christmas...

this christmas eve, we were blessed to have our whole family together.  don fixed a delicioso prime rib and the kids brought all of the fixins to go with it.  after we ate, we all went down stairs for some fun and games. we did our own version of "chubby bunny" with "we wish you a merry christmas".

ise... not so sure. 
but usually she can stuff a whole cup full of marshmallows in her mouth at one time.

hunter... how many??? still has those dimples!

siona

kendyl looks like she's going to loose it before she even started.

kamryn was giggling too hard to put many in.

haley determined...

jeff, determined to beat haley.

chet... thinking he could beat them all.

george, ready to loose it!

gramma and leila
(we got to just sit and watch).

did grandpa win?

no!  briggs does not have anything in those cheeks!

we even got the neighbors involved.
gunner and reegan lamb.

the kids lined up to play "santa, may i?"

after a few games and a lot of giggles, we sat around the coffee table and colored a picture of the nativity and talked about the true meaning of christmas. 

then all heck broke loose when we let the kids open their gifts from gramma and grandpa and their cousins.

we had them all sit on the couch to take a picture. they all looked so cute in their matching jammies.  but...  what a joke!  but we did get a couple where most of them were looking at the camera.

leila, kamryn, hunter, isley, siona, jack sittitng on siona's lap, ryker, kendyl holding briggs

cheyne, helping jack open his present.

christmas morning

christmas was on a sunday this year, so don, cheyne, and i, got up and got dressed for church. our ward doesn't meet until 1:00.  we decided to make the rounds early, so we could see the kids before they went to church at 10:00.

first we stopped at the 'murdoch's' to see if santa had come.  sure enough... he stopped there!  the kids were excited to show us what he had brought them. 

the murdoch's

then we headed out to saratoga springs.  guess what!  santa found his way out there, too.

briggs and grandpa

the hunter's

sauvao's had church at 9:00, so we went there last and waited a few minutes until they got home.  beleive it or not...santa stopped there, too.  and why is it that the boxes are so much more fun that anything else?

isley, playing in the boxes

siona, busy with her leapster
isley, playing with the boxes

leila, in her saucer

the sauvao's

we hurried home, and grandpa surprised me with "my fish".  this is a replica of the fish i caught in alaska this summer.  when i caught it, i asked if we were going to have it mounted.  don said "do you know how much that would cost!?'  and i responded with "if it was you that had caught it, would you mount it?"  i teased with him every once in a while, but never had a clue that he really was having it mounted for me.

me with "my fish"

we then headed off to our church meeting. 

after we got home, all of the kids came back home for left overs, and to play games.  cheyne got each of the families a game called "head bandz".  the "older" kids (as in adults)  had the most fun playing.

chet trying to guess what he was

kamryn had it figured out. 
if you can see your reflection in the glass,
you know what ?'s to ask!

cheyne, getting really annoyed that he couldn't figure out that he was a toaster.

jeff and haley

we feel so very blessed to be able to spend such a special time with our most treasured gift.  the gift of a loving family!  and to be able to reflect on the birth (and life) of our savior, Jesus Christ, with them.  we have been soooo blessed this year.  health, jobs, 2 new babies, and more blessings than we can count. 

here's to hoping that you all had a merry christmas, too.  

and... wishing you a happy and prosperous 2012.