Christmas has come and gone, but man, did we have fun.

We’re still working on creating some traditions, and we were happy to participate in Mat’s parents’ traditions this year. On Christmas Eve we got together as an extended family, ate finger foods to our hearts’ content, and staged the Nativity. If I had gotten a picture earlier, you would have been able to notice that Uncle James got the very select role of the donkey.

The girls had fun playing the various Nativity roles with their cousins.

The next day was SOOOOOOOOOO relaxed. This is how we’re going to do things from now on. Mat told the girls they were not to come out of their room until we came to get them, even going so far as to make sure that the TV in their room was tuned to the Disney channel. The precautions turned out to be unnecessary, since they woke up about the same time we did—8:30 am or so.

Their first view of the tree.



The kids opened their presents first. That’s was Mat’s mom’s idea—she figured they could play with their toys while we opened our gifts, thus averting the boredom fidgets. It worked beautifully. After they were done, we had a huge, leisurely breakfast, then spent the next four hours chatting and opening our gifts. A good time was had by all.


Gift highlights: Mat got some movies he’s been wanting and some work-related things, like a planner and a business card holder, as well as a charging valet station and a fedora. I also gave him a lunch cooler and what he considers to be about six years’ worth of reading (the scriptures he got from his mother will be a lifetime’s worth of reading, of course). I got the first season of NCIS on dvd, Stardust, a beautiful shawl, some great jewelry my mom made for me (custom-made necklace and earrings!), and some books I wanted. Annika and Afton ended up with some excellent toys and stuffed animals, as well as several pairs of plastic sunglasses (since Afton is FOREVER wanting to “borrow” mine), a digital camera (blog entries in the making!), and a microscope that hooks up to the TV.

Oh, what can I say? We ended up with a lot of great things, courtesy of our wonderful family and friends, and thank you notes will be winging their way through the mail shortly.

It was a good day. I love the feeling of giving gifts to each other, and when I view Christ's Atonement as a gift, it changes my perspective completely--I feel more awe and have a greater understanding of His perfect love for us. I think, finally, I'm starting to understand what Christmas is all about.