Believe

I figured I had better hurry up and post Christmas, as New Year's is now upon us....

The kids left this note for Santa

(you'll want to read it)

(we wouldn't want to offend Santa by suggesting he needs to eat "healthy" food and trim down a little!)

Abby did NOT go to sleep until 1:30am, which is about the time, Ethan woke up, and by 2am Elise and Samantha were up!! I gave up and went to sleep at 2. Then... at 4AM we were awakened by the noise of children milling around in the living room peeking in stockings!!

We sent them upstairs until we finally caved in around 5:15 and got out of bed to open presents.

Stylin' Elise in her new sweater, jewelry and boots

Samantha was a little bummed this year because she had asked us and extended family to send money to put in her flute fund this year instead of Christmas presents, so there were not many presents under the tree for her. Then when all the other presents were opened we found this one...

(I love Elise's comment in the video "I told you not to loose hope" :D)

Thanks to generous family we were able to get the flute she wanted (although she still has to payoff her part of the flute), and she can now practice and play her way to a college scholarship! :-D

The kids cooked up this idea Christmas Eve and told us it was our present...(yes, this is our shower stall draped in a table cloth and a sheet)

This is what we discovered when it was unveiled Christmas morning...

I thought it was sweet until I saw the SHARPIE sitting by my bathroom sink!! Why would they use permanent marker on my glass shower??? Samantha assured me they "tested it". Sure enough... it does come off... and so my children live to see another sun rise.

Speaking of sunrise... I went back to bed around sunrise at 7am until I got up to make breakfast around 8. Brad needed a nap later in the day too.

We had a wonderful Christmas and are so grateful to everyone who sent gifts and cards and made it such a wonderful day.

Thank you!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

It wouldn't be Christmas without some sugar cookie making.

Or a good dump of snow.

(Star LOVES playing in the snow!)

Stringing popcorn and cranberries
Fun playing out in the snow on Christmas eve
(even though Samantha tried hard to act like she wasn't having any fun)

Even after supper the little ones couldn't get enough and went outside for another hour and a half!!

Could it get any better?

Well, maybe if your mom let you make a gingerbread house... so many of my blogging friends have pictures of their families making gingerbread houses etc. and my kids asked me a few times but... I kept avoiding it until the season was over. My poor kids. Perhaps next year I will be up for the challenge, frustration and mess.

Our Christmas Star

Ward Christmas party 2008

Here she is with a little back up from the others

(you may recognize a couple other kids on the far left- look for the one twisting back and forth- even without her dress on :D)

Ethan explaining to Santa what a Tech Deck is...

It was a lovely evening.

Frontier Yuletide Celebration

We went out to the High Desert Museum to meet Father Christmas, but Abby was scared to death and it was all we could do to even get her this close.

Ethan took a break from the Christmas celebrations to remove a bullet from a settlers chest

The snow looked so pretty sitting on the trees

Out at the settlers cabin the kids had fun stringing popcorn

Picture Perfect Christmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

It's a picture perfect Christmas eve and day here in Bend.

Watch out MOTAB

This week the kids have had their school Christmas concerts, so I have chosen a few selections to share with you.

Ethan can't help but ham it up a little...

Elise takes her music more seriously

I thought this sounded pretty. I hadn't heard it before.

A, so Adorable

Watch out Ricky Martin. The boy in the back row is going to give you a run for your money!

It was nice that all the kids at some point actually sang a "Christmas" song

Tree Trimming

I just realized that I never showed you what became of our tree.

When we got home I couldn't believe how tall it was. It looked so puny next to those ponderosa pines!

We're pretty happy with our find. Cutting a tree from the forest looks nothing like one "cut down" from a tree farm or picked up from a tree lot.

It's not perfectly shaped, but perfect for us :D

I love just sitting in the living room by the glow of the Christmas tree lights. It's so peaceful.