Merry Christmas 2011

The kids actually slept in today until 7:30, which surprised me b/c I thought they would be waking us up instead of the other way around.  Once everyone was semi-presentable, we did our traditional line up of youngest to oldest before going into the living room where Santa left the presents.  Autumn & Andrew were SO GOOD and waited patiently while we got the video camera ready to record their reactions to their presents. 

In our house, Santa doesn’t wrap his presents.  He leaves them out on the couch grouped together by who they belong to.  Autumn got this adorable jacket w/ matching hat, a Barbie that walks dogs & a Cinderella doll w/ a horse (we emailed pictures of those 2 things to Santa), a pink convertible VW Bug Barbie car w/ a Barbie, and then there was a pink Barbie helmet w/ a bell.

After the kids had a chance to look at all their stuff from Santa, we asked them what they thought the helmets and bikes were for.  Then we took them over to the tree and they were SO EXCITED to see their new bikes from Santa.

Originally Mom & Dad had said we would wait until after church to open presents, but that went out the window.  So, after all of the excitement of the Santa gifts we sat around the Christmas tree and Dad read the Christmas story out of Luke 2.  Then he started handing out presents and it was ridiculous how many presents there were.  Autumn was really excited to open this present from Jason & Nicole & Khloe.  It’s a Leap Pad & is like an iPad for kids that helps them learn.  They also gave her a Tangled game to go w/ it.  That was a great & generous gift from them.

Here’s part of the crazy mess after we were done opening gifts.  I usually lay out all the presents Autumn & I got and take a picture b/c I think it’s fun to look back on years later.  But, I didn’t get one this morning b/c we had to rush and make breakfast so we could eat before leaving for church.

Mom & I hurried and fried up the scrapple and we had our cream cheese bread and decided to just have chocolate milk instead of taking the time to heat up a big pan of hot cocoa.  I am so glad Rufio is here w/ us.  The food was so good and we all scarfed it down and then went to get ready.  Autumn & I rushed home and got showered and cleaned up and went to Mom & Dad’s ward early to save a seat for all of us.

Since it was Christmas, we only had an hour long sacrament meeting instead of the usual 3 hour block of meetings.  The program consisted of us all singing hymns and then the auxiliary leaders getting up and sharing their testimonies.  It was a great and uplifting meeting and really brought home the purpose for this great day.  I loved that we were able to attend church all together as a family (except we missed Nate big time).

After church we went back to Mom & Dad’s house to take group pictures.  It was cloudy outside, but for some reason all the pictures were way blown out so I had to do some editing to try and make them look more decent.  Here’s all the Hatch Hotties.  I am so thankful to be related to such fabulous females.

Mom had made funeral potatoes, a spiral cut ham, and zucchini & yellow squash for lunch.  We changed into comfy clothes and ate lunch and then did up the dishes so we could relax and enjoy the rest of the afternoon.  Dad, Jon & I took the kids outside so they could try out their new bikes.  They didn’t really get the hang of pushing backwards on the pedals to stop, so we had a few instances of them steering off into the grass.  But, they had a great time and actually did really well and started using their brakes towards the end.

Once the kids got too cold, we came back in the house and played some games.  Mimi & Andrew played Hungry Hungry Hippos.  I downloaded the software for the Leap Pad and then sat down w/ Autumn and we played part of her Tangled game together.  I’m so excited to use that w/ her to help her learn her letters and learn to start reading.

Jackson was such a good boy today and he even got a lot of gifts from Santa.  He’s such a happy baby and rarely cries.  I love trying to get him to smile.  I tell him he’s funny in a silly voice and that usually does the trick.

Autumn wanted to try out her new Barbie headphones, so I played a song on my iPhone and let her plug in her headphones.  It was so funny to watch her jam out to the song that only she could hear.  I had the volume all the way up on my phone, but the headphones keep the volume at a decent decibel so it doesn’t ruin the kids’ hearing.

One of Lexie’s gifts were these 12 cookie jar lids that Mom hand painted for Rufio years ago.  Since Rufio had to downsize, she can’t use them anymore and wanted to make sure they got passed down and kept in the family.  I’m glad Lexie got them b/c she said Jon & Andrew have a tradition of making cookies together every Sunday.  Mom is so stinkin’ talented and it was fun to look back and things she made when she was in her tole painting phase.

After all the fun and excitement, Autumn & I finally packed up all of our presents and came home to put them away and just unwind.  She wanted to watch Annie, and is definitely my daughter b/c she was enthralled w/ it just like I was when I was a kid.  It was a GREAT day full of family, fun, food, and faith.