Christmas

We had so much fun over the Christmas holiday this year. We had two parties on Christmas eve. One with Stephen's family and one with some of my extended family. Then the day after Christmas we got even more of my extended family together. It is great to see all the family we don't get to see that often.
We had a wonderful Christmas with our family. It was nice just to spend the day at home.
When Joseph woke up that morning he did not want to come upstairs to our room. Instead he sat at the gate to the downstairs waiting to go see what had happened there on Christmas eve. We didn't get up until 8am. Stephen and I joked it will probably the latest we will get up on Christmas morning until we have all teenagers.
Stephen's family have a tradition of taking pictures on the stairs on Christmas morning. So here is the best shot of the boys.
Both boys were spoiled. Aaron got another bouncer toy (I didn't want to take the exersauser up and down stairs so we got one for the office because he spends a lot of time with us up there), a brown bear rug, lots of puffs, baby food and a couple of little toys. Joseph got a lot. He is at that age where we can go through any store and find lots of little inexpensive toys that he would love. So we got a lot of those toys for him. He got a tool kit, soccer ball, a camera, a train, a little gituar and lots of stuff to color and draw with. Stephen really wanted to get Joseph a stick horse. Because he would use his pillow as a horse. But we could not find stick horses anywhere. So Stephen made a stick horse for Joseph. It is absolutely beautiful and Joseph loves it.
In my family we always take a picture will all your "loot". So there is a picture of the boys with most of what they got for Christmas. We also got the boys matching coats and Mickey sweaters. And every year we get a teddy bear for Christmas. We also get a family game every year. This year we got a table top air hockey game. Joseph and Stephen have a lot of fun playing with that one.
For the rest of the day we just played with the new toys and ate popcorn all day. We also watched the Muppet Christmas Carol. Joseph had so much fun that he crashed in the middle of eating popcorn.
This was the first year where Joseph really got what was going on. We talked a little about Santa but not much because I don't want that to be the center of our Christmas celebrations. We talked a lot about our Savior and the reason we celebrate his birth. My Mother-in-law got nativity advent calendars for all her kids about 6 or 7 years ago. This was the first year we really used ours. It was a great way to help teach Joseph about the birth of Jesus Christ. I am truly grateful for this season. For all the time we get to spend with our families. And for the chance we get to really focus on the Savior's birth. We truly hope that all of you had a wonderful Christmas. And a Happy New Year!