Christmas

It's a good thing we've had the most boring month ever so I can still blog about December.  I'll be brief.  My kids loved Christmas despite all my talk about setting the bar low, no one needs anything, let's save our money, etc.  I must have really made it sound like they weren't getting anything because they were all surprised and said it was a great Christmas.  Yay for them.  

Christmas Eve was full of traditions--delicious dinner with English crackers, caroling, talent show, nativity, and talking about the Savior.  We had fun and then the kids went to bed while Randy and I wrapped all the presents that weren't from Santa.  Normally the wrapping and attention to detail is Pinterest-worthy but I finally got smart and realized my kids don't notice any of that stuff.  In fact, next year I might even put all their gifts in trash bags.  They'll probably love it.

Henry displayed his many Mario coloring pages.  He LOVES coloring and we are all just thrilled he doesn't ask us to choose which color to do next because that was a terrible phase.

Parker made quite the entrance through the front door as Eminem was blaring through the speakers while he performed all sorts of cool yo-yo tricks.

Landon tried to guess where each French fry came from.  He only messed up on two.  Only Randy would be willing to drive around to every fast food joint near and far so his son could eat their fries for a family talent show.

Ethan juggled again.  He's actually really good!

Randy sang again.  It was awkward again.

I predicted the future by doing a cool math trick that no one cared about but me.  Story.of.my.life.

New matching pajamas.  Again!  White Santa, black Santa, and brown Santa for the win :)

Brothers Gift Exchange is always the best

We sang Happy Birthday to Jesus, at the most delicious chocolate cake ever, and called it a night.  

Christmas morning

The only picture I took on Christmas Day because Marcus called me right after this.

Christmas morning started at 8am.  It felt glorious!  Marcus called us shortly after we started opening presents so it felt like we were all together.  Randy bought me a fancy carry-on suitcase.  He loves it.  I bought him a bidet.  I love it.  The boys got more hoodies, Nikes, video games, and some random things they didn't ask for that I thought they'd like and for the most part, they do.  By 5pm I was ready to take down the Christmas tree and declutter my house.  So instead I took my Grinchy self for a long, solitary walk while I caught up on Marco Polo with my sisters.  It felt like the right thing to do, and it was!