December 24th is SUCH a busy day! But it's so much fun! It started out with Bubb not feeling too hot. We were so worried about him. We didn't know what to do with him. In hindsight, I probably should've stayed home with him, but Matt hated for the both of us to miss everything, so we went to all the activities. Luckily, he didn't end up getting any of us sick (a couple of us ended up getting sick a week later, but not from Bubb(usually that GI bug's gestation is a matter of hours or a day)-it's just going around. Lots of people have had it, and it's YUCK!)
So first off we met with all of Matt's brothers and sisters at his mom and dad's house for a gift exchange. Adam and Krystal drove in from Minnesota to spend Christmas with all of us and her family in Idaho, so it was fun to see them. We read a few scriptures on the birth of our Savior, talked a bit, (sort of) did our usual gift exchange, talked some more, and then headed down to the church for the big Halling (Matt's mom's side of the family) family Christmas party.
And so, here's the group at the Halling party, and believe it or not, there are somewhere around 15-ish people missing! These are Matt's aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, and nephews, and also his own mom, dad, brothers and sisters and each of their spouses. It's a large family, to say the least :)
So we eat, talk, and usually we have a few of the kids sing or play a song for all of us. Matt's Uncle Steve always plays some carols on his guitar. This year, Chloe read us all a story. It was This is the Stable. It's a story about Jesus' birth, and it's such a darling little story. We read it A LOT this time of year. The kids' favorite thing about it is that it repeats "dusty and brown" when talking about the stable throughout the book, and so they like to say that part when we read it together. Anyway, she read it to us, and she did great.
So first off we met with all of Matt's brothers and sisters at his mom and dad's house for a gift exchange. Adam and Krystal drove in from Minnesota to spend Christmas with all of us and her family in Idaho, so it was fun to see them. We read a few scriptures on the birth of our Savior, talked a bit, (sort of) did our usual gift exchange, talked some more, and then headed down to the church for the big Halling (Matt's mom's side of the family) family Christmas party.
And so, here's the group at the Halling party, and believe it or not, there are somewhere around 15-ish people missing! These are Matt's aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, and nephews, and also his own mom, dad, brothers and sisters and each of their spouses. It's a large family, to say the least :)
So we eat, talk, and usually we have a few of the kids sing or play a song for all of us. Matt's Uncle Steve always plays some carols on his guitar. This year, Chloe read us all a story. It was This is the Stable. It's a story about Jesus' birth, and it's such a darling little story. We read it A LOT this time of year. The kids' favorite thing about it is that it repeats "dusty and brown" when talking about the stable throughout the book, and so they like to say that part when we read it together. Anyway, she read it to us, and she did great.
Then, after the party, we go home and open our family gifts. We got some jammies (as always), and a new blog book!! One of us slacked off a bit last year and didn't get it finished in time for Christmas, so we were WAY excited to get one this year. It's beautiful and has LOTS of pages.
(All of us in our jammies. Ava-9 months, Chloe-8 yrs., Porter-5 1/2 yrs., Cooper-3 yrs.)
(All of us in our jammies. Ava-9 months, Chloe-8 yrs., Porter-5 1/2 yrs., Cooper-3 yrs.)
This year, the Mr. and I didn't have our usual hours and hours of wrapping to do after the kids go to bed! I (and by I, I mean I!!) did it all over the course of 2 days while they were at school and napping. Yea me!! The kids went to bed ok. They were so excited! Chloe almost couldn't even stand it! So they went to bed, and then Jared and Sarah came over. Matt and J played Playstation and Sare and I talked for a while and watched A Christmas Story-what a great movie! We put some cookies out for Santa, some carrots out for the reindeer, and went to bed. It was so nice!
