Catch Up Blog 6 (Christmas)

We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas at Jared's parents home. It has been fun this year, as this is the first year that E started to catch the joy and excitement of Christmas. It has been so much fun watching him get excited about the presents, and ask us everyday if it was Christmas yet.
On Christmas Eve, we had an unexpected visit from Santa Clause. No one knew he was comming except for one of Jared's sisters, who had arranged it with one of her friends. He came, and all the kids were so excited. All of the neices and nephews on that side were there, and most sat on Santa's lap. I was suprised that E willingly sat on Santa's lap. He is usually scared of things like that. But this time he got up and was quite happy to be with him.

Even H wasn't scared, which really suprised me. She has always been outgoing and friendly, but Santa can be quite intimidating for those little ones. He didn't phase her, though. She was very happy to be sitting on his lap.

During Santa's visit, we sang Christmas Carols while Jared's sister played the piano. Then Santa asked us to sing his favorite Christmas carol. As we sang "Silent Night", Santa quietly slipped out the door, and left us with the True Christmas Spirit. It was such a wonderful experience.

After Santa left, we had the kids, with some of the dad's, put on the Christmas pagent, while Grandpa Jenson read Luke 2. It was a little chaotic, as our angel never wanted to leave the stage, and the shepards got into a sword fight with their shepard's crooks, and one of the wisemen (E) didn't want to be. It was a lot of fun, though, and helped us to feel the meaning of Christmas.

Christmas morning came at about 9 am, which was really nice for us adults who had stayed up late getting things ready under the tree.

When E walked into the room and saw all the presents, the first thing he saw was a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, which Jared's youngest sister had requested for Christmas. He went straight to the box and said "I want cereal!" We tried to get him interested in his presents, one of which was a bike that was sitting in plain view, or in his stocking full of candy, but he would not be satisfied until he had eaten 2 bowls of cereal. After he finished his cereal he was ready to join the family in opening presents. He is just like his dad.

Christmas Morning

Getting into the stockings.

E got a Buzz Lightyear

H got a baby doll

E on his new bike