Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Christmas holidays--2007

We had a GREAT Christmas season this year--2007. I took a lot of pictures and we made a lot of memories. Curt and I were fortunate to have ALL of our family home on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. That was a blessing to us. Our house isn't built for that kind of a gathering, but we had a blast. It was hectic at times, but I think we could all say it was one of our favorite Christmases ever. We had sledding episodes, cooking class (don't forget my famous peanut brittle--I baked most of Christmas Eve. We made cookies, almond bark with candy canes, and, yes, peanut brittle that turned out to be peanut taffy. I didn't cook it long enough. It was a dentist's nightmare! Luckily we got rid of it before it pulled out any teeth. We let Lucky, the dog, try some--she was even baffled as to how to get it off her teeth!) Even though our home is smaller than we would like, everyone had their own bed--no one had to sleep on the floor. I did find out later, as I was checking out the Christmas stockings on Christmas Eve when I thought everyone was asleep, Cashelle and A.J. were actually on the couches in the front room. It appears Audrey tried to sleep with them but it didn't work. I was oblivious to their presence. I didn't even know until Christmas morning! Below you will see some of the memories we made together as a family. We also did the traitional Christmas Eve at Grandma Kjar's (it was a little sad this year without Grandpa Ben). We sang songs, ate chile, drank eggnog, and read stories. A. J. read the Christmas story from Luke--we had a wonderful time there. After we got home, everyone had a package to open before bedtime--everyone got pajamas to wear to bed except for Curt. He didn't think he needed any. The girls all had matching blue tops and pink bottoms, and the boys had matching white tops with black bottoms. Notice as you look through the pictures . . . During the holidays Audrey and Madalynn got to go sledding down at the farm with Uncle Chris, Aunt Amanda, Aunt Lacey, and Pompa Kjar. We also went one other day so that Grandma Kjar could watch the kids having fun. It was a fun time.

Here Chris, Amanda, and Lucky are pulling Madalynn and Audrey on the sleds behind the 4-wheeler. They were very good sports and enjoyed every minute of it. They didn't want it to end.

Here is Chris and Amanda opening a gift on Christmas morning in their new jammies!
Lacey and Landon opening their games from mom and dad.
Thomas and Audrey rolling around on the BEAUTIFUL quilts made by Landon's mom, Shelly. They were the cutest pink John Deere quilts I have ever seen. She is so talented--and so selfless. Thanks, Shelly, for being so good to my granddaughters.
Here is Curt opening his new toy. He got a helicopter! He took it up to school one day during the holidays and he and Kendall had a blast flying it down the halls of the school.
Cute little Cody with a Chrismas bow on his head. He was really getting the hang of opening gifts before Christmas day was over!


Just look at the pile (this is the smallest pile) of gifts in our tiny living room. The stockings were full to the brim, too!
This is a better view of the amount of presents under(?) the tree. They wouldn't all fit under the tree. We had them all over the room! With 12 people, you can imagine the stack of gifts! It took quite a while to get them all opened.
A. J. opening their new food processor from us. Notice the pajamas?
Cashelle got a surprise from A. J. He got her a "Studs and Spurs" calendar as a joke. She was saying she would need to trade it in on an "appropriate" calendar to hang in her kitchen. Heck, I'll take it if she doesn't want it!
Chris, Amanda, and Cody opening a present for Cody (a little John Deere tractor from Gammie and Pompa). Notice the matching P.J.s.



Here is Amanda opening her pink and blue jammies.
Lacey opening her jammies.
Thomas in his new Thomas the Train P.J.s.
Madalynn, Audrey, and Cody in their Christmas Eve pajamas.
Another view of the tree with the stack of presents.

Before Christmas, Curt and I saw this amazing sunset. We couldn't pass up the opportunity to take a picture of it. We submitted it in the December KSL pictures.
Here is Cody at Lacey and Landon's house. He was trying to make a messy diaper so Amanda thought she'd set him on the potty. Didn't work.
A.J. opening his jammies.
Chris opening his jammies.
Landon opening his way too BIG jammies. When Curt and I picked them up, we thought we had traded for a medium for Landon. Guess what? He got an EXTRA LARGE. If you know Landon, you know he is definitely not an extra large--the crotch hung down to his knees. Oh well, another fun memory!

2 comments:

Cashelle said...

That Christmas was awesome. Thanks for everything!!!

Jerry Twitchell Family said...

I loved making the quilts. I have to have something to do in the evenings. I haven't had a quilt on for over two months and I'm about going nuts. I think I'm going to make one of my visiting teaching ladies a lap quilt. Since I don't have any grandkids and I probably won't for a while I just have to adopt a few every now and then. Your Christmas looked so fun. Ours was very hum-drum. I was just recuperating from my treatment and was quite boring. I look the pajama idea. What a fun tradition.