Christmas 2007

Wow!!Christmas 2007 for us lasted 3 days.

Round 1:

We did our little family's Christmas on Christmas Eve morning because Matt actually had the day off from work (a miracle), and we were going to be with Grandma & Grandpa in Santaquin for Christmas day. Nathan was the first one awake at about 7:20 am, which surprised both Matt & I. Ryan knew that we had talked to Santa & he said that he could come to our house a day early since we were not going to be home for Christmas morning, but that he could take our stockings to Ryan's cousins' house for Christmas morning, so we figured he would be up really early to open his presents & see what Santa brought him.


But alas, we actually woke him up around 7:45am.



"Ryan guess who came last night?"

"Who, mom?"

"Santa!"

"He did!!!!"

"Yea, should we see what he brought you?"

"YEA!!!!!!!!!!"

And off he rushed to the front room. Both the boys got all sorts of neat things & Ryan kept saying "cool"

Nathan got a present from Santa & both boys got a sled from Santa, but there wasn't anything under the tree for Ryan! It took us a while, but we found a not from Santa in the branches of the Christmas tree. It told Ryan the present from Santa was too big to fit under the tree, especially with all the other presents that were already there, but that he if took Nathan, mom & dad downstairs he just may find his present. Signed "Mr. C".

We grabbed the camcorder & the camera & off to the basement we trodded. Matt & I made Ryan wait outside the basement door while we got the cameras ready to go & then entered Ryan. He was so excited that he got something from Santa that he asked for! He has been so excited to show all his cousins, aunts, uncles & grandparents his new train table!!!! Great present Santa! Thanks.


Christmas Eve with the Kelley's is always fun. We get together with Matt's extended family to do a Christmas Eve Family Home Evening with songs, a fun Christmas story & of course THE CHRISTMAS STORY of the Birth of Jesus.

When that has come to a close we play a great game that I have come to love & Ryan got to play it for the first time this year.

Grandma Kelley gets a bunch of sugar cubes & writes a word that relates to Christmas. One letter for reach side of the cube. This year the word was "JOY" So really each cube had the word on it twice since a cube has 6 sides. There are several sets, each put into a pie pan or something similar. Everyone brings several "white elephant" gifts, not more than about $1, wrapped & placed in the middle of a circle. With everyone sitting in a circle & a timer set for a pre-determined amount of time (this year I think 15-20 minutes) those with the cubes roll, & if they spell "JOY" they take a present from the middle. If no word is spelled the tin of cubes is then passed to the person next to them. What happens when all the gifts are gone from the middle you ask? That is when the game really gets fun. When presents run out from the middle, & "JOY" is spelled, that person gets to "steal" a gift from another person in the circle. That goes on for the allotted time & then when time expires, those are the gifts you end up with.

As was mentioned, this was Ryan's first year playing with us, since the last time we had Christmas with the the Kelley's he was almost 2, and he had a blast. Aunt Weeze (Marie) sat next to him & helped him know when he spelled "JOY". Every time he was able to steal a present from another person, his cute little face just lit up and he got an evil little smirk, but it was the cutest thing too. When it was all said & done, Ryan made out like a bandit. He got a package of Army men, a package of Cowboys & Indians, a little pig flashlight that oinks when you light it up, & $1.

We then ate a few goodies & drove to Steve & Angie's house to spend the night so we didn't have to drive back to Santaquin from Eagle Mountain early Christmas morning! Thanks Steve & Angie!

Round 2:

Despite Ryan & his cousins going to sleep at 11pm Christmas Eve, they were awake at 6am to see what Santa had brought! Ryan found his stocking & found that Santa had brought him some cars from the movie "Cars" & some other goodies. Naturally he wanted them opened, but we told him to go back to sleep & we could open them while London & her family opened their presents from Santa. That subdued them 'til about 7-730am & then they couldn't handle the excitement anymore & the woke us all up. Even little Reece (2) had to be woken up.

Matt & I got ready for the day & convinced Ryan to do the same. We arrived in Santaquin, late as usual, but just in time for a yummy breakfast at Aunt Kathy's, then off to Grandma Kelley's we went (next door) for the exchange of the extended family gifts. Once that was done, we piled back into the car and drove one block to Grandma & Grandpa's house to have open presents with them.

The kids wanted to open all their presents & didn't care about the rest of us. They were so excited about all the neat things they got and showed them off to all of the aunts, uncles, mom, dads & of course Grandma & Grandpa! The adults finally got to open our presents, while the kids played around us. It was a lot of fun & very enjoyable. After visiting for a while, Matt's siblings left to visit with their in-laws, which left just our family with Grandma & Grandpa. Ryan loved the attention.

Finally, it was nap-time, but of course Ryan would have nothing to do with it, so daddy & him went & visited Grandma Hiatt, while Nathan & I stayed at Grandma's to take a nap. We both took a 3 hour nap! When Ryan & Daddy got back to Grandma's house they watched "Santa Claus 3". Just as the movie ended it was dinner time. So back into the cars we went (Ryan drove with Grandma & Grandpa) to Grandma Kelley's house for a scrumptious Christmas dinner. Every Christmas Grandma Kelley makes a pork roast, meatballs, & lots of other yummy stuff.
After eating way too much food, Matt decorated a small birthday cake with chocolate chips that said, "Happy 30th" and everyone sang to mommy!. We loaded everything up & finally made back home around 10pm!!! Wow...what a long day.

Round 3:

Uncle Greg came to visit for a few days from Colorado so we had Christmas with the Bianucci's on Thursday the 27. We started off with dinner & then off to the gifts we went. We all got wonderful gifts from everyone. The boys received a few more toys & enjoyed playing with them on the spot. Matt got the best gift of all. I had told him that he had one HUGE gift still waiting for him, but I wasn't about to tell him what it was. So he "thunk until his puzzler was sore", but couldn't come up with anything. All he knew was that my parent's,the boys & I all went in on the gift. What he didn't realize was that all my siblings did too! So what was this huge gift you ask?! It was a handheld GPS unit! Matt had mentioned it to me once about a month ago, saying it would be fun to take the boys out and go geo-caching with them, but how expensive they are...so my little evil brain starting scheming up an evil plan...& he got his toy! He has enjoyed it already.

Although our Christmas lasted for so many days & rounds we enjoyed the holidays & the time we were able to spend with our family. Thanks to all for a wonderful Christmas Season!!!