Christmas 2010

Christmas was so wonderful this year! But then again, I can't think of a Christmas in past years that hasn't been wonderful... so I must just love Christmastime! We spent Christmas Eve at Ben's family's home in Gilbert. But first we met them downtown to see Narnia! It was great! Grandma Dangerfield took on the task of keeping Jake happy during the movie... and I'm thrilled to report that Jake sat nicely on Grandma's lap during the entire thing! He pretty much ate popcorn and candy the entire time till about the last 30 minutes when he fell asleep... sounds like Jake enjoyed his movie going experience... haha. :) Later at Grandma and Grandpa's house, the kids played and helped make gingerbread cookies...




That evening we did the traditional Christmas Eve Advent and the kids acted out the Christmas story in Luke. Adam was Joseph, Emma was Mary, and Rebecca was the angel. :)






Then we drove home and put out cookies and a letter for Santa and the next morning the kids were thrilled to see that he had come!...

Santa is a messy eater


One of these years I'll have to actually stitch the kids names on their stockings... probably less tacky then a pinned on piece of construction paper :)




Ben getting started making Christmas breakfast... we had french toast with chocolate syrup (yup!) and maple butter, raspberries, and bananas, and also sausage and orange juice... it was delicious!


I didn't gets pics of all the Christmas loot, but some of the highlights were the gifts from Santa - Emma got a writing set (which she specifically asked Santa for), Becca got a pink scooter, and Jake a basketball hoop (one of those toddler sized ones for the back porch). Emma also got her own set of golf clubs! She was thrilled (and so is daddy), Becca got her own suitcase (to coordinate with the one Emma got for her birthday), and Jake got plenty of boyish toys (which were seriously lacking in this house!). Ben got an new Xbox game he's been wanting, and the first Alton Brown Good Eats cookbook (it's so great having a husband that loves to cook!). And I got a Kinect!! hehe!! I'm still giddy about it. I've been ooing and ahhing over them since they came out for the Xbox, and Ben really did pull off surprising me with it on Christmas morning. The pic above is of the girls trying it out on Christmas morning. It's so hilarious to watch others play it because you don't need any sort of controller... it just reads your body heat and your movement is tracked on the game. It really is amazing!

After opening presents and eating our breakfast, we hopped in the car still in our Christmas jammies and headed to Grandma's house again for more family time and more gifts! :) The girls got some AWESOME doll house furniture... the really nice Pottery Barn kids stuff (to go with the doll house they got from grandma earlier in the year)... It makes me actually want to play dolls with them! Becca played with it for hours at the dining room table - she just loves imaginative play like that. And I got a beautiful antique bassinet for the new baby! It will be perfect for our little GIRL on the way (still can't believe I'll have 3 girls!). We also got a season pass to the Phoenix zoo for our whole fam from the Lee's! So nice! I'm anxious to get out and use it soon.













Emma trying out her golf clubs in grandma's backyard





After spending the morning enjoying our goodies, we headed to the aquarium! Ben's parents treated us to a great outing there... we were impressed by the place - it was really nice and quite big with lots of fun sea life.













It was a memorable Christmas! Next post: Utah and New Years! :) I love holiday time!