The Twenty-fifth Day of Christmas

(This is not what Mike and I looked like Christmas morning. Christmas morning, while the kids opened gifts, he and I took turns running to the bathroom to throw up.)

The kids set the alarm for 6 a.m. because they wanted plenty of time before church at 10:00.

They all got pillow pets, except for Bev--she got a Webkinz cat. These have ended up being some of their favorite gifts.

Drew got Diagon Alley Legos, and he did the annual pretend fainting on account of being so happy.

This kid has always been so enthusiastic about his gifts. It sure makes giving him things fun.

It was a Barbie Christmas for Jessi.

Christian got Lego Ninjago stuff...

...and Skylanders for Wii.

We gave the girls Caboodles with all kinds of treasures inside--art supplies, makeup, jewelry.

I got new car mats and a stock pot. I also got this weird light bulb in my stocking. It is for my rear break light in my van.

Mike got two of his favorite movies on DVD.

I think this picture is funny. Mike is usually getting everything cleaned up. This year he just sort of sat there in a stupor.

Mike went up to bed for a bit. I helped Bev get her new tea set cleaned. She made hot chocolate and toast for everyone for breakfast.

Although we didn't feel well, we got the kids to church. I wish we could go for an hour of church every year on Christmas--it is a great way to start the day. By the end of the hour, every kid was asleep. After church, I slept for an hour. When I woke up, I was the one in a stupor. We headed out for our annual visits. On the way, we realized that I had forgotten all of the cards and pictures I had to give for gifts.

We first went to Grandma and Grandpa's to see both sets of Grandparents on Mike's side. We got spoiled all over again.

We then headed to my aunt and uncle's for my family's Christmas party. Instead of the kids exchanging gifts, we decided to make hygiene kits for the LDS Humanitarian Center. Everyone brought supplies and we assembled fifty kits. This was probably my favorite part of the day.

For more information on Humanitarian activities visit:

http://lds.org/service/humanitarian?lang=eng

We hadn't seen our other cousins, so we stopped at Sean and Julie's for a quick visit. We got home at about 9. We went to bed and the kids stayed up playing with all of their new stuff. I woke up in the middle of the night and found every light in the house on, the tv was on and so was the mini DVD player. I then set out to find all of the kids. Drew and Bev were in his room--they had been watching a movie. Christian was actually at the foot of our bed totally covered up in blankets and all of the pillow pets. Jessi was on the love sac in the family room.

I was a little sad to have been sick on my favorite day of the year, but we got to see our wonderful families and the day was magical for the kids, so it was a very nice Christmas.