Merry Christmas!

We woke-up to a white Christmas this year. In years past we always dream about it snowing on Christmas, and it finally did. Although it wasn't as exciting this year due to the fact that the Seattle area had had tonz of snow in the weeks before Christmas. Anyway, it was still kinda fun, and we even had some excitement when we lost power in the middle of cooking breakfast. Thank goodness for a gas stove, and the fact that it was only out for about 20 mins or so.

Here the girls are patiently waiting to open presents. I don't think we even starting opening presents until after 11:00. When you have an uncle on a mission your patience is tested when mom and dad make you wait through all the interruptions of talking on the phone to the missionary. They did and great job of waiting!!!

They both asked Santa for a barbie and a necklace, and yes Santa came through this year. Even though Santa had already made the big purchases he was able to dig deep into his bag and find the simple gifts that made the girls Christmas.

As you know, or could probably guess, we love to dress up at our house. Our poor baby boy is going to be sporting the most beautiful ball gowns, princess crowns, and glamorous shoes. Needless to say we were in dire need of some new dresses...thanks grandma and papa.

It is interesting to watch the phases of excitement you go through as you grow and mature. Our big gift this year was a Wii. Cory and I were excited, but knew that the girls wouldn't really understand what it was...As you can see our predictions are correct. They were super excited to open the present, but once it was unwrap they weren't really sure why it was so exciting. On the other hand...

...my parents also bought a Wii for the family. My mom wrapped it really good so that they wouldn't guess what it was (she even put it in a Victoria Secret box, she thought they boys would really like that haha). As you can see their reactions aren't always as rewarding as you would hope. Damon is doing a great job of pretending to be excited...and I think they were excited it just doesn't show so much on the outside.

So Lesson I learned: My girls get excited over the $10.00 barbie instead of the Wii, and my brothers show little emotion over all their gifts. Enjoy the stage you are at and know that next year is going to be a whole different story...especially for those of us who have young kids and the novelty of Christmas is still so wonderful. As for my mom good luck, I guess you will just have to enjoy the grand kids excitement from now on!