Christmas 2007

Christmas 2007 was such a wonderful one for our family! Christmas Eve Day found me in the kitchen from 8:30 till dinnertime! For the first time EVER I was making Christmas Eve dinner and I didn't want to miss a thing! We had Honeybaked Ham, twice-baked potatoes, cranberry stuffing, creamed corn, salad, and orange rolls. And let's not forget dessert...mint-brownies, sugar cookies, molasses cookies, and caramels! Too bad Spencer caught the Christmas flu that day and ended up tasting everything twice. Yucko. The Hazens came over for dessert and to deliver Matt's Santa gift-a new ping-pong table. Lucky boy. He must have been really good this year. The kids passed out fairly early (see previous post) and actually stayed asleep till 8:00! I kind of like this "kids growing up" thing. The kids all got spoiled rotten (as did their mother...see photo-don't hate me because I'm beautiful!) After presents, brunch, and a nap...we headed to the movie theater to enjoy TWO movies. What a magical, wonderful day!

The Children Were Nestled All Snug In Their Beds...

Christmas Eve Matt makes sure Santa has the all-clear by checking on the kids to see if they're asleep...and he always takes a picture. Too Cute! Is there anything more precious than sleeping children?

A Gardner Family Christmas

For the first time EVER, my family is not getting together on Christmas Eve. Since Amanda and Anthony are spending the holiday at their Utah house, we decided to celebrate early this year. We had a wonderful "Early Christmas Eve", complete with yummy food (thanks Mom), gorgeous decorations, our annual nativity pageant with the cousins, and of course, lots of laughter. Good times. Annual Sister Picture

Cute Cousins (minus Hailey who is too cool and Henry who was too tired)

Mom getting Frelly ready

What a wiseman!

Me and Baby Jesus...I mean Hank!

Mary and Joseph

A wiseman with a cool babysitting gig

Proud Papas

My family members who are way too cool to smile for a picture

My handsome boys

Sitting at the "big" table!

Sammy and Grace

Me and Baby Hank (I LOVE this boy)

"Two Kids A Pukin'....."

Nothing says Christmas like being woken up repeatedly in the middle of the night to clean throw-up off carpet, bedding, and two very sick kiddos. Poor Sammy and Jake are sooooo sick...and of course, I "caught" their lovely form of Christmas cheer too! So, instead of doing fun Christmas stuff we spent the day moaning and groaning together on the couch. At least we "bonded". Hey, I'd rather do it making cookies, but whatever!

"Oh, What A Good Mom Am I!"

So, I'm rather proud of myself that amidst all the chaos of shopping, wrapping, cooking, and still trying to work I was able to carve out time for one of my favorite Christmas traditions. Christmas jammies! My kids love opening up their new jammies every Christmas Eve. This year I made cute white w/green polka dots for the girls and green and white stripes for the boys. I'm sure I'll post Christmas pictures later w/the kids wearing them so you can all be impressed with my amazing talent. Rachel made very cute ones for her kids too. By the way...do we look like tired Christmas mommies or what! Yesterday I actually pulled a twenty hour day! Oh, 'tis the season. I think I'm FINALLY done with the shopping and can get to the fun parts of Christmas-cooking with my kids, driving around and looking at the lights, reading Christmas stories. All the things I hope will make good memories for my kids. I don't just want them to remember me as "stressed out and tired mom" every Christmas.