Christmas 2010

Wow. Christmas came and went faster than I could have imagined. We had a wonderful holiday and enjoyed everything good in life: family, traditions, parties, friends, Christmas cards, presents and of course chocolate.

Here are my handsome boys the Sunday before Christmas. It has become tradition to dress the boys up with matching ties or shirts. This year was ties. Jaxon was thrilled that he received a real tie as opposed to a zip-up or clip-on tie. (Left to right: Kayden (3), Joshua (6), Jaxon (9) and McKay (11)).

On Christmas Eve we went to Grandma White's house for dinner, a program and pajamas. Once the kids were all in their PJs, they did some dancing on Grandma's stage. Josh had all the moves and I snapped his picture while he was in midair jumping off the stage into some pillows.

Here are all of Grandma and Grandpa White's grandchildren. There sure is a lot of blue in this picture with just a little bit of pink.

Grandma read all of the kids a Christmas story. Kayden enjoyed listening while on McKay's lap.

Christmas morning finally arrived! The boys thought it would never get here. We had count down chains (that some how would get two links pulled off a day instead of one--like that would make Christmas come faster), and crossing off of days on the calendar. All of which supposedly helped Christmas get here. They boys stay at the top of the stairs while waiting for Dad to give the go ahead. The boys were up VERY early that morning, but we had forbidden them to get out of bed until 7:00. We had to wake up Kayden--it took him a minute to come around and want to have anything to do with Christmas.

Josh got blue and white BYU hair in his stocking. He wore his hair to the last BYU basketball game and made sure he put on his hair whenever BYU was in need of some extra luck. It worked because BYU won! The baby sitting next to Josh could not keep his eyes off of Josh and his BYU hair.

Kayden has found a love for Superman. Santa put a Superman action figure in his stocking and Kayden was thrilled. He also got a Mater Toons DVD and a Cars scooter (behind him) from Santa. He has decided Christmas is great!

Jaxon begged and begged us for an iPod. His Christmas wish came true and much to his delight he found a blue iPod just for him under the tree. We have been busy loading on songs and we would like to learn how to put on movies. (Any suggestions?)

Kayden enjoyed opening presents and got excited every time it was his turn....

....and when it wasn't his turn, he chose to throw a fit and hide behind the coat rack. That is Kayden for you.

Josh opening his Star Wars AT-AT walker. It has been a favorite toy for all the kids and they all enjoy playing with it and they play with it often. (Jaxon even asked why we gave it to Josh and not to him. I told him, "Josh had it on his Christmas wish list, you didn't." Like the iPod wasn't enough.)

McKay loves everything Lego. This year for Christmas he received two Lego games (in addition to a couple of Lego sets). Both games have been lots of fun to play together as a family.

They day after Christmas we were able to have a Christmas party at Grandma Haacke's house. Aunt Juli and her family came from Texas and Uncle Paul and his family came from Idaho. It was fun to be all together with the cousins. We sure missed Aunt Caprice and her family. Every year at Christmas at Grandma Haacke's house, we act out The Nativity. This year, Josh was Joseph.

Kayden and I were Wise Men. Do we look wise?

Midway through, Kayden decided he had had enough of being a Wise Man and decided he wanted to take a ride on the donkey (his cousin Bryan).

All in all The Nativity was a success and the kids had a great time. Here they are all dressed up. I believe we had two Marys this year (on the front row next to Kayden). Jaxon (middle row left) was a shepherd and did a great job. McKay (very back row left) was also a shepherd and enjoyed being mischievous once the performance was over.

We had a wonderful holiday, including a trip up to Idaho for the New Year. We hope your holidays were just as wonderful as ours. Good-bye 2010. What will 2011 bring us?