha I think you are fabulous!!!
I want your recipe for fettuccine!! and you do look fabulous.
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