Our Happy Holdays

We really had a great Christmas and New Years this season. We got to spend a lot of time together, do some fun activities, and start new traditions.

I really love the holidays, and it is a MUST that the Christmas tree and decorations go up the day after Thanksgiving. So, after shopping a few Black Friday sales, where I got half of my shopping done, the boys and I decked the halls. I let the boys decorate their own "Santa Tree" downstairs, and I always do my pretty tree upstairs. In the midst of an already crazy weekend, Ben was busy hooking up our new present. We got a 32" flatscreen for our bedroom, since we got such a crazy deal on it. And anyone who knows me, knows that I would never have the patience to wrap it and put it under the tree and leave it for a month. We just hooked it up and enjoyed it knowing that we weren't going to get anything else for Christmas.....

Well, that was the plan anyways. We ended up getting totally spoiled like always. We spent Christmas Eve hopping houses to visit everyone. We started out by visiting my Grandparents on the way down to SLC. We had some close calls with my Grandma this year, and was told on more than one occasion not to expect her to live. I am so grateful that she defied those doctors and worked hard to make a recovery. Just getting to see her and hug her on Christmas was the best gift I got this year by a long shot.

After that, we stopped by to visit my mom. We exchanged gifts and watched the craziness ensue by both my boys and her two kittens. I don't know what the boys liked more-playing with their presents, or playing with the kitties! Every time I visit my mom, I get close to caving in and getting the boys a cat, but it only takes a day or so to come to my senses :)

We made our final stop at my Dad's place for a Christmas Eve dinner with all the kids. This is the first time since my Dad and Stepmom got married 8 years ago that all of their kids were together at the same time. It was a great time, and again, we got spoiled with gifts. We put the boys in their new jammies and headed home to sleep (or try to sleep) in our own beds.

Ben and I were totally excited for Christmas morning, but somehow managed to get to sleep by midnight. We were hoping to sleep in a little, but CJ came in around 5 am. We tried (not very hard) to get him to go back to sleep in our bed, but we were all too giddy. At 5:30 we went into B's room and woke him up. That's right. I woke up my child at 5:30 in the morning to open gifts! We all got really spoiled again. I got Ben an illustrated edition of his favorite book 1776. He surprised my with an upconvert player for our HDTV in our bedroom! B got his much anticipated Lego Indiana Jones 2 for the Wii. I think CJ had the most fun of all. He got his "little cart" shopping cart that he wanted, as well as a play kitchen and play food. B got him a play cash register, and now the boys play store together.

Following the morning madness at our house, we all took a much needed nap before heading over to my mother-in-laws house for Christmas dinner and even more gift giving. My boys had fun running all over the house with their 5 other cousins, and the adults enjoyed good food and conversation late into the evening.

This Christmas was truly fun and exciting. This has definately been the first year since Ben and I got married that our holidays were not on a shoestring budget. That, however, was not the highlight or even the important part of our celebrations. I count the fact that we were all healthy, together, and happy as the best gift of Christmas.