Our Merry Christmas

Christmas this year was much more low-key than in years past. For one thing, we weren't at anyone's house, and we didn't have any company! This turned out to be a good thing, since Greg had pneumonia the entire Christmas-to-New-Year's period.

But as you'll see from the pics, we had our share of merriment, mainly on the part of the kids, who always make it a merry day for us. They loved their own presents and loved one another's presents almost as much. We laughed, because they liked the teeny-tiny games of checkers, chess and snakes and ladders that they got in their stockings almost as much as their "big" gifts. Emma got a rock tumbler and quite a few pirate-y things, including some hilarious pirate panties and washcloths from Aunt Jen (the washcloths have useful tips on them like "A clean booty is a happy booty," "No one likes a smelly pirate," and "Live clean. Fight dirty!").




Grace got such a load of Tinkerbell stuff that I can't describe it all, but here's just a sampling: Tink sheets, Tink pajamas (two pairs), Tink shirts (two), a Tink art set, the Tink movie, Tink purses (two), Tink books, Tink coloring books, Tink jewelry ... the list goes on.



Kate got a lot of princess stuff: slippers, lap desk, movie, tea set, etc. She also got lots of cute clothes, something she really needed. The whole family seemed to tune into this: besides Santa, Grammy, Aunt Jen, Aunt Cass and Aunt Lisa all pitched in to stock up Kate's wardrobe.





Shockingly, Max got a lot of car-related items, including the movie "Cars" from Santa, a Doc Hudson car from Mommy and Daddy, a "Cars" car hauler from Aunt Lisa, "Cars" socks and gloves from Grandma and Grandpa Kratz and a "Cars" cup and robe from Aunt Jen and Uncle Brad. At one point he was watching the movie while using/playing with nearly all the others at the same time.

The kids also got a lot of shared gifts: a "marbleworks" course (you build a sort of roller coaster for marbles in lots of configurations), tons of art supplies and several games. They've had a great time since then playing with everything and watching all their movies. Daddy's favorite part of the day was Christmas dinner; we did lots of his favorites: baked ham, cheesy potatoes (or "funeral potatoes," as we call 'em here in Deseret), crusty bread, fruit and broccoli, plus pumpkin pie and carrot cake for dessert. Pretty yummy!