Christmas Morning 2010

Our kiddies gave the first present of all by not waking Court or I up until 8:00 am to begin the festivities. And shockingly they were so patient as they waited for mommy to grab her camera to take pictures before the choas begins!

So here it is BEFORE the unveiling. Of course Santa's gifts were left out unwrapped with their tags....

To: Delainee
From: Santa
"What a good girl you have been this year!"

To: Laetner
From: Santa
"Woot, woot you stayed on the nice list!"
(laetner had been very concerned that he wouldn't make it)


To: Waverly
From: Santa
"You don't know how close you came to being on the NAUGHTY list!"

Down the hallway 1st was Waverly, who seems to have the same reaction as last year---she just doesn't get that Christmas morning is a good thing...Luckily daddy is always there to help her see the light.



Then came Laetner...


and finally Delainee


we spent some time reading the tags and enjoying all that Santa had left us(including the stockings,)



See this last shot??? That is the only PROOF that I was even in attendance on Christmas morning. At least I brought my candy cane inspired pedicure to the party...


and then we began into the 'rounds'

Outside of our gift from Santa, each family member gives everyone one gift. This makes up the four rounds of Christmas. In each round each person gets to open one gift. To help keep track of things each person wrapped their gifts in their own special wrapping paper---thank you Target Dollar Bins.

All presents that Delainee wrapped were in the polka-Dot paper. Laetner's were wrapped in the striped/Lined paper. Waverly's had the Words on it. Mommy's were snowflakes, and Daddy had the 'crazy' paper. I know it seemed cheesy, but it was so cute when the kids would immediately recognize who it was from and already be thanking them or being excited to see what a certain person had given someone else. Seemed to help it be a little less about, me, me, me and more about EVERYONE!

Laetner was especially happy with a little tent that Delainee had given to him. He immediately gave the box and Delainee a great big hug! Ü


and I missed my oppurtunity to have on record the words "You are the best mommy ever!" to actually come out of his mouth. **SIGH** He still wins the prize for showing the best Christmas spirit and excitement!

As usual, Court and Waverly steal the show...


Outside of EVERYONE having a bit of a cold, Christmas was aboslutely wonderful. We spent the rest of the day playing card games, board games, putting together puzzles, tyring out a new waffle maker, enjoying our new spoils, and of course a 'little' bit of wii playing--Elfis had taken our wii to Santa and he returned it to Daddy on Christmas morning with a 'few' modifications.Ü

What a great Christmas! Only 364 days left until next year right??? Ü

Phew!

Luckily Elfis DID gain his magic back, and he continued to report back to Santa until Christmas eve. On Christmas morning we found him near the scene of the the 'crime' and he had found his way back into his box, ready to put away until next year.


Not sure if he went back into his box on his own accord or if he was ordered there by the big guy after his devouring of milk and cookies.

Christmas Eve

We invited my parents over for a small Christmas Eve dinner. My first try at a ham and basically Thanksgiving all over again. We ate dinner, opened up pillow cases from grandma, played a few rounds of chicken foot dominos, and then Delainee gave her first solo performance on cello--accompanied by her mother of course!



What a nice evening. Papa and Grandmas headed home and the kiddies opened up the traditional Christmas Eve jammies to nestle all snug in their wee little beds to await St. Nick and his ELVES!

Tangled

So stinking cute!!!

Thank you Disney for finally bringing us some cute songs and a fun story!!! Best---Day---EVAH!!!! Ü Delainee, Laetner and myself decided to head out to the movies on Chrismtas Eve, Eve. Court told us we better get to the theater EARLY or there was no way we would get a seat. We did as we were told, showed up a half hour early, and FOUGHT the one other family sitting in the theater for our seats!

Near the end of the movie I got a little teary, so I looked down at Delainee to see how she was handling things. She was trying to hide her face with her hair so noONE could see her crying---but I caught her in the act. Once the movie was over she asked if I had cried. I told her that yes I got a little teary, and she admitted that she had indeed cried a little bit as well. "But don't worry mom, I only cry when I watch it the first time in the theater, I won't cry when I watch it again on dvd!"

Good to know....

Christmas Lights Traditions Part II

Of course we have to hit the Temple Lights as well, and oddly enough (just like last year) it was raining. But our night devoted to the Temple Lights also has a few other must sees.

First stop the house of the inflatables. There is this random house just off of Lindsay between Baseline and Guadalupe that has the most inflatables on the planet! We found it by accident last year and it is now a must see. Just south of these houses is a neighborhood we always drive by as well becuz the whole block is pretty spectacular. Then we also have to run by 2540 to see the huge snowman. 2540 is our first little house that bought, and in that neighborhood there was this house that would put up this HUGE snomman with a twinkling eye that you could see from Baseline. It now appears that the other houses in the circle have caught on to the Christmas spirit, cuz now along with the snowman the houses in the entire circle outdo themselves, there is a huge star, and a live Santa. Like I mentioned previously it was raining that night, and not many people were actually getting out of there cars, but there were 4 elves (dressed from the green outfit to the striped stocking) that were coming out to people's cars with umbrellas.

Next stop: Cherry Tree Lane in Gilbert. Yet one more neighborhood where an entire circle seems to outdo themselves. This one (sad to say) was a little sad this year. Not sure if it was becuz of the rain, but while we could see that decorations and lights did exist, not everyone had remembered to actually turn them on--BOOO!

Then comes the annual stop for hot cocoa. We stopped at QT, where everyone filled their cups and then the kids went CRAZY with all the flavor add ins. I think Delainee ended up with a french vanilla, butter pecan, and I went for the french vanilla with a shot of cinnamon hazelnut AND amaretto.

Finally we made it to the temple, where the rain had FINALLY died down a bit, but still was drizzling.

(Poor Wavee looks like a mental patient with that bandaid on her head)

Christmas Card Greetings from Our House!

I had this great idea for our Christmas card this year. Well, actually Shelby (who takes the BEST pictures) had found some SUPER cute templates ---one of which was a circle, double sided, BEAUTIFUL card. Only problem was that they were a wee bit expensive. "Okay, I will order a few doublesided beauties for family, and then the rest I will go the Costco route and just cut the circles by hand"---great idea, right????

Ummm, NIGHTMARE!!!!

But after much wailing and gnashing of teeth, my VERY nice hubby offers to cut the circles for me if I will just 'hurry up with the addressing and stamping and get them sent out already!'

He did, and I think he did a much better job on his 100 than I did on my measly 25---I ruined 3 in the process.

Thank you Court, and please remind me next year how FUN this was so I don't make the same mistake TWICE!!!! Ü

A Whole Lot o Huggin' Going On

Sunday December 19th was one JAMMED pack evening o fun! We started off with homemade chicken noodle soup---a Mama Maurio specialty. After dinner came the grandkid gift exchange. We were all just gathering around on the couches to watch the kiddies begin their exchange when we hear a ruckus coming from behind the couch, and then a child start to sob uncontrollably. The child??? You guessed it---Miss Naughty Pants. Someone had opened up the window to let some cold air in and Wavee was pushing against the screen with enough force that it popped out and she went through the window head first to the cement below.

Daddy picked her up and just held her on the couch, but the sobbing would not stop, and then suddenly she was OUT!

I have NEVER had this child fall asleep on me ANYWHERE outside of her own bed. Slightly frightening. Luckily Court's brother Dr. Fischbeck was in the house to take a quick look at her and he said she was fine, no concussion---WHEW!

Picture doesn't do it justice--the swelling was the overwhelming part. And the poor thing was sick for the next three days following, she just could not catch a break, poor thing! But she was especially pleasant when she woke up an hour later as we were beginning to assemble our candy trains.

While Wavee took her nap, we went ahead with the gift exchange without her. Laetner had Chandler, Delainee had Kennidi, Chandler had Delainee, and Kennidi had Laetner. It was all VERY confusing. But of course we got the obligatory HUGS! (Wavee missed out on her chances for hugging Pace and Kayla)



This was the only shot we could manage with Kennidi, she was very papparazzi wary!

Luckily we were just about finished with our candy trains when Waverly DID awaken from her not so peaceful slumber, cuz she was NOT interested in hanging around any longer.

Christmas Lights Traditions

There are a few standards that our little family does EVERY year when it comes to Christmas, and the McCormick Ranch Railroad Park is one of them.


Now this place can be a MADHOUSE! And here is a word to the wise---the Big Train just ain't worth it. But what not everyone knows or realizes I guess, is that at the eastern edge of the park is the Little Train. You don't have to wait in a seperate line to get you ticket for the Little Train. And if you are unwise with your evening planning and show up too late, then yes the Little Train line can get long, but it moves. The Little Train is also technically 'free' but that just isn't nice, so of course we always pay in the donations accepted bin. The Little Train ALSO gives every kid a candy cane when they are done---which happens to be one of the few words that Waverly can say, so it's reception was especially cute.

But along with the Big Train and the Little Train, you can also visit Santa (which we chose not to do this year) or take pictures with the fun cut outs and various characters wandering around the park (like elmo, scooby doo, clifford etc)

and it is a park after all, so after waiting in any line the kids were happy to just roam free on the playground...

by the time it was time to go, the kiddies were exhausted--hooray!

But of course they had to pose one last time for me when we found these cool bikes.

Teacher Gifts

Most years I try to come up with what I THINK are pretty creative ideas for teacher and neighbor gifts.

This year, the inspiration just wasn't coming!

What to do, what to do?

Someone dropped us a plate of goodies, one of which was a very yummy chocolate dipped oreo. Hmmm... I should be able to reproduce that, right? It was a group effort, Delainee and Laetner each had their own bowl of little candy melts---a very UNNATURAL looking green, and we busted out quite a few little teacher gifts.


Waverly was especially helpful once the older kids had gone to bed and it was time to package everything up!


Hey at least it was semi-homemade!

3rd Grade Musical

No theme, no strory. Just different Christmas songs from around the world. Delainee really liked "Children Go Where I Send Thee" and she knew where I was, so she WORKED that camera all night.



For the closing number, Delainee (along with her cello teacher April Thomas, and April's son Mason) played Silent Night while the kids and then the congregation joined in.


She was AWESOME--not to mention VERY serious!

Of course she had some avid fans!!!