Christmas Photo Synopsis

Christmas was a lot of fun this year. I got most of my shopping done really early, so I got to enjoy the more fun parts of the season. One of my favorite things we did this Christmas was to go see "Savior of the World" at the Conference Center.

The decorations were beautiful both inside . . .

. . . and outside

The cast members were very friendly and let us take their pictures. The shepherd wasn't nearly as dirty and smelly as he looks.

And Mary was much younger than she looks - good makeup. The play was beautifully done and a perfect reminder of what the season was about. As long as we can get tickets, I'd love this play to become a yearly tradition for our family.

We had so much fun spending the night with Sammie.

We decided on Friday before Christmas to go to California (we would leave Christmas afternoon), but I couldn't feel good about going unless my toy closet and office were cleaned up. They've been weighing on me for a long time.

Isn't that the prettiest picture you've ever seen? DI was very happy to see us that night.

Sam doesn't care much for our vacuum so he hid under the table and climbed on top of boxes as an evasive maneuver.

Sam got to open Nana's present early so he could wear it to church.

Sheryl and Dave Babcock came over on Christmas Eve and had a nice dinner with us. But on Christmas morning, Sam woke up sick, so we realized that we wouldn't be able to make the drive to California after all.

Can you guess what Sam's bowl is for?

In spite of Sam's puking all day, we had a really fun Christmas. And, sad though we were to not see our family in California, it was really nice to just stay home and do nothing for a few days. And there are lots of pictures to help compensate.

Steve really likes his book from Rich. It has a place of honor on the tank of Steve's throne.

Sarah and Abby both got a couple of Webkinz from Santa. Now I have to fight with them for computer time.

Abby and Sarah also love their giant Indian Paint horses (I know they're Indian Paint horses because Sarah, the horse expert, told me).

Matt loves his cool drumsticks from his Washington cousins.

He's anxious to take them to school and show them off.

Anna loves her new purse. She talks about how much she loves it every time we go anywhere. I love it, too, and told her that I want it for myself when she's tired of it.

Matthew couldn't act like a savage by ripping paper off of Oma's present because it was packaged in a gift bag, so instead, he used his mouth to rip out the tissue paper.

Nana and Grandpa's gift will help him act like a savage, though.

Princess Abby loves her Cinderella Barbie from Oma. Notice that everyone is in jeans or pajamas except for Abby. She had to put on her satin and lace dress for the occasion.

Steve wondered why Abby and Sarah got a truck from Nana and Grandpa until they also opened a horse trailer - that cleared it all up. They are doing very well sharing their joint gifts.

Anna really wanted an Ipod for Christmas. But Santa gave her an Ipod pad of paper in her stocking, so she thought that's as close as she was going to get.

When it was time for her to open her "big gift," she thought it was another book. We told her it was a very good book (Human Neuropsychology) - she was very gracious in hiding her disappointment.

But she quickly discovered that the book had a big hole cut in the center that hid a little Ipod Nano. She has hardly put it down for nearly a week now.

Matthew's "big gift" was also disguised. We put a bunch of big books in a box to add some weight and act as a decoy. He'd seen Anna open her gift, so when he opened the package, he started flipping madly through the books looking for his real gift's hiding place. Can you see the real gift sitting right on top in the box? He gave us a good laugh with all his searching.

He was very happy with his green Nano, too.

Sam only opened one or two presents on Christmas morning - we saved the rest until he was feeling better a couple of days later. So Thursday, he finally opened a truck from one of his Washington cousins and liked it so much that he didn't want to open anything else. But that's okay; we'll just save his presents for next year. Babies are great that way!