Christmas Vacation in Utah (Part Two)

Christmas Day!

I had to wake the kids up in the morning to get them going!  We wanted to be sure to open stockings and family presents before the extended family arrived for brunch and present opening.  It was fun having the kids come up the stairs and go into the living room to see the presents from Santa laid out on the floor with the stockings next to them, just as I had experienced as a child.

The kid's Great Great Grandma May made these stockings for them.  Aren't they great?

We opened our stockings first, starting with the youngest.  Santa was very nice and didn't put TOO much candy in the stockings, but even so, what candy there was, it was gone within an hour!   Evan received some cars and Transformers from Santa, as well as Batman jammies.  Mykelle was given exactly what she asked for- a Mulan Barbie doll!  She also was given Mulan and Tinkerbell jammies, which are now her two favorite pairs.

Adam and I did pretty simple Christmas gifts for each other.  Adam gave me some I-pod speakers I'd been wanting and a workout towel and t-shirt (he had to apologize and make sure I knew it wasn't a hint :)  I gave him a shirt and some cologne.

Showing off new Spiderman socks! 

Mykee desperately wanted to help Evan with his stocking 

Just what she asked for! 

My turn!  Mykelle and Evan were only excited for me when I opened candy

After the rest of the family showed up a while later we settled into the living room, trying to fit 16 people in one small room (only 6 of them kids!)  My dad traditionally reads the story of Christ's birth to everyone, but in particular the little kids.  It was so cute to see them lined up watching and listening to Papa Mike.

 The kids also performed a couple of songs for everyone.  Mykelle and Evan did their Joy School Christmas songs and then sang Jingle Bells and Rudolph with all of the cousins.

They don't look to excited, but really they were!  And they did a great job too!

The first "present" to be opened with everyone there was an especially exciting one- Jake and Kami had a sealed envelope with the sex of their baby written inside!  They ripped into the envelope and were extremely excited to find out they're having a BOY, and they already have a name picked out- Mason.  It was really neat to share that experience with them.

"High five for being pregnant Honey!"  :)

Then it was time for everyone else to open presents- in the past we've gone one at a time, from youngest to oldest, and it can take F-O-R-E-V-E-R, but it's fun too.  This year we decided to open simultaneously and we were finished quite quickly.  It was still enjoyable, especially since we got to the food faster! :)

After a delicious lunch of Honeybaked Ham, funeral potatoes, cinnamon rolls, yummy breakfast casserole, shrimp, and lots of extras the families had to part ways to go to other extended family homes.

We were spending the rest of Christmas Day with Papa Skip at his house.  He had a beautiful tree up with lots of presents under it for the kids and our family.  Evan was given just what he'd asked for, a "twisty slide" and Mykelle was given a package of SIX Barbies and a Rapunzel tower- also JUST what she wanted!  We had a great time watching a movie and eating Chinese food Skip had purchased the day before so it would be there for us on Christmas Day.  It was really good too, might have to be a new tradition??

Yep, Adam is having more fun with the Barbies than Mykelle... 

Christmas Day ended all too soon, but it was a great day full of family, food, and fun!  Looking forward to December 2012 already!