Christmas...

Well, it's here now - the week in-between Christmas and New Years. We had an amazing day yesterday. All the boys were ecstatic with their presents. My birthday is the 23rd so we started the holiday out by going to dinner at Iggy's Sports Bar. A Utah Jazz game was on the big screen and it was a very relaxing dinner. I was surprised how busy the restaurant was. It seems like everyone wanted to go out for my birthday ; ). I spent a lot of my time (waiting for our food to come) returning texts wishing me a Happy Birthday. I'm not much of a texter so it took awhile! When we got home the boys and Dan had a present and a couple of sweet cards waiting for me. They got me a pair of big fuzzy purple slippers and I love them. It was exactly what I wanted.

On Christmas Eve, we all went to my sister Kami's house for the annual party on my mom's side. There were probably 60 people there and the food spread was incredible. (I'm still full!) Santa always comes to this party and it's fun to watch all my nieces and nephews and 2nd cousins enjoy what I did when I was their age. Then we went and saw my grandparents on my dad's side. They are so cute! My grandparents on my mom's side have passed away a long time ago and I sure miss them at this time of year!

Since school has been out for the holidays, the boys and babies (pugs) have been having a "camp-out" in the playroom and doing movie marathons. It's so cute to see pillows, babies, blankets, and boys spread out up there. So, as soon as we got home from my grandparents on Christmas Eve they wanted to get to bed so Santa would come. They were very excited and the Christmas Spirit spread through the whole family. Isn't kids what Christmas is about?

Christmas morning was very cool. Dan and I woke the boys and babies up at 7 to come see what Santa had brought them. I got up a little earlier to make sure all the lights were on and the music was going (which is what my mom did when I was growing up). The boys were so excited! Caid got a new cell phone, an MP3 player, the new AC/DC CD, and a gift certificate to Amazon.com. Haden got an Ipod and a laptop computer. And, Gage got an Ipod and several new games for the Xbox and his PSP (Sorry, I can't name them all!). Haden kept thanking me over and over again and Caid told me this was his best Christmas ever. Our boys are amazing!

After we opened presents here we went to Melanie's (my sister) house for our traditional Christmas breakfast and to open presents on my mom's side of the family. We had another huge spread of food and received great presents. We got to spend time with my brothers and sisters and their kids and that is always rewarding. Melanie lives in Enterprise (up Weber Canyon about 3 miles outside of Morgan) and the weather was horrible! One of my sisters and both brothers had to be rescued from being stuck in the snow on the way there. We made it safely because Dan is such a good driver in the snow, thank heavens!

After Mel's we went to Dan's family for another big breakfast spread and more presents. Dan's mom cooks for the whole family and makes the best bacon! It's no wonder people put on so much weight during the holidays :). We spent some good time with Dan's parents, grandparents, and brothers but had to give the boys up during the afternoon to go with their other parent. The kids were excited though because they got to get another Christmas and more presents. It's cute though, they deserve it!

And now, it's the 26th, the day after and also my baby brother's birthday. Things have calmed down and all the gifts are unwrapped. Christmas decorations are still up but that's the way it will stay for another week. I always hate taking the tree down because I love waking up in the middle of the night to go get some water and walk out and see the lighted tree. It's so pretty and I wish I could leave it up all year.

I hope everyone had a rewarding and merry Christmas. I got everything I wanted, and that was spending time with my family.