Christmas Day

Merry Christmas!

We celebrated Christmas a little different this year. Since Christmas was on Sunday we still had Sacrament meeting we were able to attend to. Jaime and I woke up before the kids...not surprising. For some reason our kids are able to sleep in longer than I could as a kid on Christmas day. Jaime and I woke up about 6:45am and just listened for the kids. They were up about 10 minutes later. They walked out to the tree to see what Santa brought for them. While we could hear their chatter and play Jaime and I came out to see as well. Aidan and Tyler both got Star Wars micro machines. Olivia got some Beats headphones, Lindsey got a Fitbit Alta, I got an Apple Watch, and Jaime got a new tech savvy carry on suitcase with the 360 degree wheels. After seeing what everyone got the kids were so good to go and get ready for church. I loved that they didn't mind. They didn't whine about not getting to open the presents under the tree. Actually, they were looking forward to going to church. It was a wonderful way to celebrate Christmas and think of our Savior. The entire hour was spent singing, and listening to musical numbers. The primary kids sang a Christmas song too. I always like hearing and watching our primary sing. 

However, it didn't take long for the kids to change after church and head to the tree! :) 

Tyler has been wanting a Miami Dolphins jersey for so long. I was excited to watch him open it. He gets to animated when he opens gifts. I love it. 

Lindsey loves anything Star Wars right now. She was pretty excited to get these Darth Vader socks. 

Anything electronic and he's happy...just like his dad. Hahaha

Olivia with her beats and an MC2 play kit. 

Again, Tyler's excitement! He loves Pete the Cat story books. He asked specifically for a Pete the Cat book shelf, stuffed Pete the Cat toy, and more Pete the Cat books. I don't like to disappoint so I followed through. 

He could hardly get the paper off fast enough. 

He loves it! Momma did good! No, I couldn't find a Pete the Cat shelf so I improvised. I bought the decals online, bought the book case and a bin to go in the book case. Put it all together and I was able to give him a Pete the Cat book shelf. 

After gift opening was done the kids asked when we were going to Grandma Morales'. I've wondered if I'm not letting my kids have the typical Christmas memories of opening gifts Christmas morning and then playing with them at home all day like I did. But right as I was thinking that a new thought came into my mind. There are many ways to celebrate Christmas. We have a new tradition. My kids get the excitement of going to the homes of some of their favorite people, their grandparents every Christmas. The kids don't mind the driving. They play with some of their new stuff in the car. We get to grandma's and they have the excitement of opening more gifts! But first...

The traditional Christmas omelettes! Marty makes wonderful breakfast. It was about 11 am but that's ok. We were all looking forward to eating. 

After breakfast we go into the living room to open gifts. Olivia got a doll camper and doll jeep from Grandma and Grandpa Morales and Uncle Marcus. So after opening more gifts we visit and open the packaging of said new gifts. It does seem like a short visit but at the same time I don't ever have to worry that the kids are bored and ready to go. :) About 2pm we headed over to my parents house. 

More gift opening! Aidan with his new legos. My mom made tied fleece blankets for all her grandkids. They're wonderful blankets. They all turned out so well. 

Tyler got this Star Wars Chewbacca mask that really sounds like Chewy when you open your mouth. The kids have a lot of fun with this. It's hilarious. 

After visiting with more family and eating yummy food it's time for us to head back home. We try to get back home early enough that the kids can get into pjs and then have some time to play with their new things. 

She's all set up and ready to go camping!

Lindsey got this fun airbrush painting kit. It's actually really cool. She's made some real neat pictures already. When Lindsey gets anything artsy she stays up in her room for hours just creating. 

Aidan got quite a few books for Christmas. 

He's really developed a love for reading anything and everything he can get his hands on. 

Our Christmas days may seem busy but I actually really love it. My kids will grow up and tell their friends and their kids how when they were young they got to go to both grandparent's houses on Christmas day and have three Christmas gifting sessions. By going to their houses they not only get to see us open our gifts from them but we get to see them open the gifts we get for them. I love that! We always talk about house Christmas isn't just about receiving gifts but really more about giving gifts. I like shopping and picking things out for others but it's more fun to see them open them. :)

I'm so blessed! I love having family close by. I love that they understand when we want to just stay home or when we want to go see them. I love that it's not far to go see them when we want to. I love that we aren't far for them to come see us. I love that we have options. Not, well we spent money to travel to go spend Christmas with them this year so it'll be a couple years before we do that again. We get our own small family Christmas fun but also get to celebrate it with extended family. I was glad Elizabeth and Jon were able to be at Mom's too. I do hope that some day, we can have a huge, family packed Christmas all under one roof again. I think it'll be a while but I'd love to do it. 

I love Christmas time. Merry Christmas!