Christmas 2013

Christmas Eve finally arrived. Casey had to work and only had Christmas Day off the entire week, which was a little disappointing, but we made the best of it. The kids and I spent most of our day cleaning and getting ready for Santa to come. We ate dinner early and as soon as Casey got home we went to Layton city park to look at Christmas lights and listen to the Christmas music there. It was so cold and miserable, however, that we ran through the displays (as fast as the black ice would let us) and only paused for a picture or two before hurrying back to our car.

When we got home we had a "dance party" with Christmas music, ate cinnamon rolls, and drank some overcooked hot chocolate that tasted a lot like burned milk. Whoops.

We read the Christmas nativity story and then put the kids to bed. Poor Emmett couldn't fall asleep. He was still awake when Casey and I finally retired at midnight, claiming that he couldn't fall asleep because he could hear Santa's sleigh bells.

Santa did finally make it to our house and left a huge pile of loot that we are still sorting through and trying to find places for. This is what our house looked like on Christmas Eve after he came:

When Emmett woke up in the morning he came running into our room and climbed up into our bed as usual. Then we asked him if he wanted to go downstairs and see what Santa left him and he told us that he just wanted to watch Dinosaur Train instead. Crazy boy. Of course we didn't allow that. By the time he finished going potty we'd gotten him sufficiently excited for his presents.

This is what our livingroom looked like after Emmett had managed to unearth all his gifts (and Bethany's too):

We discovered that not only is this cardboard dinosaur fun to color, but anything you put in his mouth will directly come out of his bum. This is endlessly hilarious.

After Santa's presents were opened and we'd all gotten dressed and had breakfast, Uncle Craig came over to play. We all opened the presents under the tree together and by the time we were finished everyone was completely exhausted and overwhelmed by the amount of "stuff" we'd all gotten. I think next year Santa needs to remember that family and relatives send presents too and maybe then he won't get so carried away.

Craig helped Bethany open her presents.

Emmett got his very own guitar to play along with Daddy.

Hara sent us this fun new kids table which has been getting a lot of use already!

  After all the present unwrapping was finished we put on our snow clothes and went sledding. Poor Emmett didn't want to go at all. I think he is still scarred from his first sledding experience in which Casey made him sled down the big 50 foot steep hill. We had to chase Emmett, catch him, and force him onto the sled every time. Once he was going down the hill (which this time were very tiny, itty-bitty, gentle slopes) he'd say "Wee!" and laugh, but when he was finished and we'd ask him if he'd had fun he'd respond, "Well, I just don't really want to have so much fun. I just want to go home." And then we'd catch him and force him down the hill again. Poor Emmett. By the end of the day our efforts somewhat paid off in that Emmett was finally willing to go down a couple of times by himself and was very brave, but whenever we ask him if he wants to go back and do some more sledding he very emphatically says that he does not. Bethany, on the other hand, was a champ and thoroughly enjoyed herself.

Here's Emmett being incredibly brave and going sledding all by himself on a nice gentle slope that only took him about 4  feet from where he started. We were very proud!

Bethany's favorite part was getting pulled around in the sled by Craig.

We were going to go play at Christmas Town up in Ogden that night, but the kids were so exhausted and hadn't napped well, so instead they both went to be at 6pm, which meant that Casey and I were able to have a nice, quiet, relaxing evening putting away toys and cleaning up. It was a wonderful, perfect Christmas.