Christmas 2012

Our Christmas started on Saturday the 22nd.
 We cleaned the house and opened up our stockings. It was so much fun to watch Sydney be involved and be able to open her presents this year. We started our own tradition when we got married-which is we each spend ten dollars on each other at the dollar store and thats what goes in our stockings. We have kept that tradition with Sydney but now we each spend 15 at the store-ten on each other and 5 each on Sydney. The crappy gifts the dollar store offers is so much fun to play with for the few minutes while opening up our stockings.

perfect for my laundry money, I also got pop rocks-which Sydney loved, chicklets gum-which Jake ate, and some coloring stuff.

Sunday the 23rd.
Lydia, Scott, Lyndsey, Josh G., Josh, and Ashley came up to our house to celebrate Christmas since we would be up in Salt Lake on the day. We got so much more than I expected we would. Sydney got the most out of everyone. They stayed for a few hours, we ate KFC and talked.

Our tree with all the presents we wrapped this year

Grandpa Scott and Sydney

Ashley and Lydia

Josh, Lyndsey, Josh

Kitchen from Grandpa Walt

Pink pony that she can ride-From Grandma Moss

Jake pranked Josh by giving him a wrapped present which ended up being dog bones-this was his reaction (his real present was a gun with foam darts)

Alligator that shoots the yellow and blue ball -From Jake and I

From Grandma Lydia-its a pink pony that Sydney can wear as the back legs-She hated it. (Maybe for Halloween next year)

Our gift to Scott

Our gift to Lyndsey-Black socks.

Josh got white socks from us

and we also gave them the Assassins Creed 2 game

10 bucks for Ashley

Jake got a snuggie from me, the blue shirt from Sydney, a couple shirts and a jacket from his mom, a Walmart gift card from his dad, and some kitchen stuff from his grandma

Jake gave me some books for Christmas, I also got the grey jacket I am wearing from my In-Laws, and a beautiful necklace with a family pendant from my mother in law.

Sydneys toys

Another shot of the pink pony

opening her gift from "Santa"-its a Sesame Street ride on activity

toy cell phone from Great Grandma Mendoza

Toy laptop from Gr. and Gr Mendoza

opening the box of clothes

From Jake and I-you pull the lever and it makes animal noises

Once she got the hang of it, she would pull the lever several times in a row really fast-it was really cute and the clothes in the picture we given to her by Gr. and Gr. Mendoza

A box of 5 sets of puzzles given to Sydney by Gr. and Gr Mendoza

We gave Lydia some more Christmas Village pieces

 After we finished here and everyone left, I made Jake go take a nap and I packed up everything for our trip up north. We left home around 5:30 PM and got to my parents around 10:30 PM. We made a few stops along the way. We also turned Sydneys car-seat around so she was facing forward-which she still isn't used to. There was so much for her to see that she screamed and cried trying to put herself to sleep in the car.

Monday, the 24th-we didn't do much. We watched Sydney run around getting entertained by my parents and siblings. They really wore her out. Later that evening, we opened our Christmas pajamas just like every year. We of course had Sydney open up Jake's, mine, and her presents. Easiest way to keep her entertained.

Tuesday, December 25th: Christmas Day
Sydney didn't wake Jake and I up til almost 8:30 AM. I was so happy. We got up and did our morning routine. My dad didn't wake everyone up til a little after 9 AM. We opened up our stockings and Santa gifts. Mom wanted to have breakfast first, but Sydney decided she would open up all the presents with or without us, so we divided up all the gifts and started opening. Sydney opened all her gifts and a couple of Jake's and mine before she decided she wanted to go down for a nap. By that time it was only 11 AM, but it gave Jake and I a chance to open our presents at our own pace.
After all the kids finished with their gifts, it was time for mom and dad to open up all of theirs.
By the time we were done it was almost noon. So everyone showered and then ate breakfast pizzas. Then we got ready to head to Grandma Harvey's house.
We got to Grandmas house a little late, but there was only a few people there so we were "on time" comparatively. Grandma took a vote on who wanted to eat first and who wanted to open presents first. The vote came in and we opened presents first. The family's exchanged their gifts first, starting with Doug and Audrey then going down the line to Jason and Tami. Then grandma gave all the grand-kids (except for the 4 youngest) their gifts and we opened them at the same time to find a box of chocolate and $20 bucks each.Then Grandma gave the 4 youngest kids: Savannah, Alex, Issac, and Sydney their gifts. Sydney got a pink wagon that she can pull around.
Then Grandma gave all the adults there individual gifts and then a "couples" gift. The men got a screwdriver set, and the women got a food chopper. Then as couple each of them got a red wagon that folds to store it.
Once that was done, everyone put the gifts away and sat down to relax and eat some delicious food. Somewhere during all that Sydney went down for a nap and we didn't wake her up til it was time to leave for the Arnolds house.

At Grandma Arnold's house we got there while just my Aunt Jeannette, and Aunt Andrea and Uncle Travis were there. Sydney followed Kaden around while he was showing off the new bowling set he got. Grandma and Grandpa opened up their gifts. And then everyone just talked for 2 hours before it was time to head back to my parents house.
We didn't get back to Heber til after 11 PM.

Opening stockings on Christmas morning

I think she is a bit overwhelmed

Christmas at Grandma Harveys

Sydneys wagon gift from Gr. and Gr. Harvey

The mens gift from Gr. and Gr. Harvey

The womens gift from Gr. and Gr. Harvey

Sydney and Kaden at Grandma Arnolds

opening presents at my parents house

Sydneys gift from my parents

in the top right corner of the picture is all the stuff our family got while at my parents house. Sydney got her farm house and the stuff in her stocking. Jake and I got books, clothes, he got shoes and I got snow boots.

Grandma Arnold opening her present

Sydneys gift from Gr. and Gr. Arnold

Sydneys gift from Gr. and Gr. Arnold: it is a flashlight that sings when the orange button on top is pressed

Wednesday: December 26th:
We left my parents house at 10 AM, it was snowing all through Provo Canyon all the way to Filmore-maybe past it, and so it took us 2 hours longer to get home because the going was slow and we took a couple breaks. Christmas was great this year and we want to thank everyone for their gifts. Everyone was very thoughtful this year. I hope you enjoyed the season as much as we did.