Merry Christmas 2010

This morning the kids actually slept in until 7:30, which is great.  Autumn was being a stinker b/c we were trying to get her to put on some PJ’s Santa left her, but she didn’t want to. She wanted to wear her black dress that she slept in yesterday and wore to bed.  Dad said we didn’t need to line up b/c we’re older now, but we really wanted to b/c it’s tradition.

We let the kids in the living room and they got to see what Santa brought them (Autumn got a Strawberry Shortcake house, Barbie Fashion Fairytale DVD, Princess chapstick, and Princess watch.  After that, Dad read the Christmas story out of the Bible.  Autumn was really sweet and after he was done reading it, she wanted to sing Away In A Manger.  It helped remind us all of the true meaning of Christmas and brought such a sweet spirit into the room.

aAfter that, it was on to Andrew’s favorite part…opening presents.  Some of the fun ones were that Nick got a shirt that said “Stud Muffin” from Lexie & Jon.  Then Dad got a bacon wallet from Monzingo’s since he “brings home the bacon.”

Lexie & Jon & Andrew gave Dad a 2011 calendar that had a bunch of pictures of the kids for each month.  It was really cute and Lexie put a lot of work and thought into it.  The kids liked being able to see themselves on the calendar.  I gave Lexie & Mom a copy of all of Mom’s recipes w/ some adorable divider pages that Holly made for me.  They ended up looking really cute and I love being able to give gifts that are useful and thoughtful at the same time, just like Lexie’s calendar was.

Andrew got a HAULING and this was one of his favorites…a Spider Man hat and gloves.  Nate was a good helper and kept helping Autumn open her gifts after she unwrapped them.  Here he is brushing Rapunzel’s hair extensions that came w/ the doll.  LOL!

I think the best gifts came at the end.  One was that I had people at Dad’s work write things about him like stories of working with him or funny things he’s done or why he’s a great guy to work with.  I had his siblings do that last year and he loved it, so it worked well this year to have people he works with do it.

The best gift of all, however, was from Uncle Wes.  He had hired a BYU student to go over to Grandpa’s house once a week and record all of Grandpa’s stories and then he would type them up.  Wes had them printed off into a book and Haley (Uncle Wes’s daughter) put them on a blog.  Gifts like that are priceless and mean the most.  It was really neat.

After we opened all the gifts, it was time for our traditional breakfast of scrapple.  Mom & I make such a great team in the kitchen.  She cut and breaded the scrapple and I fried it.  We were able to get twice as much done twice as fast.  Here’s the whole crew.

After we finished eating, Mom said (with a sparkle in her eye) that she had one last gift/surprise up her sleeve.  She told everyone to put on coats and shoes so we could go outside.  This is how Dad got dressed, and we laughed at how “sexy” he looked.

Dad took the kids into the shed out in the back and told us to wait.  All of a sudden, the door to the shed went up and out zoomed Autumn & Andrew in their Ford F150 truck!

Andrew is a good little driver and thought he was HOT STUFF while driving around in the truck.

After a while, Autumn wanted a turn and she’s not as good as a driver, but was still having fun.  It’s cool b/c the truck even has a real radio that works.

We couldn’t stand the cold anymore b/c it was freezing and there was a wicked wind, so we came inside.  The kids went in the backroom and Dad went with them to help them set up their zhu zhu pets.  They had fun making the zhu zhus battle.

After I got the kitchen all cleaned up from making scrapple, I sat down with Dad and we finished our puzzle.  It was a fun & good one and we were glad when it was done.

This is what the living room looked like after all the Christmas morning excitement.  It was quite a mess, but it was a happy and contented mess.

Here are just some of the gifts that Autumn got.  She got LOTS of new clothes, candy, Barbie movies, Scentsy buddy, Princess towel, and a zebra apron.

Grandpa Johnson was so sweet and sent Lexie & I an apron that Grandma Johnson had made a long time ago that he found in her sewing room.  I absolutely LOVE mine, especially the great detailing on the pockets.  Lexie’s was perfect for her, b/c it was trimmed in purple.  We made Autumn wear hers and she wasn’t too happy about it (that’s why she’s crying).

Autumn wanted me to bust out her lipstick for her so she could put some on and then went around and put some on me & Mimi & Lexie (and of course herself).

Andrew wanted to try on his Bumblebee costume and looked awesome in it.  The kids played so well together in the back room and then wanted to try out the tower/slide that Mom & Dad got them to use to slide into the pool this summer.

They talked Dad into going into the back room to play Wii bowling with them.  I think Autumn ended up winning, which is funny since she has no idea what to do or how to do it.

Around 4:00, the natives were getting restless, so I told them to get dressed in their warm clothes so we could go outside.  Of course they wanted to ride around in the truck so Andrew drove over to the lot so they could drive around and not worry about running into anything.  Andrew drove for a while and then I let Autumn have a turn (even though Andrew is a WAY better driver).  He hopped in the back when Autumn drove.

We headed back over to the house after a while b/c Andrew wanted to go play on the fort.  Dad had taken a little girl in our ward over to the clinic b/c her Dad (who did the anesthetics for Autumn’s dental work) thought she had broken her arm.  When he got back, he came walking over to find us wearing Andrew’s mask and Andrew didn’t know who it was.  They played on the fort for a while and then it got too cold so we went back inside…

…but not before going and parking the truck next to the lawn mower in the shed.  We spent the rest of the evening watching Family Man and then the Cowboys football game.

It was a FABULOUS Christmas and my favorite part was when we sang Away In A Manger before opening gifts.  Without the birth of the Savior, the whole plan of happiness would be for naught.  But He was born to Mary in a miraculous way, He lived a perfect life, He completed the Atonement for all of us, He died for us, and now He lives!  I am blessed to have a testimony of the Savior and all that He has done for me.