Christmas 2010

We spent Christmas this year in Gilbert at Brit's sister Sherry and Jeremy's house. It sure didn't feel like Christmas with 70 degree weather. Here are the girls (left to right: Brylee, Shayde, Maddi, and Kenadee) getting ready to go down stairs to see what Santa has brought them. Oh boy, they are SO excited!

Kenadee started with her stocking and it was stuffed full of goodies and candy.

Brylee found a big box of Dots in her stocking and she is working on it...

And working on it...

And was successful! Notice she isn't even interested in the present right in front of her.Here is her disappointment when Daddy won't let her eat a big box of Dots for breakfast. I think she would of been just as happy if all Brylee got for Christmas was candy.

It really bothered me last year when Kenadee was opening her gifts she would take one glance at the gift that she just unwrapped and then said, "Where is my next gift". So I knew we needed to change a few things this year so we can make Christmas more meaningful for our family. So our family started a new tradition this year that we would only give three gifts to our kids just like the Savior had received the three gifts from the Wise Men: #1 Something needful, #2 Something joyful, #3 Something meaningful. Here is Kenadee's joyful gift that she has been asking for some time now.
Here is their meaningful gift, homemade aprons. I thought this would be fun to spend more time in the kitchen; creating master pieces and spending time together. I look forward to this and I know Kenadee does too!
And her needful gift: a new bed! We donated Kenadee's bed to the Boy Scouts for a yard sale they did to raise money for Scout camp. Well her mattress has been on the floor for a few months and it has been driving me CRAZY! Well no more...Kenadee was so excited, and mom even more so! And Brylee's joyful gift was this new Dora tricycle. When Brylee was just learning to talk Dora was one of the few words that she could speak. She loves watching Dora! She was so excited to get on the bike, and it has all the bells and whistles. This little pouting face is because I wanted her to stop riding so I could take a picture, she wasn't too happy about that. She puts her little dog in the basket and takes it for a ride. It has been so cold out side that the girls been riding their bikes inside.

On one of Brit's Boy Scout camp outs he lost his wedding ring playing football in a lake. So he has been ringless for more than a year. Well his meaningful gift this year was a new wedding ring. Let's just say I was tired of hearing about the nurses picking up on my husband at his work. Ladies he is taken and now he has a ring to prove it! Brit surprised me a new HD video camera with flash memory. I was pretty excited!

On Christmas night we took the kids along with my parents and went to the Temple lights. We haven't had the chance to see them prior to this so this was a perfect day to do it. This is one of my favorite sights of the Temple lights, the Three Wise men.

And my favorite site of all, the Nativity. It is always so beautifully displayed!

Grandpa Mike and Brylee. This little munchkin wanted to roam free running around the Temple so it was a lot easier to put her on Grandpa's shoulders to keep better track of her.

This Christmas season was a wonderful time of family togetherness and goodwill for our family. Being at the Temple on Christmas day brought a stronger spirit of Christmas for us. We are so grateful for our Savior and we honor Him on this special day. Our hope is to teach our children the "true" meaning of Christmas and I hope this Christmas season has taught them just that.