12 Things At Christmas

Christmas was a busy time of year as always. So I decided to wrap up our Christmas Break as "12 Things At Christmas". Here is our count down:

12 Grandkids (and one great grandkid) in matching pajamas made by Grandma White.  This is fun tradition that my kids look forward to each year.

11 foot tall Christmas tree (10 foot tree with a 1 foot stand).  We were in need of a new tree this year and decorations.  We loved sitting in the family room at night with the tree lights on.  It was so relaxing after a crazy day.

10 minutes until the house was a wreck Christmas morning.  The kids (and Jeremy and I too) enjoyed unwrapping presents and surprising each other.  Below are some present highlights.

Kayden unwrapping with much enthusiasm.

Jaxon checking out some signatures on the basketball he received.  His ball was signed by BYU's Tyler Haws, Brandon Davies and Anson Winder.  He was very excited.

Josh and Kayden seeing what Santa brought them in their stockings.  Santa also brought them a bow and arrows.

McKay and Jaxon seeing what was in their stockings and checking out their gifts from Santa.  McKay received a Christmas Cactus and Jaxon also received a bow and arrows.

No one noticed for a few minutes, but Santa also brought us a Doodle Bug motor bike.  Jaxon wandered over to the tree and said, "What's this?" in disbelief.  The kids got to ride it Christmas morning but we haven't had any good weather since then to be able to ride it (even then they were riding it in the snow).  It will be fun this spring and summer to cruise around.

Kayden opened up a BYU football uniform and immediately put it on.  He is one cute kid.

Now back to our count down:

9 Days of illness (at least).  It started with Kayden who was sent home from school early the day before Christmas Break.  He was sick for 3 days.  They Jaxon got sick while skiing on the slopes:

 

He lasted half a day on the slopes before calling it quits.  He was down for 3 days or so.  Then Josh got sick (again--he was sick a couple of weeks before) and was down for several days and also had pink eye.  McKay got sick at the end of the break and ended up missing a day of school as well.  Thankfully, Jeremy and I stayed healthy.

8 hours spent in the car (really a little less) driving to and from Idaho Falls.  We spent New Years with my brother Paul and his family who live there.  My sister from Houston and her family were there too.  It was a nice relaxing holiday.  We all had a good time up there--despite the freezing temperatures.
 

7 nights of wrapping presents.  At least.  Jeremy was a little help.  He put the gift tags on the presents after they were wrapped and a bow placed on top.  I am just thankful he wrapped my presents.

6 Boys at a belated birthday party.  McKay's birthday party kept getting pushed back waiting for the Space Center to open.  It is now closed until further notice with no reopen date.  McKay decided to invited some friends to Chuck-A-Rama (yum?) and then to the Movie The Hobbit for his belated birthday party.  It was a fun afternoon for them.

5 people (pictured) skiing.  Jeremy took McKay skiing with Samantha (my niece), Bryan (my nephew), his brother Brady and Brady's wife Kelly (the one not pictured).

4 tired boys on Christmas Eve.  We took them to a trampoline hot spot called Hang Time.  We wore them out so they would be nice and tired come bed time.  Above they are all rested on Christmas morning.

3 Christmas Parties.  We had a party with Whites on Christmas Eve, the Culley party with all my cousins and their families as well as a party with my family the Haackes.  The kids received presents from their cousins and grandparents:

Josh got a cool Darth Vader jacket that zipped up and over his face like a mask and...

...Jaxon received a Storm Trooper jacket.  They both loved the gift and wouldn't take off their jackets.

2 boys with BYU basketballs on their wall.  A fun gift from Grandma and Grandpa Haacke.

And when all was said and done, there was 1 tired mom ready for the house to be put back together and ready for sick kids to be well.  It was a wonderful Christmas with lots of memories made.