Christmas day!

i am not a fan of enormously large posts, so i try to keep mine manageable and hence, i decided to give Christmas day a post to itself. i love Christmas day. it's the one day of the year that there never seems to be a frown in the room- yay!

santa did not disappoint. he still comes for us big kids and fills our stockings. we all get candy, beef jerky, almonds, and a movie in our stocking every year. the nice thing about the movie is matt and i have a blue-ray player and katie has a dvd player and somehow santa knows this so he gets us blue-ray/dvd combo packs and we all get to split the movies. i got toy story 2, matt got cars, and katie got the lion king. i also got a penguin coach key chain and a usc snow man.

santa also came for evan!! he came last year for evan too, he's such a wise old man. he brought evan a photo album, sing-a-ma-jigs, a puzzle, leg warmers, suction bowls, a penguin sippy cup, and teethers. in his stocking he got cars 2! he racked up for a first Christmas in my opinion and he showed us how much he loved it all by trying to eat every last thing. here is his loot and the eating:

this year was extra special because Christmas fell on a sunday which meant we got to go to church that morning. we only had sacrament meeting and it was a wonderful hour. we had 3 speakers, one on the pre-mortal life of Christ, one on the mortal life of Christ, and then matt spoke on the post-mortal life of Christ. all of that was spread out with a lot of singing of Christmas hymns. all of the talks were wonderful, especially matt's if i might say so. he did a great job. we took a picture of the whole family, but it's on my dad's phone. sorry!

then we came home and changed back into our pj's- it's the only day of the year i stay in pj's all day! katie and i made sunday dinner, a delicious spiral ham, salad, green beans, mashed potatoes, and the pink stuff. after we all felt that our tummies were satisfied (and, a Christmas miracle, katie cleaned off the table!) we went to the tree to begin opening presents. i played santa and off we went.

we got tons of stuff, and all great stuff! i got a beautiful mirror, a book, lots of money, a picture, a new journal, picture frames, jewelry, a game, a scarf... everything a girl could ask for! i got matt a new watch he got a tie from katie and new tires from my parents along with other little goodies. we got nice sushi serving dishes... we just had an excellent Christmas! evan opened the rest of his presents, and he had a lot! lots of toys and books- exactly what he needed and loves (because goodness knows that boy needs NO clothing except pjs, which he got 2 pair of!).

my moms gift from my dad- a new pair of sunglasses! (they went and picked out ray-bans today) 

grammye in her gift from matt and me (the cape) and katie (the broach)

we ended the evening by playing games, pool, and ping pong at my parents new house. we discovered that poppie, my dad, and my mom are really good at pool and as for matt, katie, and me- not so much. but we had lots of fun none the less! and while matt and my mom played in the ping pong finals, katie and i enjoyed monopoly on her new ipad. it really was just fun all around!

 mimi and her man

daddy and evan being silly before bed time 

my mom, katie, and me all in our matching Christmas pjs!

i love Christmas and look forward to it all year. i am so thankful for the knowledge that my Savior was born and still lives! what a beautiful thing to know and remember at this sweet season of the year. i hope all of you enjoyed your festivities just as much! now i hope you all have a wonderful and happy new year. much love from our family to all of you who love us enough to check in on us and read about our blog- thanks!