Christmas Morning
The kids all slept in the boys room this year. At 7:30 we received a call from the kids and Chris headed over to guide them into our room one by one. I love the period of time while we finish getting ready. Grandma came up and waited with us.
Dad and I headed down followed by the kids in age order.
Santa brought one present for all the kids to share. A hooverboard. These pictures aren’t perfect, but they kind of give you the idea of how excited all the kids were.
From Santa presents right into stockings. Luke and Matt loved their POP Star Wars figurines. Poe and Kylo Ren. They also got candy, soccer golf balls and ‘Weird but True’ books.
I have to keep this one even though it is blurry because this purely thrilled expression captured perfectly her excitement seeing her new Dustin (from Stranger Things) pen. She really loves Dustin.
Monogrammed Kate Spade tumblers for the girls. They immediately filled them up with ice and water. They also got mascara, nail polish and Spotify Premium Memberships. : )
Dad got into making Christmas breakfast while I pulled up Ryan’s letter and we watched the videos Ryan sent of him opening his presents earlier in the day. It was fun to see him open everything. We gave him black Sambas, a BYU shirt, a BYU toothbrush, chapstick, candy, a 2018 calendar, new pens and quite a few new socks. Fun to see his excitement as we waited to skype him.
He skyped right at 9:00am (5:00pm his time in Tirana) He was at a member’s house and had eaten dinner there and was playing games with them before and after skyping with us. It was so fun to see him. He and his companion, Elder Harris had matching snowflake sweaters on. Fun to see Elder Harris again – they were companions when we skyped in May for Mother’s Day.
We put Ryan on the end of the table while we sat to eat our Christmas breakfast. He thought it was fun to see the Christmas glasses and plates and be a part of breakfast. We chatted about Dad and I coming out to get him, and about opening his BYU file and getting his ecclesiastical endorsement. Then we took him on a tour of his bedroom (with a new treadmill) and then back up to the living room. We asked him to speak to us in Albanian – which was fun. Then he went down to get his companion and the sister missionaries to sing Silent Night to us in Albanian. It was powerful. Then he asked us how we were doing reading the Book of Mormon and delivered a heartfelt testimony of the Book of Mormon. So grateful for him and his example and love him for everything he is. Our last Christmas to skype him.
At 10:15 we settled down in the living room to open presents. I just love the whole day’s schedule. I love Santa and stocking time, I love eating breakfast with excitement of what was already opened and anticipation of the presents to come. And of course pausing to talk to Ryan for an hour is fantastic. We are very blessed.
Matt was pretty excited for all his presents. Luke was very excited to get Matt a 3DS game. Dad and Luke and I went to Gamestop to find the perfect one – a used game that was on sale and in Luke’s price range. Matt loved it!
Megan picked out this big make up bag for Katie from Paper Source. Super cute.
Luke got a new much-needed backpack. His Darth Vader one was much too small for School in the Woods. “Mom, do I look older with this backpack on?” Yes. Yes you do.
Katie was THRILLED to get the the Complete Series of Psych from Grandma Johnson and Grandma was happy to get a pink luggage tag that said, “Vacation Calories don’t Count”
Emily got a bulletin board and white board calendar system for her room – and some bookends. : )
Megan is a quite reactor. I couldn’t even get my camera ready before she opened up her present from Emily and was rushing over to give her a hug. It was one of her favorite presents of the day. A soccer field iPod case and a soccer ball pop socket. Emily was very clever to put them both together. It looks super cute!
The game CODENAMES to Dad from Katie and Emily.
I found this Stranger Things t-shirt at Target two days before Christmas and knew Megan needed it. The boys were SO excited to give it to her and she was SO excited to open it. Luke said, “Megan you are really really really going to like this!!” To which she responded, “Is it something Stranger Things?” His eyes widened as she opened the shirt, freaked out a little, and gave Dustin a kiss. ; ) With a hoover board, Dustin pen, soccer ball pop socket and now a Stranger Things t-shirt, Megan’s Christmas was already perfect.
Emily got piano music from Grandma. She was so happy about the Hamilton music she got a little teary eyed. Perfect for her!
Matthew was pretty excited to research 3DS cases for Luke for Christmas. After he bought one for Luke, I bought one for Matthew. He was pretty excited to open it. Love surprising these boys. I don’t have a picture of Luke with his but it was one of his favorite presents from Christmas.
Megan gave me this cute utensil holder from the Magnolia line at Target. : )
Chris got Bluetooth Earbuds from Mike and Carly. I got $25 towards a new Camera Bag!! : )
Grandma led us downstairs where we had to find hidden bags with our names on it and a bag clipped to the downstairs tree. Mexican money, matching t-shirts and a trip to PUERTO VALLARTA in two weeks! Can’t wait!
We gifted Katie and Grandma tickets to the musical WAITRESS for the next night, December 26th. They both LOVE Musicals. It was a fun gift!
Much needed new Star Wars sheets for the boys.
The girls were intrigued by a big box to all three of them. Colored ukelele’s… and wall hangers so they can hang them up on their wall.
Megan and her ukulele and her new Madewell shirt that she already put on. She’s changed clothes several times today.
All of the girls were excited but Emily got emotional. “I’ve been wanting a cute ukulele.”
Again, so quick to respond. She saw one glimpse of her cute maroon Vans and jumped up to give Katie a hug. Love these cute sisters. It’s my favorite to watch them open presents from each other.
Fuzzy warm Darth Vader blankets for the boys.
YAY! A cute grey letter board for me! Thanks Katie!
The boys got BYU hats from Katie, Emily and Megan. Super excited. They tried them on when we were at the BYU bookstore in October and the girls bought them right then and saved them for Christmas. They are going to wear these non-stop. : )
Presents from Grandma and Grandpa Walton – all CANADA themed. A cute baseball hat and socks for Katie. Sweatshirts for Emily and Luke. A ski hat and socks for Megan, and a soccer ball for Matt. Fitting to have Canadian presents from G&G on their last Christmas living in Canada.
A soccer ball for Luke from Grandma Johnson. A mug from Luke to me!
Hot Wheels toys for Matthew and a pretty long break in the present opening so he and Dad and Luke could start setting it up.
Everyone is loving this hooverboard. New 2018 Rifle Paper Co. Calendar from my parents. : )
A Paris in Color notebook set from Chris. They match the Paris in Color book my friends and I all got when we went to the Shakespeare Book Company in Paris. And a snow globe from Emily.
I gave Chris a new Jim Shore Santa – which was a surprise. Now we have four in our collection. The other three we bought together in Seifen, Germany.
Our Jim Shore collection. Love them all.
New Sorel boots from Chris. I lOVE these!! I’ve been wanting some boots but didn’t even have this on my radar. Luckily Chris has a ongoing list of ideas and found the perfect ones! Thanks hon.
One of the last presents given this Christmas was Katie’s SENIOR TRIP. Chris and I are taking her to Chicago in the spring for four nights. It’s going to be fun!!
Not everyone made a mile of presents this year – just Megan and Dad.
It was such a magical wonderful day. I know I took a lot of pictures but not enough of the surprised faces and sibling hugs that I treasure on this day. It was simply perfect. We ended opening at about 2:15 but most of the wrapping paper and boxes had already been cleaned up during other breaks along the way.
We got out the leftovers from our Christmas Eve Feast and ate again. The kids took turns on the hoover board, some of us took late afternoon naps, we skyped Grandma and Grandpa Walton, we skyped Ashlyn to open our exchanged presents (She got Chris a Chicago Cubs puzzle, me a blue and red sweater, the girls baseball hats, and the boys Lego sets). We got her an ice cream maker, red and white striped bowls and the ITES book. Derek and Dallas were excited about everything. We ended the day with Squamish Bars and Psyche episodes – and didn’t do much cleaning at all.