Christmas 2009

This was our first Christmas in Virginia. It was our first Christmas with out ANY extended family around. And it was our first Christmas with Zachery.
A few days before the Santa's big arrival we baked dozens of cookies. I decided that I really need to find a good sugar cookie recipe, because I wasn't happy with the way our sugar cookies turned out. However, the ginger snaps were delicious as well as the oatmeal spice cookies and peanut butter fudge. Even though the sugar cookie's didn't taste the best, they were the most fun.

My mother started a tradition when we were kids. She bought us a Hallmark ornament every year. I continued the tradition with my children. This year I let RJ and Savannah pick out their own ornaments because I couldn't decide what to get for them. There were just so many cute ornaments. After much debating, RJ chose Indiana Jones over a Star Wars ornament and Savannah had to have the Barbie Musketeer once she spotted it.

Santa's arrival.

Last year was the first time Santa hid a Christmas pickle in our tree. He continued the tradition this year. Savannah's "I Spy" books paid off this year as she was the one who found the pickle first and was able to open the first present.
The lighting in our front room is horrible so we didn't get very many good pictures. But the kids had a good Christmas thanks to all of our Grandmas and Grandpas. Thank you all so much. Wish we could have been with you.

Zachery enjoyed eating most of his presents.

Lego's from his brother and sister, can you see the excitement.

Grandma Pearce bought this really pretty princess dress for Savannah. It made Santa's princess dress up clothes look dingy. Savannah had to mold it and couldn't wait till it was Sunday so she could wear it to church.

Train tracks from Grandma Bartley. We gave our train set away when we thought we were moving out of the country. RJ was excited to have a train set again.

Is this girl spoiled our what. Check out what Grandpa Bartley had to get his granddaughter.

This year RJ bought and picked out his own gifts to give everyone. He was so excited about this task. He bought his dad a new tape measure since him ans Savannah keep breaking them. He even promised not to break this one.

My Grandmother has had the tradition of wrapping one of our gifts in gold paper. This gift was always the last one we unwrapped and usually the most expensive or the specialist. Here is Zachery's with his very first "Gold Gift"

Inside was this cute little puppy who flapped his year and sang "You make me want to Shout, Merry Christmas" Zachery loved it, as did the other children.

Later my Grandmother told me the story behind this gift. My Grandfather went into surgery just before Thanksgiving to have some cancer removed from his stomach. He has had his ups and downs with the recovery and is still in the hospital. It doesn't look good. One of his friends brought him this puppy around Christmas time to cheer him up a little. He wasn't too impressed at first. But when visitors did come to visit he showed them his dog and they had a kick out of it. One day he told my Grandmother to find a puppy just like it because he wanted Zachery to have one. And so after a few store searches my Grandmother finally found one. Thank you Grandmother and Grandfather, it means a lot we love you.

Once the gifts were all unwrapped it was play time. RJ went straight to the Wii to try out his new Indiana Jones game Santa brought him.

We had no place to go for Christmas dinner but still wanted to keep Christmas dinner a tradition so we invited our ward missionaries over for dinner. This was the first time I have ever had such a large all by myself. We had ham, potatoes, green bean casserole, my Grandmother's orange jello, rolls, salad, and of course Martenillis!

For dessert I tired to make our traditional Dark chocolate and peppermint tart but my attempts kept failing. There were just too many steps and I was juggling too much at once. This is something that HAS to be made a day ahead. Jared came to the rescue and finished it up but it wasn't done till 9 that night, so we ate it the next day.

Next year I think we will have to find a new dessert since this is way too rich for just our little family. We ended up throwing most of it out because we couldn't eat it all. Maybe we can just try cutting the recipe in half.

Even though I wasn't in any of these photos, I did have a good Christmas, too. The kids got me a couple board games and RJ and I enjoyed the holiday break playing a continuance game of Monopoly. Santa stocked my closet full of Bath and Body Work's lotion and I got a well needed shopping spree. I lost track of my weight loss so I'm not sure if I met my goal I started back in October, but I did drop a pant size before Christmas. One more pant size and I'll be a happy camper. Two more and I'll be in Heaven!!