Christmas 2014

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Christmas is by far my most favorite holiday.  However, I think that I like December 1st-24th more than I even like December 25th.  I think the holiday is so much fun to prepare for.  I like trying to come up with gift ideas.  I like to keep a list and try to stay in my budget.  I like to be busy with family celebrations, programs, and other crazy things to do.  I like the world to be a happy place!

With that said, here is actually how we spent our Christmas!

We began on Christmas Eve at Grandpa Huber's house.  My mom did most of the food and it was great!  We had a little program enhanced with some David Aruchuleta and Church sponsored nativity videos.

Christmas morning was super EARLY this year (though for 2 very good reasons).

1.  James had to work and leaves around 6:15 a.m.

2.  We had to be at my mom's by 7:00 a.m. to hear from Elder Petersen.

James and I got up and all the way ready around 5:00 a.m.  We woke the kids up around 5:30.  They got to briefly play with their Santa Claus gifts and open a couple of gifts from mom and dad.  James left.  The kids got shoes and coats on and we headed in the pitch dark Christmas to my mom's house.  

Molly was a bit of a stinker on Monday night and again on Christmas Eve with some small gifts she received, vocally expressing her disapproval of the gifts.  We had a nice little chat about how to graciously accept gifts even if you don't particularly care for what's in them.  Santa Claus noticed the behavior and also left a note for her (and Jack).  I think it worked!

I had to take a picture on the way to my mom's house.  It was SOOOO dark!  We literally passed about 3 cars and I think we only saw 2-3 houses with lights on inside.   It was a very dark and cold way to start our Christmas.

Once inside my mom's well-lit, active, and warm house, we got to Skype with WILLIE!!  When we finally connected he waved both hands in the air and said, "Hellooooo!"  He looks great!  He's doing great!  He has a funny accent and drifted back and forth between English, Lithuanian, and some crazy Russian guy.  He finally got his "trainee" that he has been waiting on for quite a while (he was sent home from the MTC for a knee injury), so we got to meet him - Elder Turley - as well as Elder Norman and some crazy Lithuanian lady and her daughter who came in the room a few times.

We found out the call had to be that early in the morning because the missionaries had to be home by 6:00 p.m. due to the increased number of crazy drunk people out in the city on Christmas night.

We got to talk to him until almost 8:00 a.m. which meant it was about 5:00 p.m. his time.

It was just great!  He is so excited.  He is doing so well.  He is being a great missionary!

After the phone call, we got breakfast together (mostly my mom and Ross).  We had Waffle Love waffles and a few other fixin's.  Everything tasted delicious.  After breakfast, the kidlets got dressed and we opened gifts.  My mom got all of the kids (even Quinner and Jack) headphones.  At one point, I think they were all 5 plugged into a device and it got really quiet.

Next, we ventured back to Grandpa Huber's to get food stuff set up out there.  We were the first to arrive and only visited for a couple of hours and then hit the road.

The kids and I came home and all three of us had a nice winter's nap.  When we all woke up, we went and played outside in the snow, ate a plate of french fries for dinner, waited for our dad to come home, Skyped with Grandma and Grandpa Binggeli, and then visited with my mom and dad one more time when they came to our house to give James his gifts.  We opened the last of our gifts leftover from that morning and just enjoyed a nice, snowy night.

Merry Christmas to all!