Christmas

Honestly this Christmas season has been a little exhausting for me.  Or should I say, the last two months have been exhausting.  I think it was a combination of having recently moved here and having all of the holidays after Oct. 27, mixed with getting a job and working, spending a lot of time not only Christmas shopping but shopping for winter clothes for 5 people that haven't experienced cold weather for 2 years, and doing all of the other things you have to do when settling into a new place with school, church, etc.  I survived though and we had a nice Christmas Eve and Day.  I am looking forward to things slowing down now though.  :)

Before bed on Christmas Eve, Rhea graced us with reading a book that Grandma B gave us about the first nativity.  That girl will do anything to have an audience while she reads to her "students."  In her dramatic (and untrue) way, she said, "This is exciting!  I've never had an audience while I read!"  We listen to her read all the time, but truly it is never enough in her mind.  She wants to take over all reading of scriptures, our family book like Harry Potter that we're reading together, etc.  It's cute.  :)

 After the reading, we finished off the twelve day ornaments that Grandma B. gave us a few years ago.  We had a nice meaningful discussion about Christ and all of those involved in the birth and early days of the Savior's life.  The kids then got to open their traditional Christmas Eve present of pajamas.  They loved them because they were "sooooo cozy!"

 Christmas morning, the kids waited for us in their room.  We actually duct taped their door shut fearing that they could come out and see everything on their way to get us in our bedroom (the family room is set in between the two rooms).  Bri set our alarm for 6am but for some reason it didn't go off, so at 6:30am, when we told the kids we would come and get them, we heard the kids and their excited squeals, and woke up.  We hurried to get dressed and met the kids in their room.  I made them line up youngest to oldest (another family tradition) as far away from their doorway as possible, so they had the feeling of anticipation a little longer (when we had stairs in Utah, they had to line up at the top of the stairs, and in Angola, they had a long hallway to run down).

 The kids were excited and tore into their stockings!  Savvy was given things horse related with her love of horses, Rhea was given a desk for her doll and a classroom backdrop for the doll as she plays teacher, and Thomas had asked for a drone.  Santa was good to them!

A few of the wrapped gifts from grandparents (we appreciate all of the money, gift cards, etc that were given as well--so generous!!!):

 One of my favorite things about Christmas is seeing the kids make gifts or buy gifts for each other without prodding from mom or dad.  And I love the reactions!  Savvy received a promise of 10 hugs each month from Thomas.  As you can see from the picture, this has made Savvy very happy because Thomas typically doesn't like to hug her (she tends to hug with a lot of love--too much for Thomas ;) ).  It was a thoughtful gift, something that he knew she would want!

 Savannah and Thomas both gave gymnastics leotards to Rhea even though she's not enrolled in official classes.  She just LOVES gymnastics and has a friend that teaches her things.

Thomas knew also about Rhea's love of emojies, so using the melting beads, he created some for her along with her name.  She loved them!

Thomas has been patiently waiting for a soccer ball to kick around Oakwood.

We love our new "Europe" puzzle from Uncle Gord and Aunt Katrina's family that's living in Sweden right now waiting for us to move to Riga.  ;)  We can't wait to be close to them!And Bri loved his new personalized leather toiletries bag and catchall for his things.  I am still finding him stopping and taking the time to smell them.  He loves leather.  :)

Thomas loves his new camera as well.  This guy gets really creative with videos he makes--family videos, stop motion with legos or whatever, etc.  He's been using our 10 year old point and shoot that has been perfect for his projects, but it finally died recently, so we thought we better give him something to keep up his creativity.

Rhea gave Savannah a ring-pop she got for Halloween.  She's been saving it for her specifically for Christmas knowing how much she loves them!

And while Christmas shopping for me on ebay, Bri found a little Buddah head with different expressions of emotions depicted on four sides.  He loved it so much that he bought it for himself.  Funny enough, I bought him a Buddha board so now he and his Buddah head can go Zen out together.

After enjoying our present giving and getting, we got ready for church.  Bri and Thomas performed a musical number together with their Irish whistles.  I was proud of them for being willing to contribute to the program and they did a great job!  It sounded great in the chapel with the microphone too.  I recorded them when we got home to preserve the memory of the performance and the times they practiced together:

After church we ate a quick dinner and headed to the LDS Washington, D.C. temple to see the Festival of Lights (pics are in another post).  It was a wonderful way to end our Christmas Day!  We feel so blessed for the gift of the Savior in our lives and the tender mercies He and our Heavenly Father have blessed us with.  We know we fall so short of these blessings and yet they keep coming...