Christmas 2013

I get super excited about Christmas time....it is definitely my favourite holiday!!! My love language is "Gifts" and I always have such a great time trying to get everyone the perfect gift. Some people get stressed out about this but I strive off of this time of year. It is my excuse to buy gifts for everyone I love! If I had a million dollars I would be buying people gifts left, right and centre...but alas I am poor. So brace yourself for a super boring post about all the gifts given and received....remember this is my primary method of journalling these days.

Now that I'm married, Andrew and I don't do a lot of surprise gifts (though I wouldn't complain if he did try to surprise me..). We tend to buy gifts that were already somewhat a need. This year, Andrew needed an impact gun for work (not cheap) so that was his "Santa Gift" and my Uggs, which aside from the fact are terribly ugly, were falling apart. So Santa brought Andrew an impact gun and I got a nice pair of boots from Spring....I mean...the North Pole. I also bought Andrew season 1/2 of Modern Family, snow pants, gloves, quality street and one of those faceless angel things of a couple embracing (haha more for me then him). I received boots, some church books, the Simon Dewey 2014 Calendar (LOVE) and Lindor chocolate. Scarlette was incredibly spoiled this year but I'm confident that Andrew and I will be buying a house near the end of 2014 so we probably won't be buying much this coming Christmas. Scarlette got the Little People's klippity klop castle and an Ariel Doll from Santa. Andrew and I gave her a Rapunzel doll, Nemo puzzle/random puzzles, 3 Disney books with sound buttons, clothes galore, magnetic thomas the train engines, extra klippity klop horses, baby doll with a car seat and some new disney movies. I thought she would be totally into unwrapping all the gifts this year but once she saw her big klippity klop castle (we don't wrap santa gifts) she was pretty set on daddy putting it together for her. I had come down with the flu overnight so I literally was laying on the couch trying to enjoy a bit of Christmas between running back and forth from the bathroom so I couldn't really get down there with her and show her how to open the gifts.

I guess I need to also include Christmas Eve in this blog post. My mom got a seasonal job at Costco this year so she was working all day Christmas Eve. We usually hold Christmas eve at our house and all of the extended family comes over for Chili, buns, meat and cheese platters, finger food etc. but this year it was going to be a little too stressful for my mom to have everything ready while also working all day long. My family still really wanted to get together though because last year on the 23rd we lost my Grandpa and it has been important for us to spend time together like he would have wanted us to do. SO we delegated different parts of the meal, my Dad decided to make ham instead of Chili but we just decided to have my two uncle's, their significant others and kids and my Grandma over instead of the whole extended family. I was in charge of the two pans of funeral potatoes and some desserts so I spent most of the day in the kitchen. Andrew got to come home from work at noon so he was able to hang out with Scarlette while I cooked. We headed over to my parents house and helped my Dad set up a bit and then everyone came over. My family isn't the conventional mormon clan lol...both my uncles are inactive as well as their kids so we mostly just put up a bunch of chairs and visit during big family gatherings! I wish we played more games but you can't have it all!!The teenagers usually ditch early or hide in their rooms in the case of my sister haha and the little kids beg to open their Christmas eve present ALL NIGHT. Everyone left around 9 but my Grandma stayed for an hour after that. I sure love that lady! She is the best grandma EVER. I can't even imagine how hard it would be to go home to a big house and not have a spouse to enjoy Christmas with. Especially when you have spent 45 years of your life with that person! The little kids (Brock and Scarlette) opened a present and then we headed back to our place. We put Scarlette to bed and then I "set-up" Christmas...eeek! It was the first time I had done it and I was SO excited!!! I hand stitched four stockings this year and so it kinda felt like our First Christmas as a family!

Side Story--I picked out all of my gifts this year (Andrew really is NOT into the whole gift giving thing haha) he asked if I would be mad if he didn't get me a surprise gift and I was so wrapped up in Scarlette's Christmas that I really could have cared less BUT I did say that I wanted him to wrap the TWO gifts that I picked out lol. Andrew was watching T.V. as I was setting up Christmas and we were clocking in around 1am.....he still hadn't wrapped my gifts. I had reminded him a few times that week....I even had all the stuff out and was wrapping presents for FHE on Monday and he said he would do it later. SO I finish with setting up and we head downstairs to bed, as we are laying in bed I straight up say (I'm pregnant  and emotional remember) "Andrew, you didn't even wrap my presents!" ...then he is all like "What?!? you told me not too" and then I said "I told you I didn't need a surprise present but at least to wrap the ones I had picked out" and he said " No, you didn't, you said not to wrap them"...anyways we went on like this for a couple minutes until I KNEW he remembered that I told him to wrap my gifts. Now if this was the first year of our marriage I would have been totally prideful and said "Don't even bother" and assumed that he would take that as "get your butt upstairs and wrap my presents" but after 3 years of getting to know Andrew(men in general) I am well aware that you have to straight up tell them what to do because they won't read into what you truly mean when you say "don't even bother". So I sent his butt upstairs at like 2am to wrap my presents HAHAHA...good memories....Andrew has told that story a lot lately and I never get the chance to say what REALLY happened.

SOOOO.... I had a really hard time falling asleep and my stomach was going nutso. I thought it might just be nerves that everything would turn out how I imagined but I knew by about 3 am that I had picked up an illness from the family gathering. Needless to say I was throwing up all night and just laid on the couch all morning. I was so sad not to be able to really get into unwrapping presents with Scar this Christmas but as I laid on the couch it was really apparent to me what Christmas is all about. As I looked at Andrew and Scarlette laying on the floor playing with her castle I realized how much I love my little family. They are so special to me. Thoughts of the new baby crept into my mind as well as thoughts of the saviour. Without him I wouldn't be able to be with my family forever and celebrating his birth became the most important thing on my mind that day. I know this may sound so cliche but it really isn't about the boxes and bows (though it is still OK to enjoy those things too). We have been SO blessed this year in our home. Heavenly Father is mindful of each and every one of us, even if that seems impossible!

After opening some gifts we jumped in the car and headed to my parents house. When I walked up the stairs I looked over and saw a HUGE box and immediately starting crying!!! My dad also shares the love language of gifts and it has been a big joke in our house that after all the presents are bought my Dad still has to go out, usually Christmas eve, and buy something extravagant (that we totally don't deserve) for each kid that ends up being a surprise for everyone...including my Mom! This year my parents were asking what I wanted and I said that the only thing I wanted was too expensive so to just get me something small. I was joking the Sunday before Christmas that I expected a Yamaha keyboard under the tree after my Mom and Dad's big trip to Calgary the day before. I thought if I said it that close to Christmas my presents would already be purchased and my Dad wouldn't get any crazy ideas...but I was wrong. It was probably the BEST Christmas present EVER. I have wanted a keyboard since I got married three years ago and have totally missed just being able to sit down and play whenever I want. I will NEVER forget this Christmas and how much it meant to me to receive that special gift. I love my Daddy!!! Scarlette opened her presents from Grandma and Grandpa which included the Little People's musical Princess castle, more clothes, a car mat and other little gifts. At 11 am Grandma came over and we all sat around in the living room waiting to hear the Skype sound go off on the computer! My brother Austin is currently serving a mission in Barbados and we were able to Skype with him for an hour on Christmas morning! It really was the BEST gift. We all squished into my parents room and fought to get a look at his smiling face! He seems SO happy. He really is a changed boy. Service looks good on him! He is doing awesome out there and has just been made a trainer only 3 months into his mission! After chatting with him we all went back into the living room so the kids could play with their gifts and I could lay down some more. We went home around 1pm and Scarlette wasn't looking so good either so her and I stayed home and napped while Andrew went to his parents house for dinner. He came home a couple hours later and we all just laid around for the rest of the evening. My Grandma has Christmas dinner at her house but I wasn't feel well enough to leave the couch lol. It was definitely one of the quietest Christmas days I have ever had but it was kinda nice just spending time with my little family all day...and the bathroom haha.

WHEW. Now to tackle the holidays and New Years. Sorry for the lengthy post but I HAVE to remember every detail!!

-Nicole