Second Christmas

Or should I call it the Utah Christmas? I don't know. 

Either way it was wonderful (despite the upset tummies we were all battling). 

Before I talk about Christmas Day I want to quickly talk about Christmas Eve. 

This year Christmas Eve was with my family. 

(Which I forgot my camera, darn it... so sorry, no pictures)

My sister is gracious enough to host it at her house (which is great because there is lots of space for the kids to run around). 

After eating a delicious dinner we played our traditional "Hide the thimble game" and then moved on to our Christmas Talent show. 

We've been doing this for years, and yet every year someone (usually one of my brothers *cough*Pat*cough*) swears that we've never done this before. 

This year we helped Sarah to learn the Primary song "Picture a Christmas" We started practicing in early December to help Sarah to understand the true meaning of Christmas. Anyway, we sang in the car as we ran errands, at night before bed, while we were getting dinner ready. all of the time. So when it came time to preform she knew it perfectly and did a wonderful job. She enjoyed the attention SO much that she didn't want to give up the spotlight. 

She also wanted to sing the Beatles "Ticket to Ride" but that didn't really end up working out. 

Ryan preformed a cool Jon Schmidt song he practiced hard to learn. 

My talent wasn't actually finished in time to really oo and aw over, but for my talent I worked on my crochet skills and knit all of the cousins owl hats for Christmas. I'll post about those later. 

After those who wanted to share a talent were done my mother read her Christmas story that she wrote for the year and shared a thought and a little gift with each of us. 

I love my mother's stories. 

She is always too critical of them and thinks they are silly, but I look forward to them every year. 

I mean how many mothers write a new story to share with their families on Christmas Eve!

We then did our gift exchange and that was pretty much it for the evening. 

I love hanging out with my family. They are so much fun. 

Christmas Day

Since we were staying at my parents house Santa stopped by there and filled some stockings and left little presents there for the girls to discover that morning. 

Here is our classic stair shot, looking lovely as ever. 

The spread. 

The main gift was originally just going to be the super hero capes (which Santa stayed up until 6am finishing Christmas morning...with a little elf who stayed up helping until 2 or 3am (thanks again mom!)) 

But, my mom found the Kirstin doll at the DI (naked but in beautiful condition) and I had an old Samantha doll (who had an extra outfit to share) that I left behind when we moved, and so we decided to add it to the Christmas morning surprise. It was fun, even though it will probably be a couple of years until the girls really begin to enjoy them. 

Abby was pretty thrilled about them. She ran right over and snagged them up!

Both of the girls were pretty hungry so we took a quick pause to let them eat a banana.

Back to the presents. 

The girls tried on their capes and loved them!

Sarah got a cape that was Superman on one side, and Wonderpets on the reverse.

And Abby got a Batman and Princess cape. 

I, er "Santa" used costume silk for the fabric, so they are silky and move like real super hero capes. 

The insignias were cut out from felt, layers fused together and then fused and sewn onto the capes 

(my helper elf, aka my mom, sewed the signs... THANK YOU!)

My favorite part about this cape design is that there is no tie, snap or velcro to do up. The neck line is completed with an elastic band, so the girls can just slip them on and off all by themselves. It pretty much rocks (except for the fact that I didn't have the girls to test out the size on before hand, so I had to resize it after so they could get it off and on easier, I made it a tad too small the first time)

The girls then opened their presents from G'ma & G'pa Newey.

Abby got a book that my parents narrated, and an adorable set of Max & Ruby dolls.  

Sarah got a Calico Critters house. She loves it! 

And the little bunny doll looks like Ruby, so she loved it even more!

I just thought Abby looked hilarious in this picture!

We then hurried off to the Stephenson's home so that we could chat with Ryan's brother Chris on the phone. Chris is serving his mission in Brazil right now. 

Then on to more presents with G'ma & G'pa Stephenson.

Abby got a shopping cart (that is adored by all children that come to our house) and a ball popper. 

I love this ball popper. It doesn't make the loud air blowing noise that I've seen others do, and it plays music, which my little singer Abby loves! 

Her favorite thing to do is put her face right down where the balls come out and let them hit her in the face. Here is her reaction afterward. 

Sarah got a book with a gazillion little Toy Story figures and a remote control Strawberry Shortcake car. 

Her is Grandpa Mark helping Sarah get the batteries in. 

It was a very fun and relaxing Christmas day. The girls played with their new toys, had fun chasing the kitty and spending lots of time giggling with G'ma & G'pa. I took a long nap to sleep off my late night. We vegged the entire day and enjoy every second. It was perfect!