Christmas 2009!

I thought I'd better get my Christmas post done the day after Christmas, or I might never get to it.  But, just a warning--I think I'm going for the record of the most pictures ever on a blog post.  But when you have 19 nieces and nephews and no children of your own, you have to post pictures of all of them.  :)  So, here goes.

We had a great Christmas this year.  I just feel so grateful around the holidays that our whole family lives in Utah Valley, and that we can all get together.  Usually on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning we have one or two families gone, but this year everyone was there for at least part of both.  It was so fun!

Christmas Eve was nice.  We have an annual Christmas Eve pageant coordinated by Melissa.  It has grown and expanded over the last few years, and this year Melissa had Dan and Emilee print a backdrop to act as a stage for the kids, and it turned out so cute.  Here are pictures:

Me with Mary and Joseph

Three sister shepherds--so cute!

Most of the kids waiting "backstage" for the pageant to begin

 

The angel comes to Mary

Dave as the donkey with Mary and Joseph

Mary and Joseph ask the innkeeper for a room

Meanwhile, Samuel the Lamanite preaches to the Nephites (and Nephi the prophet kneels to pray)

The angels come to the shepherds

Another shot of the angels and the shepherds (with the inkeeper peeking out on the side).  :)

The wisemen (the third one didn't want to be in the play, so we only have two)

And finally, all the actors come out for applause

Another shot of all the actors.  Aren't they just precious?!

After the pageant, Dad read the Christmas story from Luke 2, and then we went upstairs and sang carols and opened white elephant gifts. Here are a few pictures from the rest of the night:

On Christmas morning, we always have our traditional Christmas morning breakfast.  This year went great, because we had warming pans from Dan and Emilee's rental center, which meant we could cook the food early, and then just have everyone start eating as soon as they got there.  We did have to run to the rental center to get some more "fuel," and so I didn't get any breakfast pictures, but here's a picture of the chefs (minus Dad, who was going ot the rental center), that Jan took:

I didn't get any good breakfast pictures this year--I guess I was too busy eating--except this darling one.  Kate and Ethan were playing some game, and came to tell me about it, and were laughing and laughing.  It was so cute!

The kids went downstairs to play, and we decided to leave them down there while the adults opened all of their presents.  Fortunately for all my blog readers, I didn't get hardly any good pictures of the adults (so you will be spared 18 extra pictures).  Of course, I'm giong to get in trouble from Mom because she says that I only ever take pictures of the kids.  Well, I have to have my priorities, right?  So, in keeping with what Mom accuses me of, I got a picture of each child opening their presents.  We had them come up after the adults were done, and they each opened the gift exchange presents by family, and then the gifts that Mom and Dad gave them.  So, in order of unwrapping (by family), here are my 19 adorable neices and nephews:

Matthew, almost 2

Emma, 4

Ethan, 8

Logan, 7

Truman, 5

Dannan, 3

Joshy, 7

Brianna, 5

Brayden, 3

Camden, 1

Jenni, 6

Joey, 3

Kate, 7

Lizzie, 5

Sabrina, 4

Holly, 11

Brendan, 7

 Annika, almost 5

Mieka, 2

And finally, here are some pictures of the mass pandelerium that ensued when they all started opening the gifts from Mom and Dad:

After we opened gifts, we had a nice time talking, and then one by one the families left to go visit their other families.  Jan and I came home for a few hours, and then went back with Mom and Dad and watched the new Star Trek.  All in all, it was a great Christmas!