Merry Christmas

For some reason, I can't sleep in this holiday break so I'm going to do something productive while my family are all sleeping -- blog about Christmas!

We had a great Christmas Eve. Like I mentioned earlier, Brandon worked from home that day. After Nicki left the girls came with me to run some errands. Isn't shopping on Christmas Eve the best? The crowds weren't that bad, everyone seemed to be in cheery moods, and there was only one spot of traffic that was a little difficult to maneuver. We stopped at Deseret Book to check out their Christmas sales. I got a cute little nativity to add to my collection (sorry, I didn't take a picture; maybe I'll add one later). Chloe picked out a book she wanted, and I bought "The Forgotten Carols" DVD since I'm not sure that I'll ever get to go see it.

We tried to stick with the Subway sandwiches on Christmas Eve tradition, but mixed it up a little this year and made our own. I splurged and got chips and soda (pomegranate 7-Up). Yes, buying my kids chips and soda will create fond memories of Christmas. Slaving over some fancy turkey dinner would create unhappiness -- I think for all 4 of us. After chores Brandon lit a fire that we enjoyed while reading the book Chloe picked out, "A Candle in the Window," drank egg nog, and then we watched "The Forgotten Carols." Sophie was a little worried about starting the fire, afraid that Santa would burn his butt when he came down the chimney, but Brandon assured her that we would get it all put out before going to bed. He did a good job.

Christmas morning we ate breakfast while Brandon read the Christmas story out of Luke. Then we opened our gifts -- a great big THANK YOU to everyone who sent stuff. Brandon made an apple pie that we snacked on. The afternoon was spent watching movies and playing games. Jason, Shalee and Eli stopped by. Then Brandon completed the demo work on the ceiling in the guest room. That's our next big project, and decided we'd use the few days Brandon has off of work to get it done (or at least started).

Yesterday we worked on our new puzzle and made a big trip to Lowe's. We got MOST of what we need for the room, but we had to break it up into two trips to use different coupons. We got all the plumbing stuff and different mouldings. We still need the drywall and painting supplies. Oh, and this was all after the big shoveling party. Brandon was so depressed that we weren't getting the big snow storm promised on Christmas, but it did start to snow that evening. We woke up yesterday morning to LOTS of snow. I got to wear my new coat outside, which kept me SO warm!