Merry Christmas!

Wow! What a busy two days we've had here at the Jones home. Yesterday, on Christmas Eve, we started the day with my daycare kids. Trying to keep all the kids calm was pretty much impossible. They were so excited and hyper all morning long! After they left, I got our boys to take naps (amazing, huh?) before heading downtown to see the lights at Temple Square with my folks.  We took Trax downtown, and it was freezing! The boys were so excited to ride the train though. Can you tell?

The visitors center was closed, so we couldn't go inside to warm up while we waited for the lights to be turned on. We did listen to the Navitity story and walked around some once the lights came on. We didn't stay long though, I was too cold & had a headache coming on.

After Temple Square we loaded the boys into the van and headed to Uncle Russ's house. Daniel just wanted to go home so he could go to bed for Santa to come. We had dinner at Russ's and read a letter from Santa with their family and Gary's parents. We exchanged gifts with their family, the boys each got a new matchbox car and a squishy ball. We were there until about 9 pm, then we took the boys home. They each got new pajamas (which I failed to get wrapped), then off to bed. I have never seen two boys so excited to go to bed. They did remember to leave cookies and milk for Santa though. Daniel even wrote a note for Santa, so he would know they were for him. The boys fell asleep quickly, and Gary and I stayed up until midnight finishing our Christmas wrapping, etc.

On normal mornings, Daniel knows he isn't allowed to get out of bed before 7 a.m. They have a digital clock in their bedroom to ensure this happens (and it works!) Christmas morning about 6:15 Daniel started knocking on our bedroom door - "Mama! Papa! Santa came!" So, even though we were tired and I had a migraine, how could we resist? We got up, got the other boys up and opened presents. All three boys had a great time opening gifts. They each got a new comforter from Santa for their beds, a new church outfit, and books, toys, etc. Evan was a master at opening candy. He opened and ate his chocolate Santa and had two fistfuls of Swedish fish by the time Gary caught him. Gary got a fly fishing rod & reel from Santa and I got some cooking implements. I got a beater blade for my KitchenAid mixer that I am excited about. It will make making frosting a ton easier!

After presents I went back to bed to see if I could get rid of the migraine. Gary let me sleep for a couple of hours, until it was time for our Christmas brunch. Gary & the boys watched a movie (Gary napped through part of it) & played with new toys while I slept. We hope to make it a tradition to have family over for brunch on Christmas morning. We had our parents, Gary's brothers Craig & Eric, Craig's son Jason, Eric's wife Leia and her Mom over this time. We had lots of good food and the boys loved showing everyone their Christmas gifts. After everyone left, the boys took a nap while I made more food for dinner. Then we headed to Gary's parent's house. There we opened gifts with Craig & Jason, Eric & Leia and Granny & Opa. Gary got a Volcano stove from his parents and the boys each got a fun toy. Daniel got his first real Lego set from Granny & Opa.

Following our time at Granny & Opa's house we headed to my sister's house and had dinner and opened gifts. I love Christmas ham dinner! We opened gifts from Grandma & Grandpa & Aunts and came away feeling very spoiled. We are so blessed with great families! We had a couple of sick kiddos - Jack wasn't feeling well by the time we got to Granny & Opa's house and Shelly's little boy had pink eye, but we all survived. No pink eye at our house yet (knock on wood).

Saturday we picked up & assembled a set of bunk beds for Evan. Then we rearranged the boys room. Evan was so excited about his bunk beds - he was dancing around inside the frame as we were setting it up. That evening we went back to Granny and Opa's to see Keith & Kathy and their family, and ... open gifts!

It was a great holiday weekend - even if it was super busy. We love spending time with our families and our boys. Christmas is so fun with kids!