Christmas

Little children make Christmas magical, and a new baby makes it so very sweet. 

This year the boys "got" what Christmas is all about. It was so fun and inspiring to watch them be excited about it all. I loved that they weren't just excited about Santa and presents, but they were also so excited to celebrate our Savior's birth. 

For Family Home Evening, we had the boys help us put up the Nativity. They got to hold each piece and we talked about the important role each person played in the Savior's birth. They were so engaged! The boys also loved watching the Nativity video our church produced. It is really good! I can't tell you how many times the boys watched it! Stephen John still asks, "Watch baby Jesus?" He also loved reading a Christmas book from the song, "Mary Did You Know?" 

We also enjoyed all the fun things that the Christmas season brings. The boys loved Christmas lights and Christmas music! They had to move their seats at the table and we couldn't close the blinds at night so they could see our neighbor's Christmas lights while we ate dinner. Once our tree was up, then they had to move their seats again so they could see those lights while eating too! 

This is a picture of the boys meeting Santa at a Christmas party. They weren't scared at all! In fact, Stephen John thought it was his turn and totally cut in line, walked right up to Santa and sat on his lap. They asked Santa for a train. The boys must have been good because that is what he brought them!

We went to the local Christmas tree farm for our tree this year. It was fun walking around with the boys looking at all the trees. However, once Dallin saw the tractor trailer you could ride, he wanted to pick any tree just so he could take a ride! 

This one!

Tractor ride

Everyone helped decorate the tree! At first Stephen John didn't want to (he was tired) but when I showed him his ornament from Grandma and Grandpa Condie from the year before, he became so happy and totally into decorating the tree. He wanted all of the ornaments that he put on to be put up high. He would point to where he wanted it to go, or Dan would hold him up. After we decorated the tree, we sang Christmas carols. 

Dallin with his first ornament from Grandma and Grandpa Condie

 Every year my grandma gave each grandchild a Christmas ornament. Thanks to her, our tree is full of beautiful ornaments. It always brings back so many memories when I unwrap them. It was fun to show the ornaments to the boys and Dan.

My mom got here about a week before Christmas to help with the baby. She also helped with all things Christmas and made it so fun for the boys. She did all the things I loved doing as a child that I wanted to do with the boys, but let's face it, weren't going to happen with a new baby. I told her I was going to eat all the Christmas cookies I wanted this year since I'm always so hungry the first month or so after having a baby. So, she even made my favorite Christmas cookies to spoil me. Yes, I ate them all and thinking about them now is making me want more! Thanks mom, Christmas would not have been nearly as much fun without you! 

Decorating the gingerbread house

Decorating sugar cookies

Yum! After awhile, Stephen John asked for a spoon and just started scraping the frosting off to eat it. He even layered chocolate frosting on top of the vanilla frosting! 

My parents brought some Christmas books for the boys. Some of the books were the kind that you record yourself reading, including a song at the end. They gave that book to their other grandchild as well. My brother complained that their daughter listened to the book 10 times on their drive home one day. My mom had to laugh because she ended up listening to it way more! Dallin practically has the Frosty the Snowman song memorized now, and so do the rest of us!

Reading Christmas stories with Grandpa Condie

Jane is ready for Christmas!

Someone is excited to leave cookies for Santa!

Christmas morning was so much fun. Of course the boys were very excited when they saw all the presents, and especially the train set from Santa. The best part of it though was watching Dallin give a present to Stephen John. Dan took Dallin shopping a few days before Christmas to pick a present for his brother in an effort to teach him that Christmas isn't just about getting presents, but giving them to others because we love them. Dan said it was a bit stressful giving him full access to the toy department since he's never had that before. But with some help, he grasped the concept that he was choosing something for SJ. He actually picked out two things that Stephen John would really like and ultimately picked the soccer ball. When we started opening presents, Dallin wanted SJ to open the present he picked out and wrapped for him. While Stephen John was opening it, Dallin was giggling and jumping and smiling from ear to ear. As soon as Stephen John opened it, he yelled "soccer ball" and started kicking it around. They both were so happy! I loved watching Dallin be so excited to give something to his brother. 

My other favorite gift was this cross stitch that my sister in-law made for our family. I love it--it is absolutely adorable! She captured our family so well! Everyone who sees it also comments about how cute it is. 

Everyone obliged me by taking a Christmas picture. The objective here was documentation, not beauty! Hence, the combination of normal clothes, PJs, and SJ's favorite outfit-his diaper! The first picture cracks me up. In our defense, it was taken with a timer. The next one is a bit better. 

A visit from family wouldn't be complete without playing Settlers of Catan. When I was visiting California earlier this year, my dad beat me, but he wasn't completely satisfied until he beat Dan as well (he was deployed then). We played three games and my dad won the third one. We all agreed that for safety's sake, it was best that my dad won. He and Philip were driving to Virginia the next morning and the weather wasn't predicted to be the greatest. If my dad hadn't won, he would have been thinking about the game and possible strategies he should have employed instead of sleeping that night or focusing on the road the next day! 

Dallin loved our Christmas tree! I would even venture to say, he loved it as much as my Grandma Wimer loves a Christmas tree. He would turn the lights on as soon as he got up in the morning and made sure they stayed on all day. Sometimes we would find him in the morning just sitting in front of the Christmas tree looking at it while he waited for others to get up. When we had to take down the tree because it was too dry, he about cried. We consoled him by telling him that the tree was going to be turned into mulch to help next year's Christmas tree grow. I agree Dallin, I didn't want Christmas to end this year either! 

One last picture by the tree before taking it down