Christmas 2008

We had a nice, quiet, relaxing Christmas this year. On Christmas eve we went to Jared's brothers house for dinner and other festivities. We had a fantastic time and feel so blessed to have them so close.

Once dinner was demolished it was off to open presents. We snuggled, we laughed, we checked on Santa's "progress" to which Cade would say, "holy cow! He will be here any minute!" Cade wasn't totally getting the whole idea of Santa until Christmas eve so it was so fun to see that childhood Christmas spirit ignite in him as he bounced around the house excited for Old Saint Nick to come.

All the little boys opened transformers that night. They were all so excited to break them out and see what they could become. However, even though the package said: Ages- 5 and older. I think we all agreed that they should have been for 45 and older because none of us could figure out how to "transform" them. Jared and Jason spent a good amount of time with the instructions and eventually transformed them into their first and final state of being. Needless to say, Cades is still and will always be an airplane.

Once the festivities had wound down and little eyes were beginning to be rubbed we headed home. As soon as Cade got out of the car he ran as fast as he could to the house so that, "Santa wouldn't see him." It made me smile and also made me wish that Santa would come every night because as soon as he entered the door he ran to his room, jumped into bed and we didn't hear a peep from him until we had to wake him up at 8:30 the next morning.

We left our treats for Santa and snuggled in to watch Fred Clause. I didn't think I would be able to sleep because I was so excited for the next morning but before I knew it Jared was nudging me and telling me that he was heading to bed. Although I did wake a couple of times that night with surges of excitement I was able to dose off again until the sun peeked thorough our blinds welcoming Christmas morning.

I didn't take many pictures of Christmas morning because I opted to video tape it instead. I wanted to be able to enjoy the moment and not just document it. So with the video camera and Beckam being passed back and forth between Jared and I we were able to experience Christmas through Cades eyes. It was so enthralling to feel his excitement. Every gift he opened it was as if it was the first gift he had ever received. He made me laugh, he made me tear up, me made me proud to call him mine, but most of all he made me realize how precious and exciting the simple things in life are. Beckam was a good little baby and mostly just liked to eat the wrapping paper. However, Cade got really excited for him every time he opened a present.

The tradition I grew up with and loved was that at the end of Christmas we would open our stockings and follow a string that starts at the stocking, winds through the house and ends at our "big" present from mom and dad. Cades stocking this year was his guitar. It is a cool guitar that Jared and I played with for about an hour before putting it in its final hiding place- the dryer. Cade was stoked about it and truly thinks he is a rock star!

Once we had opened our gifts- Jared surprised me with some shoes and gift cards and Santa brought him Rock Band 2- we headed back to Jason and Melissas for some breakfast. While the big boys rocked out the little boys put one their "armor," loaded up their artillery and headed outside...

while the girls put their feet up and had a tea party. So fitting!

The boys got mostly necessities from Santa but were spoiled but grandmas and grandpas.

We had a great holiday filled with family, food, and fun and feel so blessed to have the opportunity to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior. Thank you to everyone who called, sent Christmas wishes, and participated in this fun time of year. We love you all!

To check out what we did for New Years go here. We had a BLAST! And as Cade would say, "you're the Rockinest Dude!"