It's Christmas!!!!

On Christmas eve it is tradition to head over to grandma Griggs house. She makes Christmas pj's for the grandkids as a gift to open up on Christmas eve. We have decided to keep all of the jammies from previous Christmases and one day cut them into squares to make a quilt. It will be super cute!

After grandmas, we came home and made cookies for Santa and put out reindeer food. This year Bailey reminded us that since we have new carpet, that we really need to write a note to Santa to let him know to take off his boots before he steps on the carpet. She wanted Morgan to put the note she wrote on the chimney lol

Cookies for Santa. And of course Santa always gets coke to drink with his cookies :)

Our Christmas morning started out bright and early this year, 4:45 to be exact! I swear it's payback from when I used to do this very same thing to my mom and brother.
It's
been tradition for years that the kids all sleep together in Logan's room on Christmas eve. When one kid gets up, they all wake up :) At 4:30 I was laying in bed wondering what time it was. Our alarm clock is so bright, that we have to cover it with a pillow. Of course the alarm clock is on Morgan's side of the bed so I never know what time it is. Anyway, I hear one of the kids run to the stairs and run back to Logan's room. I knew they were checking to see what time it was. (Our rule is that the kids have to wait for an adult to go down stairs to check out what the big man had brought) I decided to wake Morgan up and have him check what time it was. Well it was only 4:49. No sooner than a min or two, the clan comes quietly into our room. Bailey says, mom it's only ten min away from 5 can we get up PLEASE!!!??? It didn't take much to get me up, but then I realized I had to get Avery up. We couldn't start Christmas with out her. I go into her room and start to whisper her name. She doesn't budge. So then I start to rub her back and still nothing. I had to pick her up and try to keep the kids from running in screaming. I knew that would put her in a bad mood. While I was getting Avery, the kids went down stairs where Morgan was setting up the video camera and I missed getting pics of their stockings before they attacked them. Oh well.


Santa brought pillow pets all around. Just what they asked for. Carson got a bumble bee. Avery got a purple unicorn. Logan got a penguin. And Bailey got a panda bear.

Avery was not sure what to do. Once she figure out that there was candy in her stocking, there was no stopping her!
Santa is so smart. He brings tooth brushes for all the stockings. It's a good thing to since the kids get so much candy in their stockings.
It's dads job to hand out the gifts. The rule is you can't open your gift until everyone has one to open.
Here was Bay's last gift. She had NO idea about this one :)
Here she is when she realized what it was.
A PINK nano!!
She wanted one last year but Morgan had just lost his job. So this year with the help of grandma, were able to get her one.
Logan's last gift was a remote control helicopter. You can tell by the look on his face that he had no idea he was going to get what he asked for.
Carson wanted a BIG Buzz for Christmas. This guy came by mail on the 23rd! Talk about cutting it close!!
I love this picture of Avery in action. She didn't know what to do with so many gifts. I like how she is trying to open two gifts at once in this picture lol
Avery got some princess shoes, two princess dolls, a tea set and some felt food for her play kitchen.
The after math!! Yikes!

Our Christmas was wonderful. There is nothing better than spending time with family. It's been a new tradition the last few years to have Nana and Nano over for gifts and breakfast. This year we had some Peruvian food Luis made called empanadas. Let's just say they are heavenly. With that I made bacon, orange rolls, and a funky casserole that I wont ever try to make again.
(it didn't turn out) My bad ;) After breakfast we were off to grandma house for gifts. Of course all the kids ended up falling a sleep in the car. Huh, wonder why?
This Christmas was sure of fun one. The kids had a great time opening gifts and giving their gift to Jesus this year. I really think they were able to grasp the true meaning of Christmas. I'm so grateful for this time of year. It helps bring into perspective what family is all about and why we celebrate Christmas. I love my Savior and I'm grateful for his gift of love and mercy.

2012

It's official. Morgan is going back to school. Starting January 3rd, he will be a full time student, provider and a family man of 6. It will be tough for the entire family, but it will be well worth it in the end. We are hoping Morgan will be done with his bachelors in the summer of 2012. Morgan is a bit nervous to be called "gramps" at school. I reminded him about the guy who asked which high school he went to just last month :) I think he will be fine! All I can say is I better enjoy these last few weeks of my man being home for dinner.

Our new Christmas tradition

I think we may have found a new Christmas tradition this year!! Last year Bailey sang at the Davis Conference Center with Choral Collection. She performed for their breakfast with Santa event. It was so neat to see that we decided to actually participate in the breakfast this year instead of sitting in the back just watching the entertainment. I'm so gald we did!

There was so much food I couldn't believe it. There was fruit, sausage, bacon, eggs, hash browns, pancakes, french toast, bagels and Morgan's favorite, the omelet station.

They had a kids breakfast table with mac and cheese, mini corn dogs, slices of french toast that were perfect for dipping into syrup.

I loved the atmosphere. The lights were dim, Christmas lights every where, Christmas music playing, tons of entertainment, and lots of fun Christmas decorations!! I liked how we got our very own table.

After we ate there were plenty of things to do. Cookie decorating was a big hit with Carson. I swear there was more frosting on his face then on the cookie.

My favorite, I mean the kids favorite thing was the candy table! The kids got to fill bags with as much candy as they wanted.

The table had baskets and jars full of chocolate, taffy, candy canes, tootsie rolls and laffy taffy.
As we were sitting down to eat they had a marching band come and walk Santa in to join us. Here we are waiting in line to see the big man him self.
Avery was a little scared of Santa so Bailey just held her on her lap.
I couldn't pass up a family pic with Santa! Too bad the lighting wasn't the best for pics.
Santa gave each of the kids a stuffed animal and a candy cane. What a nice guy :)

While we ate they had Christmas characters and magicians walking around stopping at tables doing magic tricks.

Mr. Elf

Avery was so scared when she first saw the Grinch. She covered her ears and cried. Logan came to the rescue while the mean mom took a picture :)

The kids had so much fun. I can't wait to do this again next year.

Ggma!

Ggma came for a visit from Cali and stayed with us for two days. The kids just LOVED having her here (I did too) It was a fun filled weekend. We started the first night off by making a gingerbread house and homemade caramel. Two things gg has never done before! The house turned out great, but the caramel, well lets just say we need some more practice :) It took us about three hours and it still didn't set right. Soft ball stage my eye!

All finished!
Our night ended with a story and the movie Christmas paws. The boys didn't make it through the story! This is how the kids sleep when gg stays over. The three older kids sleep right in bed with her. I have no idea how gg gets any sleep.

Making snowflakes

In the morning we went to the mall to see the big man. The kids all asked for pillow pets :) I asked for a car. Wonder if I'll get one?

After we came home we make some chocolate chip cookies.
Avery loved eating the cookie dough

We sure love it when gg comes to visit.