Christmas Day 2008

We had a wonderful Christmas this year!  We decided to do only 3 presents per person, 1 fun, 1 practical and 1 spiritual.  That made shopping easier and it was fun to come up with ideas for each present.

We had decided to start opening presents at about 7:30 so we could be sure to be done in time to get to my parents house for the traditional breakfast which was at 9:00 this year.  Emma woke up earlier than I thought she would and was very excited to get going.  We had to wake Matthew up.  He was so tired and so cute!  Jan, Jenn, Tamara and Chris came over to do presents with us.   We had a really nice time and it was so fun to see Emma.  She really understood it this year and was so excited!

After opening presents, we went to my parents house.  While my dad and a couple of my brothers made a delicious breakfast, Daniel played with all the kids.  They all piled on him and tackled him.  Then he would do a push up and lift all the kids up and they would fall off.  It was really cute.  

After breakfast we opened presents from my parents and did the gift exchange among my brothers and sisters as well as one between all the grandchildren.  It was a lot of fun and at the end, Jon and Daniel had "special" presents for each other.  Jon gave Daniel a bunch of "Sunstate Rental" coupons as a joke because he had rented something from them instead of from us.  Then Daniel gave Jon a pair of sweat pants with Jon's company logo, "South Point Builders" in vinyl letters across the back end.  It was so funny, everyone was laughing so hard.  It was a really good joke!

Later that day, we just vegged and played with our new things.  We put the kids down early that night and watched the movie my parents gave us, "An Unlikely Mormon."  It is the conversion story of Glenn Beck and it was very funny!  We both liked it a lot!  It was a WONDERFUL day!

Matthew just after he woke up.  He was SO tired!!

Emma was so excited!  Matthew was still a little tired at this point!

Matthew didn't really get the whole opening presents thing.  He is still a little young.  He liked to pull of a piece of the wrapping paper and play with it.  He was so cute!

Daniel opening his "Graham Crackers."  It was actually his spiritual present, a scripture case.

Tamara gave Emma a play doctor set which she loved.  Here she is giving grandma a hug after opening it.

I guess he didn't like the present!   I just thought this face was so funny, I had to put it in.

Emma loved opening her presents this year and required very little help.

Daddy helping Bubbers open his "spiritual" present.  It was a "Little People" Noah's Ark play set.  Bubbers was more excited about the wrapping paper.

This was Emma's very favorite present.  It was a baby doll with a stroller, car seat, bassinet/rocking cradle, diaper bag, etc.  She loved this and played with it for hours at a time for several days after Christmas!  She still loves it and plays with it often.  It is cute to see her taking care of her little baby.

Here we are at my parents house.  All the kids are piled on Daniel and he is getting ready to do a push up.

Here is Emma opening her present from Ethan.  It was a kitty and she loved it!

Here are the South Point Builders sweat pants.  I think they were the funniest present this year!

This is Emma playing with the doctor kit that Tamara gave her.  She has played with that almost as much as she has played with her baby.  This was on Christmas night when she and daddy played "checking" for about an hour.  Daniel was so cute about it and she loved it!

Matthew with his favorite aunt!

Emma with her favorite aunt!