Christmas 2010

Hi, everybody! Just thought I'd post some of the Christmas pictures since it's 3 am and I can't sleep--which is SO rare for me. I can usually sleep anytime. So, Sara had decided that she wanted to wear her new church clothes on Christmas Eve for some reason, but I loved it, so I tried to get some cute shots. I didn't make John change into something presentable, however, and he wanted a Jedi action photo shoot. Okay, then!


And I'm not sure exactly what this pose was...but look closely at the Darth Vader snowflake behind her. Jared's got mad snowflake skills and the kids loved it!!


After setting out the milk and cookies, we "heard" a noise in the chimney and found the jammies that Santa's elf had sent early! Wow, they LOVED this.



Luckily, Santa's elf knew that John is "into" Star Wars, and that Sara needed a new pair of "baby" jammies!


A little discussion of the nativity and an egg nog toast...by the way, Jared was floored at how well Sara knew the story. It was really cute how she knew all the things the angel said and stuff from our little Joy School version of it (which we never even ended up doing when we had the party because the kids were too crazy that day, but I guess they had learned something)


And we decided to let them open their gifts from/to each other before going to bed. It was a lot of fun helping them choose and buy gifts for each other. Sara especially knew she wanted to get John some more Star Wars figures and I seriously think she was more excited than he was opening them, which is saying a LOT because he was very excited!




And then Jared couldn't wait any longer either, so he let them open the gifts from him so he could open the gift from them. I, on the other hand, like to savor the surprise I guess and wanted to wait. Anyway, this is when they gave him a book he had hinted that he had forgotten to put on his list, so we sneakily bought it for him but wrapped it in a bigger box so he wouldn't know it was a book.

And the poster that Jared got for John, and somehow we didn't get a picture of the Zhu-zhu pet that he got for Sara.

And the actual morning...
Gasp! Santa left a boot print in the fireplace!

And here are the pictures I took, although I'm realizing that I missed a lot of stuff. You may notice a slight theme with John's toys, just maybe.

This helmet has been super funny...Captain Rex if you're not up on your Star Wars...
and his blaster...



Sara got a couple more "rooms" for her dollhouse, which is now about full to capacity. She also got a doll bed, which she loves, and a Barbie dentist set, and a set of pots and pans and cooking things from me to go with the food set from John (how did I not get pictures of all this?). These add several hundred mini pieces of things to her room, which I have yet to find suitable storage options for. Sigh.

This is a picture of the General Grevious dual spinning light saber that is actually totally cool! (And that big ball, hand-painted ornament right behind him had an unfortunate meeting with it about 2 seconds after I took this picture...) Anyway, it has "realistic" noises and lights and the sabers can be separated, so this was quite a hit! I got John an "old school" type Star Wars video game thing that plugs right into the TV, which has also been a favorite. He and Jared are quite good at the 5 different games, and Sara and I, well, we like to watch and "help."


There were many other gifts not pictured here from Grandparents, etc. Books, puzzles, coloring books, fleeces, some clothes and other goodies...oh, and Jared's sister Melanie had our family and did an awesome job! She sent marshmallow guns for all of us, along with a super cute hand-crafted book about the prophets and Toy Story 3 and an amazon.com card. Thanks, Mel! I'm sorry I haven't taken any pix of the gun action yet--I'll have to next time we have a war with them! Jared quickly mastered the gun and then set about to personalize each gun and help the kids get the hang of them. Again, like the video games, Sara and I need more practice, but we still have fun!

Not surprisingly, Jared mostly wanted some books and CDs, although he also got a GPS, which he has really been loving and put the Darth Vader voice on (although it was a tough choice from Pres. Bush, which was funny, too). He also got a stainless steel water bottle, which has turned out to be a total favorite. He got me an electric blanket, so now I really have no incentive to ever get out of my recliner, but it's so cozy! I also got a painting to hang in my completely un-decorated bathroom, but took it back after I changed my mind about it. I still need to do something in there. I also got new jammies, perfume, and a photo album, which I really need to fill. I haven't kept up on making photo albums at all, and I've really been wanting to. I also got some unexpected gifts from piano students that have been so fun. I got a giftcard to a nursery, and I picked out a plant and pot to keep on my kitchen table, which I have been loving so much! I think it's a nice reminder of the world outside without snow.

Speaking of which, I think this past week was supposed to be the coldest on record. Ugh. I tried to take the kids sledding today, but it was SO bitterly cold, they just didn't last long. Oh, and it maybe didn't help that on John's first, and only, run down, we didn't scout the location very well, and what appeared to be a steeper spot on the hill was actually a spot that had a rock wall disguised under there, so he had a surprise 3-4 foot jump that he took on his belly. Yeah, he didn't like that too much! Oops!

Anyway, Christmas was great, and we all feel very spoiled and blessed, although John already has a list of more Lego sets he wants...not that I blame him. They are cool.

Well, maybe I can get back to bed now. Night!