Christmas Time

 I missed writing about Christmas and its already the new year. I'm going back to last year for this post. This year was really fun with the kids! Noah really got into opening up his presents and watching everyone else open theirs too. It was so so fun! He was so funny while unwrapping. He would take off a piece of the paper and then hand it to me or Sean and then rip off another piece and hand it to us. It made unwrapping take a longer time but he was having fun.

For Christmas Eve we went to my parents house to unwrap gifts and hang out. My parents and Justin were in Wyoming with my sister Robyn and her family for 2 weeks over Christmas and New Years. I'm glad that Robyn and Carlos were able to have them there for Christmas and it was nice not having to go to two houses on Christmas haha. Amanda and Corey and their two kids and Andrea met at the house at 6pm and exchanged gifts. We skyped Robyn and everyone in WY while we unwrapped the gifts that Mom and Dad bought and made the kids. My mom made the grandkids these really cute pillow pets. Bekah loves her and eats the arm of it all the time. Noah likes to hug his chicken and make chicken sounds. Cortney had fun "helping" Noah open his gifts because she thought he was going to slow haha. Silly kids. Joshua loved the stand and walk thing we got him. He actually fell on it trying to open it. Rebekah was just happy eating the wrapping paper. It was nice spending time with the family and seeing the kids play with their toys together.

Christmas Day we woke up at 7am and watched Noah and Rebekah open their gifts from Grady Rachelle and Emily, and our secret santa. It was so surprising the things we were given. I am so grateful for friends who loves us. We love them more than words can say. Sean and I got some awesome gift cards for Buffalo Wild Wings and Chipotle Yum! And new bright yellow bath towels which make me really happy. The kids got some really fun toys which they love.

After we finished with presents at our house we went to Scotts house to spend the day with Sean's family. Scott is Elizabeth's boyfriend. Onda small is livin' the life in New York still and Jim spent Christmas with his Dad and Step mom. So it was Elizabeth, Scott, David Sean and I and the kids at the house. Scotts daughter and her family came over for part of the festivities as well. We had a delicious breakfast, unwrapped presents, and then just hung out and played with the kids the rest of the day until we had dinner at 3pm. We each took naps at different times during the day too. Thats the way to do it with kids in the house, tag team naps haha. I still don't think Noah really knows who Santa is. We just didn't really talk about him very much this year so maybe we will play it up more next year. We will see. We talked a lot about Jesus and his birthday. Noah thought that was fun and liked the idea of Jesus being a baby. Rebekah was very lively on Christmas day and was crawling all around the house. Some of my favorite gifts the kids got were; Bekah- earrings from Andrea, dresses from Robyn and Amanda, rolly ball from Grady Rachelle and Emily, finger puppets from Sean and I.  Noah- Pirate ship from Secret Santa, Pillow pet from Mom, Race Car from Andrea, bath time shaving kit from Amanda, slippers from Grandma Elizabeth.

An awesome event that took place Christmas day was the birth of another Niece! Jason and Melissa had their little Noelle Elizabeth Howell Christmas morning. She looks just like Rachel and Alden did when they were little. We are so excited to meet her this year sometime. They live in Maryland so we plan on taking a trip out there when we have the money. Also Seth called from his mission in Hong Kong. It was nice hearing from him and how things are going there. He is doing great and serving the Lord.

Oh so I mention above that we had a Secret Santa. I still have no clue as to who it was. I thought it was my ward but someone told me that it wasn't and that it was someone I knew but the person wouldn't tell me who it was. I guess it doesn't matter who it was. I am just so grateful to them and the love they showed for us. We were given gifts every night for 12 days ending on Christmas Eve. It
was sweet things like Christmas movies, Christmas books, hot chocolate, oranges, Christmas ornaments and yummy treats. My absolute favorite was the gift on Christmas Eve. I cried so much out of surprise and gratitude.We were given awesome toys for Noah and Rebekah. Noah got a cool pirate ship and Rebekah got . . . hmm I can't remember what Rebekah got haha, I know she played with it though. I will have to think about that. I received a groupon gift certificate for 2 massages (can not wait to use those!! ), gift card to Downeast Basics (my favorite clothing store of all time!). Sean got a gift card to the Olive Garden and an awesome action figure of Darth Vader. And we got a really pretty picture frame with Family written in it. We were blown away by the generosity of those around us. I have gone through the things we have and am donating the toys we don't play with anymore. It will feel good to pass on the kindness.  

I'm so grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and for the knowledge I have been blessed to have. I know that Jesus was born for us. I know that he lived and died that we may have his example and his atonement and that we can return to him and Heavenly Father someday. I love the feeling of Christmas and the spirit of love that it brings.  



I hope everyone else had a great Christmas and had fun with their family :)