Christmas 2011

We have had quite a festive week. We made gingerbread houses and trains, had carolers, attended Christmas parties, and made and received lots and lots of good things to eat. It has been a lot of fun, but it has dragged on due to our excitement for Christmas morning.  I found myself even more excited then the kids. I even found that I was the one who laid awake Christmas eve full of anticipation for the excitement of the next morning, and quite a morning it was. Our house was sure full of Christmas spirit! 

A few days before Christmas we found out that Santa's "Elks", (as Hudson calls them), like treats just as much as Santa. We also learned that if you leave treats out for them and are very nice while you sing Christmas songs and get your jamies on, the elks will bring you a fun game to play with your family. We sure had a lot of fun playing the game they brought us.

Can you believe we went to the park on Christmas Eve.  How sad is that!?
We sure missed the snow, but we did enjoy the sunshine.

The more excited Hudson got for Santa to come the more he seemed to test the limits of the naughty or nice list.  We saw a lot of the Charlie Brown pout in all its mopey glory. The first picture is a pout that followed Hudson exclaiming,
 "Ohh Christmas will never come!"

Christmas eve was full of fun family traditions.

I made a Palmer family traditional dinner of chicken noodle soup with mashed potatoes.

We performed a traditional Powell family birth of Jesus production. 

  

We also opened a small gift with treats and each of the kids got a Christmas book for us to read to them before bed.





Aunt Kim sent us a very fun advent calendar or the twelve days of Christmas.  Each day the kids took turns opening a small present that held an idea for a Christmas activity or small gift for the kids.  She also took the time to make the girls cute little Christmas hair decorations. The kids looked forward to it each day and kept close track of who would be the one to open the present. Hudson was thrilled to get to open the last one.

 We made and decorated cookies to put out for Santa. Hudson colored him a picture of a train and left it with the cookies just in case Santa forgot what he wanted. Then we hurried to bed so that Santa could come. I don't think the kids have ever fallen asleep so quickly.

Jake and I sat back and felt so much gratitude for the three precious gifts that were slumbering in their beds.

We thought about Heavenly Father's gift of his son on the first Christmas, and we felt his love so strong as we looked at our sweet sleeping children. Sometimes it is hard believe just how blessed we are.

The next morning the kids came and snuggled us in bed and then we all went out together to see if Santa had made it to our house.  Sure enough, he had filled our stockings, left us gifts and eaten our cookies.  There was even a little note for Hudson.

Each gift that was opened brought a burst of joy!

 Every gift Ellie opened got a big snuggle and love.



Little Autumn slept through most of the Christmas morning excitement. Her brother and sister even opened all of her gifts for her. We were sure happy to get to share her first Christmas with her even if she didn't know it was Christmas.
 I look forward to seeing her face light up with excitement next year. 

We all received so many wonderful gifts that were truly enjoyed.  Our families really spoiled us this year!  

Ellie was quite the little princess in these dress up clothes Aunt Jenny sent her.

 After the present opening extravaganza, we wolfed down some cake for breakfast. (Hudson had insisted that since it was Jesus birthday we needed to have a cake for him. Although, we never have a very hard time coming up with reasons for cake!) Then we got dressed in our new church clothes and headed to the church where Hudson got to sing to us with the primary. The wonderful Christmas music brought such a strong spirit and helped to make our day even more special.

 The rest of the day was spent talking to family and enjoying the day with friends. We are blessed to have so many good people in our lives.  We really missed our wonderful family back in Utah.  It was so nice to get to visit with them on the phone and computer.

One gift I was especially excited about was our new "indoor fire pit".  The Palmer's sent us this smore maker, so now we can enjoy the fun of a camp fire whenever we get the urge.....which for me, is often.

It was a wonderful Christmas indeed. We owe so much thanks to our family's who sent us gifts to make it even more special.  The only problem now is that the kids seen to think that Christmas should come everyday.  They can't seem to wrap their heads around the fact that they have to wait a whole year to enjoy it again. I'm sure it will come faster then we all expect.