Christmas and all that Jazz

 Brace yourself.  This is a long one.

Christmas.  Let's begin with Christmas Eve.  We decorated gingerbread cookies, a family tradition.

You all should know by now that we spend a lot of time in pajamas around here.

Big sisters are da best:

Lu Lu Lainey in her "popular" dress.  Notice she put one small dab of frosting on each cookie.  Done!

Everett did a mighty fine job.  I think he got about 75% on the actual cookie:

We visited with Nick's parents that afternoon and the kids opened their presents.

It was really great to have new toys to keep them entertained on Christmas Eve.  They were thoroughly content while Nick and I slaved away on our turkey dinner.  20 lb. turkeys take a long time to bake.  By the time we ate, at about 8 or so, my kids and I were quite hangry (a word that applies often in our home).  It was delicious, though.  

The kids were so excited to open Grammy jammies:

It's also become tradition for the Uncle Nate reading of the Cajun Night Before Christmas.

 And then, off to bed!

Christmas morning was magical.  And, we are all believers around here.  We even saw reindeer footprints in the snow.  Proof.

Daisy, so excited for her princesses:

Everett got the remote control helicopter of his dreams:

 Which, one week later, is not functioning properly.  Surprise, surprise.

Maren was surprised to get a camera/camcorder and has been snap happy ever since:

Lu's favorite gift was this cute little jewelry box with wind-up music box and ballerina.  She'd get this sweet little smile every time she opened the box and saw her tiny ballerina there twirling her heart out.  A sweet smile kind of like this (although I couldn't catch the real deal):

The aftermath:

The mama and papa:

 I'm sporting some of my new goods.  I'm a goof ball.  Proud of it.

We love that Uncle Nate comes and spends the night and Christmas morning with us.  The kids love it too.

And what could be more magical then waking up Christmas morning to a foot of snow?

And, more magic:

 We've lived in our current home for just over 4 years now, and every Christmas Eve, we've gotten a secret delivery.  A big pile of brand new books.  How cool is that?  Very cool, if you ask this book lover.

The favorite present:

 Nick and I have had 11 Christmases together, and this was my favorite of them all.  Why?  Because we did NOTHING!!  I stayed in my jammies all day, played with the kids in the snow, sledded, shoveled the driveway (because I wanted to), watched movies, took a nap, played games, and ate too much sugar.  We stayed home and just enjoyed being together.  The kids were completely and thoroughly content with all the new fun things.  It was the best.  This will continue.

And then, this whole last week was vacation time.  No school, no work.  This makes for late nights, sleeping in, eating way too much, games and movies, and ignoring the state of the house.  Monday is going to be rough, rough, rough.

Some highlights:  

My nephew's mission farewell.  I am so proud of these kids.  My family has 6 missionaries out right now.  Two in the same mission!  How cool is that!?  I pray every day that they will be protected from harm and that they, and the people they contact, will come closer to their Heavenly Father.  Good things happen on missions.  Good things.

Star Wars The Force Awakens.  Very cool.  I may have teared up a little as the Star Wars title came up on the screen with the famous theme music.  Of course, I tear up a lot lately, and no I'm not pregnant.  This is a part of who I am.  I'm accepting it.

Going running with my dear, dear, dear friend, Lisa.  What would I do without you?  She took me out to lunch as well.  She owed me because the two of us had a little friendly "healthy December" challenge and I won.  By one flimsy little point.  But really, we were both winners because both of us lost weight, a bit over a pound a week.  In December.  We are that awesome.

We actually stayed awake this year to see the New Year roll on in.  We got to spend New Years Eve with some good friends and we all had a blast playing games, chatting and eating food (or running around like madmen if you are under the age of 12).  We came home, watched the fireworks all over the valley and snapped a photo to prove that we could do it:

 Party animals.  That's what we are.  Of course, the next morning, Nick and I both woke up with headaches.  We can't handle all this partying in our ever-increasing age.

We spent New Year's Day playing in the snow at the farm with cousins:

 My man, looking all steamy hot.  ;)

 It was FREEZING (below freezing, actually), but the kids lasted for several hours, being pulled on the sled and going down a little hill Grandpa had pushed up for them.  I was proud of myself for getting on the four-wheeler myself and flipping the kids off their sled a time or two.  Who's counting?  It was fun.

Wait, you know it's coming.

 Yep, there it is.  I'm sure my mom is so proud.

We finished the day with homemade pizza, root beer floats (cause we weren't cold enough?), and games all around.  I came home happy.  What a fun day.

And, just because this post isn't long enough, here's a little of Ellie's birthday celebration (she'll be 10 in 2 days!  TEN!!!  That's two digits!!).

Last year, we went to Color Me Mine for her birthday, and she had so much fun she wanted to do it again.  She could've brought anyone along with her, and she chose Everett.  Ah, sweet.  :)

Ellie with her mug:

Everett with his robot bank:

And one with all four of them: