Merry Christmas

What a Christmas. Steve and I got to bed at 2am...Alec woke up at 3:10am. I thought he went back to bed, but I guess he stayed up and watched Christmas movies until the magic hour of 7:00am. At which time we received our wake up call. Some how we finagled another 30 minutes out of them. We told them they could open all the stocking stuff. That kept them busy for awhile. Steve wanted Amy to wake up on her own, so he could hear what she had to say about her bed he made her. We had stolen her out of her bed late last night...set up the new bed...then returned her back into bed. She quietly, on her own, looked it over behind, what she thought to be a totally closed door (we were watching through the crack). Then she hopped out and joined all of us in our bedroom where we were ready to wish her a Merry Christmas. Alec, Rachel, and Amy loved all of Christmas...and were very surprised to have received their top 2 picks on their Christmas List to Santa. But, I have to say I was the one who was most surprised. Steve went way out of our agreed budget we set between each other. He got me/us a big screen TV and Blue Ray player. Naughty boy! But, I love it. In fact we decided we are going to go even bigger. We didn't think we could go any bigger than 32 incher in our room. But, I think we are going to go with a 37" or even 40". Yeah! Man we were tired of our little 20 incher. The rest of the day we spent helping the kids figure out how to use, play, or put together their new stuff. I did get to watch Batman Begins on Blue Ray...a movie I have been wanted to watch from start to finish. Our tummy's are full from all yummy Ebleskivers for breakfast and fondue for dinner...all a tradition. It was one of our more calm Christmas...at least for me.

At later conversation with Amy...

Me: "Amy, did you sleep well in your bed?" (trying to probe around about her thoughts on the her new bed)

Amy: "Oh...something wrong with my bed...come see mommy."

Me: "Okay Amy"

Amy: "See Mommy..." (Amy touching and looking over the bed)

Me: "What do you think about it?"

Amy: "I can't know" (She always says can't for don't and vise versa)

Me: "Daddy made this bed for you Amy."

Amy: (running to find Daddy...hugging him and saying) "Oh thank you Daddy, I love it"!

It's was all worth it!

Christmas Eve Traditions

Christmas Eve is Steve's favorite day of the year. So, we try to make it special for him. Most years we are frantically trying to finish things and tie up loose ends. This usually makes the day go by fast and Steve doesn't really get anytime to enjoy the day. This year was a little different. We had plenty of time to relax and have some fun. Some of our traditions for the Holiday Season are making a gingerbread house. The kids did a great job. This is something Steve does with the kids. I do not have the patients for this kind of stuff. I am usually making the homemade carmels. Which turned out perfect this year. Or making the sugar cookies. The kids really did most of the work this year. Steve helped with some of the frosting and he made the windows and wreath above the door. The kids did the rest. We watch all kinds of Christmas movies like...The Polar Express (Amy's Favorite), Elf (one of Trisha's favorite) , It's a Wonderful Life (Steve's Favorite), Home Alone (Alec and Rachel's favorite), Christmas Vacation, and The Grinch (always on Christmas Eve). We go to the Oakland Temple to see the lights, go to Deacon Dave's house to see all the lights, and listen to a tone of Christmas music. On Christmas Eve the kids open on present to the family, which is almost always a new family game. This year it was Scrabble. I can't believe we have never bought that game before. I have to brag...I won the first game!. We then read the nativity story in Luke and end with family prayer. The kids go to bed and of course Steve and I usually stay up to at least 1am...sometimes even later. We are looking pretty good this year. Steve is putting Amy's bed, he made, together for her right now...and I will go and finish putting out the presents and we off to bed before Santa comes.

11th Annual Jensen Christmas Party

Over the weekend Steve and I had our annual Christmas Party we throw for our close friends. It's a tradition for us and it's becoming one for all our friends too. I don't think it would seem like Christmas if we didn't have it. In fact, the year we had Amy I thought for sure we wouldn't have it being that she was suppose to be born the very end of November. But, even with a 3 week old baby we threw our party in 2004. The party went great and everyone left very full. We decided after this year we are only going to do appetizers and desserts. Everyone always fills up on bacon wrapped chestnuts, meatballs, shrimp, and fondue. There is never any room for much ham, tri-tip, salad, rolls, potatoes, etc. We had the regular crew, plus our new friends the Roylances. We forgot to take a group picture this year...dang, but I have posted a few pictures from the night. As usual, we played the highly requested game of the Not-so-Newlywed Game. This year's winner were the Aubles. We played another round of Christmas Jeopardy Steve and I put together last party. The women play against the men. The men won again and received their 30 minutes gift certificates to be redeemed by their spouses. Jill's comment to the coupons was, "Doug, it's only good for a back rub". Danny Auble won the Rock Paper Scissors Game, Jill won the jar of goodies for guessing the closest number of lifesavers in the jar. And everyone won with there White Elephant gift. Steve and I spend many hours preparing for the night...it's too bad it always goes by so fast.

Finally!

Finally, I can say I am a blogger. For months now I have wanted to create a blog for my family. I am an avid scrapbooking (admittedly a little behind), but love this kind stuff and have wanted to start one forever. Thanks to friends like Emily and Aimee, I received the motivation and instruction to get this started. My only hesitation has been...well...my lack of writing skills. So, if you are going to follow my blog, here is my disclaimer. If you only enjoy reading things that always make sense, or all words are always spelled correctly, or are always used in the correct way, or only enjoy ready things that use correct grammar all the time, this is not the blog for you to follow. But, if you can remember that I am a 38 year old mom, that generally has conversations with a 4 year old all day, you will find the humor in my writing and at least enjoy the pictures. So, here I go...