December the 25th

Christmas morning came!

I love this picture because you can see who would have rather slept in a bit more and who couldn't wait for Christmas morning!  (Life will be so different in a few years.)

 I believe Santa did OK in filling some of the wishes of the kids.

Braxton got Percy Jackson's Sea of Monsters, Evan got his own ripstick so that he doesn't have to get mad at Carter when he wants to ride his other one.

Carter got a fuzzy BYU blanket, a "Y" mug, and a BYU sports necklace.

Lizzie opened up an American Girl theater.  She also wanted the Frozen movie, but I had to explain that even Santa can't deliver movies that are not ready to be released on DVD yet.  It's against the law.  So, she and Emma have already plotted to have Emma ask for it for her birthday and they'll share.

Great plan.

Santa did bring her the book and story on CD, though.  He does what he can within the law. :)

Emma received a ukelele and a necklace-earring set of her birthstone (aquamarine).

While I was finishing up our gingerbread waffles with bananas and syrup,

Braxton entertained us with scene after scene of characters utilizing the set of mustaches that he found in his stocking.

Each had an accent and personality.

After filling our tummies, we proceeded with family gifts.

Emma got Carter a cougar--can you tell who our biggest BYU fan is?

Evan got binoculars that have a camera built in to capture his birding discoveries.

Carter got Lizzie markers and a pencil pouch that he'd won for her at an auction in school.

Emma made something for everyone.  Braxton got a bookmark covered in words about him.

Dad got a bracelet.

Lizzie got Braxton The Kiss, the last book in the Witch and Wizard series by James Patterson.  Lizzie likes teasing him saying that he would only get a "KISS" from her that day.

Lizzie made letters and books for Emma and I.

This is what Evan looked like for 90% of the day.  Poor kid.  Steve and Carter had the same look.  Stupid flu was ruining my fun.

We were still invited to the Williams' house for dinner that night where we ate another delicious dinner, sang some more songs, and played Just Dance 2014 (Thanks, Grandma, for the video game).

 The rest of the week mushed together.  We played many, many games of Tenzi (a fun dice game for all ages that we got from the Williams), watched movies, played Just Dance and Just Sweat, finished The Sing Off, and got caught up on Once Upon a Time.

Some of us watched and some of us just cuddled and slept.

The kids wore their new clothes,

 tried out our new Bowflex and IPAD.

Carter tried out his new electric drum set

with his own set of BYU earphones.

 We finally got around to building and decorating our gingerbread houses.

 Grandma Bird watched the girls so that we could see Catching Fire!

And of course, we slept out under the Christmas Tree.

 Even though we had sickness and were in a different place and had to change some of our old traditions, it was still a really good Christmas.  We were grateful for the time together since it doesn't happen often with everyone's busy schedules.