Christmas 2009

We began celebrating Christmas on Christmas Eve with Jordan's family. We had a yummy dinner at Grandma Resch's home and then opened presents. Sarah got a aquadoodle from Grandma Resch and Great-Grandma Opal and she also got a stocking full of goodies! Jordan and I got money for our basement, Anna got a bedspread set for her new full size bed she's taking once her new bedroom is done, and Robert gave Jordan Jazz tickets. It was a great Christmas Eve spending time with each other.

When we got home, Sarah left a plate of cookies out for Santa and a glass of milk. She was so excited to leave something for Santa that on her last sleepy breath, she whispered to me, "Cookies and Milk for Santa, Momma." It was so cute!!

Christmas morning came and I was up at 6:30am. Normally I'm up and about at 4am or so, but I contained myself this year. I got ready, forced Jordan to get up, packed for Logan, made breakfast, and then decided to get Sarah up at 7:30am to begin opening presents and to see what Santa brought her.

Sarah walked out of her room, down the hallway, and into the living room. Her tired little eyes were still drooping, and she could hardly pick up her feet. But, she managed to walk into the room and see a toy kitchen Santa had brought her. It took her a minute to realize what it was, but once she did, there was no going back!!

Santa also brought her a bedspread (she got a big girl bed too), a toy laptop, a play tent, books, and some more toys and chapstick in her stocking. Sarah made out like a bandit. She was especially excited about the chapstick. She loves to put on makeup like mommy, only problem is she's 2 and has a severe lack of coordination. But, it's cute to watch her do everything mommy does.
After Santa presents we quickly ate breakfast while it was hot. After which, we finished opening presents. We didn't do much this year since our main gift is our basement. Jordan, however, got me a new fishing pole since Daisy snapped mine in two this summer. Let's just say I was so mad I contemplated donating Daisy to the pound for a while. But, I simmered down long enough to realize it was an accident. I would just have to wait for a new pole...and wait....and wait some more. But, I finally got one!! Jordan got some clothes from me and some movies as well. Anna got a Twlight Game, lotions, and MS Office 2007 from Jordan and me.

After presents, we hurried and finished packing and headed to Logan for Christmas Day. Once we got there, we hurried off to Grandma Thorne's to visit her. I always make sure to get a gift for Grandma to give Sarah and this year Grandma gave her a Mr. Potato Head and friends toys. Sarah loved mixing up the pieces so the dog was half cat and the cat was half dog. She can be so silly at times.

Then we rushed back to Nana's and Bompa's, fed Sarah, and then put her down for her nap. Since Sarah was sleeping, Jordan and I decided to visit Grandma and Grandpa Harris. We gave them a beautiful picture of Sarah Marie and they gave me a food saver vacuum machine and Jordan got a neat little backpacking stove called a pocket rocket. He's excited to try it out on the next camping adventure with his priests.

After visiting them, we went back to my parent's home and had a nice Christmas Dinner with a Honey-Baked Ham Lindsey brought with her from Arizona. She just quit her job, so this was the very last Honey-Baked ham we'll have...for probably ever. It was very, very yummy. After dinner, we assembled in the living room and exchanged gifts to each other. It was great fun getting together with all my siblings, save Jon who is in the Philippines.

Then came 7pm and Jon called us. We got the video on Skype to work and we actually got to see Jon!! It was so neat to see how well he's doing and how happy he is serving the Lord. We only got to speak to him for about 30 minutes, but that is better than not at all. We're also lucky that we got to see him as well, not just hear his voice. Jon was pretty funny with some of his words, which happens once you've become fluent in another language, and said it was giving him a headache to speak English. His English was pretty good, only a few times did I have to fill in the blanks with him.

After letting the kids play with their gifts for a while, it was time to put Sarah down for bed. I quickly gave her a bath, put her in her jammies, and sent her off to bed in Jon's room. The next morning we got up, ate breakfast, got ready for the day, and caught some after Christmas sales. We went to Sam's Club and got wrapping paper for next year and some solar Christmas lights for my front yard. After that, Jordan and I went back to Nana's while the rest of them continued to shop.

When they got home, we went to Bear Lake to check on the cabin and so Justin and Lindsey could see what it looked like now that we've remolded it. It was cold, but I still thought it was warmer there than it was in Logan. We had hot soup for lunch and then decided to go for a short walk on the frozen beach. What we saw when we walked down to the water was really neat. A high wind storm had come through and pushed all the ice off of the lake. It looked like glass shards were lining the beach, frozen solid from the cold winter air. It was beautiful. We had fun throwing the ice shards and walking around the beach. The sand was also frozen and where the water had come up during the windstorm you could see water stalactites and stalagmites.

After Bear Lake we went back home to relax. Everyone came back to Mom's for pizza dinner. Jordan and I decided to go to Sherlock Holmes after Sarah went to bed. It was a late movie time, but it was worth it. Sherlock Holmes was a great movie and I really enjoyed it. I wish I had better seats, but I was the one who wanted to wait for popcorn :o).

Sunday came all too fast and it was time to head back home. We left in the morning after packing all of our things up. We hurried and got ready for church, ate some lunch, and were off to church. Jordan took Sarah home since her nursery teacher wasn't there and she would've refused to go. Anna and I had to stay, of course, for our Primary callings.

After dinner, we set Sarah's big girl bed up. Jordan and I hid it from her as much as possible so when she saw the entire bed put together she'd be very surprised. She's been asking for a bed for a while now, so I expected her reaction to be a big, excited surprise. But, what we got was a dull, "what the heck is this and where is my crib?" reaction. All well, she better get used to a bed now.

We didn't give Sarah a night light, so I think she's too afraid to get out of bed right now during the night. She slept well, all through the night, and then come 7:30am Monday, Sarah turned on her light, walked out of her room, and into mine and announced, "Morning Momma!". It was so cute!!! At least it wasn't 6:30am, right?

I had a floating holiday on Monday so I didn't have to go to work. Anna helped me take down Christmas and then we went to the store to get Sarah a waterproof mattress cover and some new pillows of her own. After which we ate lunch, then Sarah went down for her nap. Well, I should say we tried to put her down for her nap. Since she could see everything in her room, all she wanted to do was play. I finally got her to go to bed a quarter to 4pm and then she only got to sleep an hour before I had to wake her up to get ready to see the lights on temple square.
We met my family there, toured the lights, and took some really great pictures. I love seeing the lights on temple square. My mom was really excited because this was the first time in a very long time that all of her family was there together on temple square. We were only missing Jon, but he was there in spirit. After seeing the lights, we went to Typhoon restaurant at the Gateway. Since we had a party of 14, it took them nearly 45 minutes to seat us. Poor Aiden was hungry and fussy. But he wasn't too bad once he got some food in him. It was so late for Sarah she didn't want to eat at all. After dinner, we went home. My dad spent the night because he's commuting to SLC for his work right now. We're hoping in February he won't have to do that any more, but we'll see. I'm always glad to have Dad around.

Now it's back to work for two days and then I'm off till the new year. I'm really glad I've got to spend this much time with Sarah. I really miss her when I'm at work and wish every day I could stay home with her. Hopefully one day soon, we'll see what the future brings to my small family.

I hope everyone else had just as great of a Christmas as I have. I feel so blessed to be surrounded by family and loved ones all the time, but especially around Christmas. I love the spirit of the season, the reason for the season, and the feeling of the season. Merry Christmas everyone!