Christmas

This Christmas we had the fun experience of having someone at our own house (Normally we are at someone else’s house). My mom came early to help us move into our new place and was able to be with us Christmas morning. I was so excited to share our traditions (or things we are trying to make traditions) to someone, but because we had just moved and I was severely pregnant, I forgot or completely abandoned most traditions. At least I got through the ‘elf on the shelf’ deal, but anything beyond that was just too much to ask. Next year. There’s always next year.

Ezra woke up Christmas Eve and came running down the stairs only to find my mom sleeping on the couch and zero presents under the tree. My mom said he got a confused/sad look on his face and said, “Santa didn’t bring me any presents?” Poor kid was just a day ahead of himself.

Ezra came running down Christmas morning and then ran right back upstairs to wake us up. We all came down and embraced the magic through our children’s eyes. We opened presents, yelled at my mom to stop taking pictures of our morning appearances, watched family videos my dad made for us of our trip to Disney World, and allowed James to make us a delicious breakfast.

Then we headed over to my in-laws for a fantastic Christmas dinner and to open a few more presents. We brought most of our presents to our place, but thought it would be fun to leave a couple there too.

They got a jeep. Oh boy were they excited. And so cute riding it too. James has since taken them outside many times to explore our new neighborhood and woodsy trails. They’re having a ball with it.

We let Makai drive it too, but he didn't quite grasp steering, so Ezra took over.

Disney World was our big present this year, so they mostly got small gifts, but that didn’t seem to matter to them. They played more with their simple stocking stuffers that morning than any of the other toys.

just opened our Disney photo album. He loved looking at himself on the rides :)

Oh and Ezra did get his dreamlite that he kept begging for. He was so excited he couldn’t wait to put batteries in and go test it out. Now Makai wants one. I thought they were silly, but now that I’ve seen it, I think they are pretty cool. Maybe I’ll get one for my room too. Maybe not.

right after opening his dreamlite

He got a monkey hat from Nana and looked so cute when he put it on backwards.

We had a great Christmas and enjoyed the special time to be with family, create magical childhood memories for our children, and remember the birth of our Savior.