It's Christmas!

After months of planning, and weeks of holiday celebrations and fun, the big day was finally here! Excited (and anxious) for the big day, I woke up several times the night before--at every little sound from the girls--wondering if it was time yet (or too early) to start the fun. But, the girls didn't wake up until 7:30am, and Grace somehow snuck out to the living room for a quick peek before coming in to our room and whispering to us that Santa had come. :) So, we hopped out of bed, got Bethany up, then took a pit stop in the hall to listen to our Nativity story ornament one last time before heading out to see what Santa had brought!

The girls were greeted by a tunnel (from Santa) when they entered the living room, and had to crawl through it to get to their stockings. :)

 (I took a couple of videos of the girls opening their Santa gifts, but I've had some trouble uploading them. Hopefully I'll get that figured out soon!)

Santa brought the girls some of their favorite treats, as well as a cow flashlight (a big hit), glow bracelets, moon dough, finger puppets, and new books.

He brought Travis some new ear warmers and socks for running in (and candy of course):

And he completely spoiled me, bringing me a new binder for my recipes, CD with my favorite songs, Pride and Prejudice DVD (my fav!), fun new socks, and a cookie scoop. I was one happy girl and felt very loved!

Grace has been really in to taking pictures this past week, and wanted to take some of Travis and I while we were opening our stocking gifts. Here are a few of the pictures she took. I think she did a pretty good job!

After opening up our stocking gifts, we ate our yummy breakfast of monkey bread (per Grace's request), bacon (ditto), fruit, and "lazy daddy omelet" (courtesy of my dad).

Then we skyped with Travis' parents so we could see each other open the gifts we'd given to one another.

His parents opened most of their gifts first, and I loved seeing how much they liked the stepping stones and photo book (with pictures of our family and of them and the girls) that we had given them. I think the best part of Christmas for me was seeing people enjoy the presents I had bought and made for them.

The stepping stones we made:


Grace painted the back of hers almost all by herself!

Then we opened their gifts to us, all of which Dave had made. There was...

A medal holder for Travis' ultra marathon medals and trophies. I LOVE having these proudly displayed now!

A jewelry holder for me. It's so fun to have my jewelry displayed now instead of just hanging in the closet or stuffed in a jewelry box!

 

And a coat/dress up rack for the girls. It's so nice that the girls can hang up and get their coats by themselves now; the girls love it too! When they opened it, Bethany kept saying "Ooh! Ooh!" and touching the flowers. And today when Grace was grabbing her jacket to go outside, she said "This is fun!" (that she can get her jacket herself). Adorable, right?!

We love having some of Dave's handiwork in our home now!

 

 

Next, we opened our tree gifts.  (Disclaimer: while gifts DEFINITELY weren't the focus of our Christmas season--we tried really hard to do things the rest of the month that focused on giving and the true meaning of Christmas, and those memories and experiences are truly some of the things I treasure most from this holiday season--but talking about gifts is the best way to organize this post, so here goes. :) .)

Even though the adults were still eating breakfast, the girls were getting antsy for presents, so we let them open one from Grammy and Poppy to keep them occupied while we finished. The one thing Grace had said that she wanted for Christmas the past couple weeks was a train set. Here was her reaction when she and Bethany opened it. :)

The adults finished breakfast and had fun playing trains with the girls for a while before opening more presents.

Grace and Bethany loved to open their presents and help us open ours too :)

 It's pretty much tradition for Travis to get new BYU wear for Christmas now. And since my BYU shirt is (finally) wearing out, I got some new threads too. Go Cougs! :)

Bethany helped Travis open his BYU shirt and was just as excited as he was for him to get it! She excitedly held it up to everyone several times, saying "Look!!!" It was hilarious!

Speaking of clothes gifts, my dad also gave Trav this great Peanuts tie, with the characters dressed up as little Dr's and nurses :)

The theme of Travis' gifts this year was definitely running gear. My parents got him some more running socks, and I gave him a book about a runner/triathlete that he had wanted, bandanas...

Running shoes...

And his big surprise...a bulletin board with pictures and stats from each of his ultra marathons on it that I had made. I wanted him to have a reminder of the good memories and great accomplishments he's made with his races. We love having it on our bedroom wall now!

Methinks he likes it. :)

The trend for my gifts this year was cook wear. Besides the cookbook and cookie scoop that Santa brought, I also got cooling racks, a chopper, microwave cover, panini maker, and mandolin. Practical gifts are always some of my favorites, and I am SO excited to use all my new toys!!

I also got this super cute purse--LOVE!

We had made stepping stones with the girls hand prints on them for my parents as well, and the girls loved re-discovering them with Grammy when she and Poppy opened them.

I also made my parents a puzzle made out of pictures of them and the girls throughout the years. I LOVED hearing my mom's "Ohs!" when she opened it. Needless to say, she loved it. :)

It was such a nice, lazy morning, taking turns opening gifts and pausing to play with each toy or gift for a little while after it was opened before opening more.

In order to keep gift giving under control, we tried a new system this year where everyone got a want, a need, a wear, a read, and something fun from Santa. I think we probably went a little overboard still (due mostly to finding LOTS of great deals on things for the kids at rummage sales, online, and in stores), but it definitely helped keep things better in check, and is something I want to continue doing!
This Christmas, the girls got BOOKS...

Grace looking at the Tale of the Three Trees that Travis had recorded for them with his own voice as the narrator. I love this book and the thought that on days when Travis has to work late, the girls can still hear him read a book to them at night. :)

Reading some more books with Poppy:

PUZZLES/GAMES...

LOTS of BLOCKS (another thing that was high on Grace's Christmas wish list)...

(Bethany hugging the new Duplo dog :) )

So excited for Grace to be able to build lots more creations now!

COLORING STUFF...

 HIGH TECH TOYS...

Grace got a writing pad to practice writing her letters and numbers on for school, and Bethany's got a My Pal Violet dog (a "talking" stuffed animal that Travis customized to say Bethany's name and talk about her favorite things, sing songs, etc.). This is her hugging the dog after it said "I love you Bethany." TOTALLY melted our hearts!

So sweet!

  

...and some LITTLE PEOPLE sets/toys (the last big thing on Grace's wishlist), which are always a favorite:

It made me SO happy to have picked out things that the girls loved! And I'm so excited to have fun new toys around to play with with them!

After opening gifts, we had nap/rest time, then made pizza for dinner (pretty sure this is going to be the new Christmas dinner tradition!).

During dinner, we read our gifts to Christ (acts of service we had done for each other throughout the month), and it was nice to remember the kind things that had been done. It reminded me what a sweet, helpful family I truly have! Then we lit a candle and sang Happy Birthday to Jesus (another new tradition I hope to carry on).

It really was a WONDERFUL Christmas, and I was SO grateful to be home to spend it with my parents and my little family, and enjoy a relaxing, happy day together!