CHRISTMAS 2008

Every year for the last 5 or 6 years, we have gotten together with our best friends, the Chappells, for our Christmas Eve gift exchange. We go over and have a yummy dinner of Paula's clam or corn chowder and then open presents that we got for each other. This year, our whole family, including the grandkids, came to Logandale for 9 days of celebration and fun at grandma and grandpa's house. The only one we missed was Sharrid, Lexie's husband, who only had weekends off. He ended up having to work on Christmas and the days around it, but was able to come for both weekends. He was the trooper for driving back and forth to Arizona both weekends. Here we are at the Chappells on Christmas Eve night:

Jonah gets a book, his favorite thing in the world!

Lotion and yummy stuff for the girls.

Gregg and his new "Superhero" jammies!

Jordan's new pillow, made by Vicki to match the blanket her mom made her for Christmas.

Kevin's book on Joseph Smith from Paula and Gregg.

Parker got "Superhero" jammies too.... like father, like son.

After our gift exchange, we headed into the game room for another tradition...playing the bells to Christmas songs. We are not very good, but we are getting better every year! We also have a white elephant exchange that ends up with all of us laughing.

Marce and Kira playing the bells.

Kira got in town and came straight to the Chappells. We were all excited that she finally got there.On Christmas morning, around 5:30 a.m., Santa showed up. We, of course, were hiding in our spots, which is something we have done ever since our kids were little. It's actually a tradition that has been passed on from generation to generation since Vicki's dad was a little boy. It was especially fun this year, as it was Jonah and Marcelus's first time hiding from Santa. We let the little ones sleep so that they (and we) would enjoy our day a little better. It was perfect...the boys were very quiet and watched as Santa placed some presents around and even ate some of his goodies we had left him. When he left, we all got out of our hiding places and checked out what he had brought each one of us.

Landon checking out his stocking:

Michaela and Tibi in their stockings too!

Levi woke up not much after Santa left and was able to join in the fun.

Eden took a little longer to wake up! She is the one that usually sleeps in.

After checking out our Santa gifts, we decided it was time to open up our presents. We always start with our gift exchange. This time we started from the oldest and went to the youngest, a first for us...

Peter and his book on gardening in Arizona. (We could use one of those too! Arizona and Nevada are twins, you know.)

Connie's new VANS. (a tiny size 5 1/2)

Kira with her new Narnia 2 DVD, and her slippers from LLBean.

Lexie got what she wanted, a new sign for her home. (Thank you Shannon!)

Michaela and her piano book from the broadway play, WICKED. This has become one of our favorite CDs to listen and sing to around the house and in the car. Great music...

Tibi gets a gift card to Aeropostale, and a necklace.

Landon got another set of mini helmets, plus a shelf dad made to put them on for his room.

All of the grandbabies got a pair of pajamas grandma made for them. Eden, of course, got a pink nightgown. The three older ones got a pillowcase to match their jammies.

A likely scene during vacation time...these four sitting on their chairs watching either a "Baby Einstein" or Disney movie.

The big kids getting into a heavy duty game of Nintendo 64. (We're pretty old school at our house!)
Connie didn't even make it to the end of the day!

Neither did Jonah!

Look at that beautiful face... little Phoenix.

Tibi and Michaela toasting to another great Christmas!