Turn out the lights, the party's over...

The Nativity
Isaac coming with his loot
Ruthie with her booty
Sammy happy with his new treasures
Jennie enjoying the new red laptop

Whew! That was crazy. I love Christmas, it's my very most favorite time of year. But there comes a time that it's all too much. It's usually in the thick of all the paper and boxes and plastic and those dumb wire things that hold all the limbs of every action figure and all the legs of the doll table in to place lying all over the house, that I wonder, "What in the world just happened???" Christmas night in our house looked like 3 tornadoes came ripping through, several bombs loaded with TNT went off and perhaps even an earthquake or two shook the ground. It took me hours on Wednesday to clean it up and we almost filled our 2 outside trash cans. Although, cleaning a house with a dad trying to set up a new computer and 3 kiddos still discovering all the many sides of each of their treasures, is like cleaning up during a cyclone. It finally got done, though, to my great relief and the house is almost back to normal. I am waiting for Daniel to take down the tree, then everything goes back downstairs.

That said, I guess I should let you know how our Christmas was. It was wonderful! We spent the weekend passing out neighbor gifts and getting all the gifts wrapped and ready for the big day. Christmas Eve we started our day at 5:50 am. We cleaned the house, got all the necessary stuff together, opened 1 present each, made some salsa for dinner (which didn't turn out so great!) and packed up the car and drove to Sandy in the blizzard that hit just when we left, to spend the evening at my parents' house for festivities. We spent the evening with my family having dinner and then the annual production of The Nativity, which all the grandkids star in, then opening all the gifts from Abbie and Poppy and cousins. Then we left in time for a new batch of snow to come down on our hour drive home. Usually the long drive is enough to put the kiddos to sleep, but for some reason, no one went to sleep on this drive home! All the excitement was too much.

Christmas morning was too exciting to start any time past 6:30 am. Luckily, they were all so tired from being up late the night before that they slept till then! So we trecked out to the tree with the video rolling and they all found the right pile and dove in. In all the excitement I forgot to take pictures!! Then Daniel lined my gifts up in the order he wanted me to open them. I got cutting boards, a knife sharpener (I think he is trying to tell me something) and a kitchen fire extinguisher (he said he remembers me saying I wanted something red) then a pair of red earrings (now we're talking) from Sparklecove (my best friend Amie) and then a box with a red mouse in it. So I think he got me my own mouse for the old decrepid thing we call a computer. Then the last was a computer program for laptops. YES!! Isaac took my hand and led me to where one last present was...A red laptop. My very own!! (that's why it's taken to long to get a post on here...I have to figure everything out!) Then he pulled out a new family computer! Yes!! So after all the hullabaloo, we had to get dressed and head back down to Sandy for dinner at my parents' house. Yummy Ham and potatoes and rolls and all the soda you could drink (thank you Albertson's and Harmon's). After a while we headed to Kaysville to see Daniel's parents. We saw a couple of his siblings and their families and stayed to visit for a bit. The longer we stayed away from the destruction at home the better! But the yawning started to happen more frequently, so we headed home. Aaahhh...sleep!

Everyone slept till almost 7 am, a record at our house. Then the cleanup began! Since we are out of school till next Wednesday and still have another celebration to live through, we are just staying at home and enjoying the snow. Speaking of, it's coming down right now. We are partied out, late night-ed out, Early morning-ed out and are just enjoying a nice vacation.

Wishing you all a Happy New Year!