Christmas

Christmas 2009 was great--full of family and friends and memories. Sadly, my 18-55 mm lens was broken until after Christmas, and so I do not have many pictures. Mom took lots, but they are not downloaded yet. So Christmas is as follows this year:

Mom missed her Santa Claus picture last year because the line was way too long. However, she was determined to have one taken this year, no matter what. So the little guys suffered through more than an hour of waiting in line all for 3 minutes of picture taking.

I wrapped almost none of these presents this year (typically, I wrap almost EVERY single present, except a few that mom and dad want me to be "surprised" for. Last year I wrapped almost all of my own presents, but I knew what every single one was!). But regardless, the presents were wrapped and under the tree for the next morning! Just a small amount is shown in the picture, because the only lens I had at the moment was my big zoom lens, so I couldn't get the whole tree.

Every year, the little kids get really excited about Christmas Eve and reindeer food. It is sprinkled on the driveway so that the reindeer can be guided to our house.

Cute or Scary? Suzanne received a ringlet curler for Christmas this year, and we tried it out while in Va Beach at our Aunt's house. My verdict, cute!

A week before Christmas my Grandpa came to my house. While he was here, I was cooking cookies and using a spatula. He insisted that what I was using was called a turner. So for Christmas he ended up getting me a "slotted turner" as proof that he was right and I was wrong. So the next day, my aunt and I went to Target and the Dollar Tree, and found a "slotted spatula". I wrapped it up for him, and gave it to him for Christmas. Right now it's a tie. I need to find another slotted spatula.

What the pictures do not show is the crazy amount of i-Pod Touches that now belong to my family. Dad, Mom, Suzanne, and Gray are now all owners of them, and are complete junkies! Also, Ryan (the 3 year old) got a Nintendo DS for Christmas. So did Bryce.

Christmas 2009, come and gone. 2010 is now right around the corner.

Christmas

Every Christmas, we all get excited as we know Christmas presents and traditions are around the corner. Especially in the world we live in today, it is so easy to remember the presents and parties and great foods and fun traditions that come with Christmas, and it is also extremely easy to forget why we really are celebrating Christmas. Typically, the world thinks of these things around Christmas:


Rather than this:
We celebrate Christmas in order to remember the birth of our Savior and all he did for us in his mortal ministry. In Luke 2, we read the story of the birth of the Savior, such a commonly read story. It tells of Christ's birth and what He plans to do. He grows in wisdom and holds the grace of God with Him. The last verse reads: "52: And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man."

I am so grateful for this time of year, and for the opportunity that we have to celebrate our Savior and all He did for us. I am thankful for His perfect example and for the atonement, in which He suffered for me that I may try and become like Him.

This Christmas was wonderful. We gathered with our families and enjoyed opening and giving great gifts, eating delicious food, enjoyed the company of loved ones, and remembered our Savior.

Karaoke

Nobody in our family was exactly blessed with great singing genes. However, when we do sing, we try our best. Gray and Jacob sure did deliver.

Thanksgiving Photos... Just a Little Late

Thanksgiving came and went so fast and now it is Christmas!! I was able to post on Thanksgiving, but didn't have time to follow through with pictures. Now that it is break and all, I finally found the time. So enjoy. Refer to previous post for the stories that go along with all of the photos!

Family

Aunt Tara, Uncle Dave, Jonah

Brothers and Cousins

Sleeping Ryan

Best Friends


Thanksgiving Dinner

Little guys eating in the kitchen

Buffet table of food... not even all of it!

Rachel and Mom cooking!


Black Friday!

Every year we end Black Friday shopping with Breakfast at Ryan's. However, this year, they decided to end breakfast early and start switching over to lunch too soon--bad idea. As we, and 3 other groups, walked in (expecting some sausage, bacon, french toast, eggs, etc), we were rudely greeted and told that there was no more breakfast. As we were leaving, the manager came. We ended up eating at Bob Evan's. The above letter was a complaint written (jokingly) by my sister Rachel. We all got a laugh!

Traditional Breakfast... almost. This year it wasn't at Ryan's.

Grandma's total purchases!

FaBriC!!

Outside of Kohl's!

The line in Wal-Mart to wait for Game Stuff--us, we wanted DS's.

All the ads from the paper 2009

Each year Black Friday starts at Micheal's on Thanksgiving evening.

Hunting the ads with pens in our hands, ready to write down great deals!

Black Friday was very successful this year! After waiting hours in multiple lines, we obtained everything we were hunting for. I made out with tons of fabric, which I loved. We went to Wal-Mart, Kohls, Game Stop, Five Below, Dicks, Lowes, JoAnns, Target, and Micheal's. Another year down. Who's ready for next year?