We had a wonderful Christmas this year. We saw lots of family, experienced lots of Christmas magic, and rejoiced as we celebrated the birth of our Savior. In addition to all the fun, there were also late nights, tired kids (and moms!) and also lots and lots of traveling. Part of me wishes that every day could like the days of Christmas break - spending all day with David, bouncing back and forth between families and spending time with friends, lots of treats and happy music. But the other part of me is so tired and so grateful to be home and ready to sleep in our own beds.
We usually celebrate Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning with the Walker side of the family and then head to the Peaden family to open presents Christmas Evening. However, because Jenna and Kevin weren't going to be able to be at the house this year - we decided to do things a little differently so that we could all be together. It worked out really well, and although I don't think that we'll do it every year I'm glad that we did it this year.
Christmas Eve
In the 7 Christmases David and I have spent together (Yes! Seven Christmases - isn't that crazy?) we've never done Christmas Eve at the Peaden House. So this year we decided that we would do Christmas Eve at the Peaden's, then come home to our house for Christmas morning before heading back to West Jordan for Christmas Day. We were both really excited about doing Christmas Morning at home with our little family. David was especially excited about teaching Lydia about the tradition of laying out Christmas Stockings underneath the Christmas Tree on Christmas Eve. We laid out our stockings before heading to West Jordan so that we could just move the sleeping children from the car to bed when we came home that night.
Then we headed to West Jordan and helped finish wrapping the many, many Christmas presents in preparation for Christmas Day. But before we went to bed, we started our very own Christmas Eve Tradition. David and I have talked a lot about how we want our Christmas Celebrations to focus on the Savior, and we've been very purposeful about how we've talked about Santa Claus and that Santa brings us presents because he wants to remind us about Jesus and what a wonderful gift he is and that he gives to us. So we've decided that each Christmas Eve, we'll have a special Christ-centered gift that our children can open, along with reading the nativity story. (Maybe a picture of Christ, a special book about Jesus, etc...) This year we found a sweet little statue of Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus. We loved it - and we thought it was the perfect thing to start our tradition with. Lydia was excited to be able to open a special present on Christmas Eve (and could tell you for weeks before-hand that this specific present was for her and Baby Austin) - but she was even more excited for the cookies and hot chocolate we promised could follow! (Oh, and aren't their matching pjs so cute?)
The Peaden's do Christmas like no other family that I know. The love language of giving gifts is abundant and that, combined with the sheer number of people in the family, means that there are a lot of gifts that end up around the Christmas tree. One of my favorite traditions that they do, is that Sue makes a list of fake names that she keeps in her trusty notebook and most of the presents get tagged with these fake names. (She usually does a theme, like candy, or cities, or this year - famous people.) She obviously can't wrap her many, many, presents on her own - so she writes the names on the bottom of the boxes and everyone sits around and helps wrap. You could easily be wrapping your own present, but you don't know until Christmas morning when the official list is distributed. She always puts out a few presents with real names so that you can be excited, but the feeling that any of those presents could be for you is so fun. This year we finished wrapping in time to go through and pick out which presents were our favorite and make guesses about who they were for. Kevin usually texts us a picture of the tree after all of the presents were laid out under the tree - but it was fun for us to be there this year.
My favorite present was this beautifully wrapped red present with a big green bow. I loved it so much that Sue wrapped me a special present with the same paper and same green bow. It was such a thoughtful gesture and I saved it for very last on Christmas Day because I loved it so much. If there was a way I could have opened it without actually opening it, and if I could have brought it home and saved it forever - I would have!
Christmas Day
Christmas morning came early, as we didn't get home until 2 am and Santa didn't finish his set-up until 3 am. But we were so excited for Lydia to see her Panda. She'd been asking for a panda bear for weeks (ever since we saw one at Ikea) and we were excited to see her get her wish! Her stocking was filled with balls, oranges, a truck book, and a few little chocolate Santas. Austin scored some new pacifiers, a bus book, and a cute baby see-and-say book.
We headed to West Jordan for some Christmas Roll for breakfast (and more hot chocolate, which Lydia loved). We played games and enjoyed being together. When all of the other family members had finished their Christmas morning festivities and everyone was gathered at the house, the big present sort started. Then grandchildren presents - then our presents. It was such a fun and festive occasion. All four of us were incredibly spoiled and I can't even believe how many thoughtful gifts we received.
Christmas Eve (Part 2)
Because Jenna and Kevin weren't going to be able to make it for Christmas, we decided that the Walker household should have Christmas Eve and Christmas on the 26th and 27th instead this year. It was a brilliant plan, and I honestly loved it. We filled our time with delicious food, fun games, a puzzle, Christmas Eve Pizza, and Christmas Eve festivities - all without worrying about having to leave early the next day. It was so nice. And Camille is walking now, which means that Lydia loved following her around just as much as she loved following Lydia around. They are going to be such good friends.
Along with the Christmas Eve Pizza, one of my favorite traditions is that we all sleep together in the same room. When we were younger, this meant that the younger kids would come and sleep in my room. Now it means that we all pull out the mattresses and sleep next to the Christmas Tree - it's pretty awesome. Also, this year we instigated a new tradition that I love.love.love. We decided that each person/couple would bring something to put in each other's stockings. So we laid out the stockings and then each took turns coming in and putting in candy/treats for each other. It was cute and fun and I loved it. I can see that we will do that every year from now on, it was just so fun.
Christmas Day (Part 2)
I can't say enough how much I loved not having to worry about leaving early on Christmas Day. We were just able to stay and play and enjoy being together. We opened presents in the morning (after waiting for Lydia to wake up), and again were showered with so much love in gift form that it's hard to express how grateful we are. Camille "gave" Lydia this big bouncer-ball and she absolutely loved it. Loves it. I didn't think she'd be able to do it - but she's totally a pro! My parents were so generous with their gifts and we had so much fun watching everyone open their gifts. (Also, I wanted to record on the blog about how thoughtful my Grandma Knowles is. She always sends cards/packages for everything and she always decorates them with stickers, ribbon, and bows. Often, they aren't anything big or expensive - but it's obvious how much she cares by the care she puts into the package. Those things are so special to me and I'm grateful for her and her thoughtfulness.)
Later that morning we got to talk to my baby brother Jacob, who is serving a mission in the Edmonton Canada Mission. It was so wonderful to see him, and I'm so grateful to his mission president for allowing us to talk to him on Saturday instead of Thursday so that we could all be there. He was funny as usual, but he seemed so so so grownup. One thing that he said that really stuck with me was how important it was to write our life experiences down - that as we write down how Heavenly Father blesses our lives it can be a very important form of missionary work. I hope that this blog accomplishes that. Sometimes we write about silly things like Jelly Beans, but other times, I hope that the testimony that we have of our Savior, Jesus Christ, shines through. I'm proud of Elder Walker and we continue to pray for him that he will be blessed as he sacrifices so much to spread the joy of the gospel.
We played QuizUp against each other on our phones all day, we watched a little Doctor Who to celebrate Dad getting an awesome Tardis blanket (Mom is finally getting into Doctor Who. It's awesome!), and we finished up our Christmas celebration with a friendly family competition. Dance Dance, Foosball, "Shoot the bear with the Nerf Gun", and Tanks (on the wii). Matt and Melissa set up a bracket/point system and we competed in teams. This time the Haderlies took the win! Because we are pretty serious about our competitions, we are even talking about having a trophy made that we can pass around. We are cool like that. (Also, I love Dance Dance so much.)
It was a very Merry Christmas and we feel very blessed to have been able to spend it with so much family. We were planning to stay Christmas Night, but around 10:30 when everyone was getting ready for bed we decided to just drive home. Several reasons - 1, Lydia was having a hard time sleeping and it looked like it was going to be a long night. 2, Austin's blessing was the next day and we were going to have to get up early to come home anyway. So we drove home and collapsed into our own beds. Regardless of how tired we are post-Christmas Festivities, we loved every second of it!
