Our Christmas morning always starts at 7:00am - one tradition I really like! This year I actually woke up on my own at 6:57am - I must have been excited or something! We all gathered in the living room to see what Santa brought. Let me say here, I don't know how these girls do it. I was so curious in my younger days {actually, I still am!} and had to dig into my stocking in the middle of the night and then carefully pack it back up. These ladies don't even touch their stockings until we're all gathered - all they do is look, from a distance. Is this normal?
Mackenzie was still sleeping and who wants a grumpy three year old, so Katia got to go first this year.
I took this picture to show something in the top left corner of the photo, right in front of the wreath in the corner of the dining room - it's the BIG surprise for this year. Do ya see it? You can also see our new snowballs, and our Gifts from the Savior under our Nativity tree.
So then it was Jenna's turn to open her stocking. First, she was thrilled to get the fuzzy blue socks because her sister's in YW's got socks on Sunday. They were wearing them, and when Jenna realized how soft and comfy they were, she told me she wanted some, to which I replied "It's a little too late to be adding things to your Christmas wish list now." So with the help of an elf named Tammy, Jenna got her socks!!!
Jenna had written "Bird" on her Christmas wish list. When she opened her stocking, she found two bird toys - a ladder and hanging chew toy. She just kind of laughed about them when she found them. When her stocking was empty, we were kind of joking about what to do with the bird toys. Rich said, "Why not put them in the bird cage?" to which she replied, "What bird cage?" Then he nonchalantly responded, "The one over there in the corner."
This was where it got funny! Four girls rose at exactly the same time, with their eyes pealed to the corner, all exclaiming variations of "What?!?!" They got to that corner so quickly and found . . .
. . . a bird cage - with a cockatiel inside it!!!
It's very tame and immediately stepped onto Jenna's finger to be carried out of the cage.
They were all so thrilled and shocked!!! The tag on the cage said "To Jenna and her family".
What a perfect surprise! The "secret fowl" as Richelle called it, did it's part in the surprise by not making a sound - no sudden chirping! Richelle and Jasmine were in cahoots with us. Richelle and Logan bird sat for a week and kept playing with the bird to keep it tame. Jas helped the girls stay focused on their stockings and kept them away from the bird corner, turned on certain lights only to keep the bird corner dark, and kept them in the bedroom last night when Rich went to pick up Secret Fowl.
Carlee with Benny - such a handsome bird! Jenna named the bird King Benjamin because the head feathers look like a crown. I suggested King Herod since it was Christmas, but Benjamin was her choice, to be called Benny, because it sounds good with our others pets - Lacie {dog}, Honey {hamster} and Louie {fish}. The plan is to teach King Benjamin to quote scriptures!
Eventually we got back to the stockings . . .
. . . and Carlee got a fake lemon! "Is this some sort of joke?" was her comment. Further down in her stocking she did find two real lemons, so then we had a happy Carlee.
Strawberry syrup is one of Jordyn's favourite things to get from Santa, and nuts!
Jas and her loot - the daisy is actually a shopping bag!
My turn - got my Bounty Bar and my new Polestar Family Calendar - so all is right in the world!!!
Richie with his chocolate cherries, and he got the most amazing head massager too!
So we were finished but there was one stocking left, and we had one less stocking this year as Richelle is now in her own home with her husband.
Time to wake up Mackenzie!!!
She was focused on her stocking but would keep glancing over at this bird thing. Her new Dora panties were a big hit and she really wanted to wear them. However, I wasn't interested in toilet training on Christmas Day!
After her stocking was finished . . .
. . . Jenna introduced her to Benny.
Benny stepped on to her finger, crawled up her arm . . .
. . . and perched happily on her shoulder.
As we were preparing our Christmas breakfast of Belgian waffles with berries and whipped cream, we all just visited and played with Benny around the island. The tap actually makes a nice perch.
This picture is not posed at all - this is exactly how people were standing and and acting! I thought it was so cute - so I took a picture. My spot was at the sink!
After breakfast, we opened our Gifts from the Savior. These are things that will help us remember Him. There were two CD's, three DVD's, two pictures of the Savior for their rooms, and a quiet book. This is the part of the day when we actually remember our Savior Jesus Christ, as we celebrate His birth. It's one of my favourite parts of the day, as we feel the spirit together.
Once we were all dressed and we'd cleaned-up a bit, we went down to the family room to tackle the gift pile.
We started at 11am and finished just after 1pm. We had a lot of beautiful and thoughtful gifts packed under that tree. Jenna had the role of distributing the gifts this year. The girls thought they had figured out their secret gift names so perfectly, but none were right! Haha - ya can't beat Momma!!! They were: Jas - Little Match Girl {because that's the name she suggested}
Jordyn - Nutcracker {because she likes to crack nuts}
Carlee - Jacob Marley {because her nick name is Marlee}
Jenna - Bob Cratchit {because she was a Cratchit in the school play}
Katia - Sugar Plum Fairy {because she loves to dance around like a fairy}
Mackenzie - Cindy-Lou Who {because she's cute, little and blond}
All so obvious - they were looking at letter patterns like I'd done last year!!!
Later on, Richelle and Logan came over for a few moments to exchange gifts. Then they left to spend Christmas with his family.
We just lazed around for the rest of the day, watching some new movies and eating tons of goodies. Carlee got sick again as the day went on, and others were still recouperating too, so a lazy evening was a good thing.
On Boxing Day we had a fabulous ham/turkey family dinner at Gramma and Grampa's house. They had five of their eight children there and all or parts of their families. I must say I have never had such delicious sweet potatoes before!!! And we all enjoyed having another sing-a-long led by Jack.
Christmas is wonderful!!!
