Merry Christmas!

{DECEMBER 25, 2008}

This has to have been one of my most favorite Christmases ever! My kids are the perfect ages. They are big enough to remember our traditions and know what's going on, but still young enough to still really believe! They got so excited over everything! I loved seeing the joy in their faces! An added bonus was that we got to spend the day with everyone! Christmas just wouldn't be the same without a little craziness and a lot of love. It was so nice to be living back in Idaho for the holidays this year. No more 14 hour drives and squishing everything into a week. I am so thankful to be living by our families again!

We started out the morning finding what Santa left us in our stockings.

Yummy! Chocolate!

After an old traditional Beesley breakfast of Christmas Crunch, the kids finally persuaded us to let them open the rest of their presents. Money was a little tight this year, so a lot more thought went into their presents. They loved these little tents!

Hooray for slave labor! Thank you Santa!

This was my #1 present of the year, and a complete surprise! A new camera! My poor old one may have been dropped one too many times and turned itself off and random and very inopportune times. Like all the time. I'm so excited about this one!

I "bought" Todd a scope and a gun case for his gun (it was his Grandpa Becraft's gun originally). I love "buying" Todd gifts because he almost always picks out his own!

Next stop on our whirl-wind Christmas was Nana and Papa's house. I love these pictures of mom and my girls. I can't believe how grown up my babies are getting!

I made calendars full of grand kid picts for mom and daddy -- a big hit!

Finally, new slippers. Those old ones are older than me! He's never found a new pair he liked until now!

After a few snacks and many thoughtful gifts later, we hopped into the Jeep for a drive through the snow to Grandma and Grandpa's house in Utah. Grandma Byington had fallen a few days earlier and had broken her hip. We were hoping to get to the hospital in time to see her, but we didn't make it. My heart went out to Marge -- she put on a brave face and we had a wonderful Christmas there too.

"Can we open presents now Grandpa, can we open presents now?"

Louis got so many little boy toys this year. A yellow dump truck, dinosaurs, cars, a tool set, and a Transformer. Boy toys are fun (and a nice change around here)!

Paige got Elizabeth the neatest gift. It had a real oyster in a can that you opened and could dig a pearl out of. Different colored pearls mean different things. Then you put your pearl into a necklace. She loved it. Another one of her favorite gifts was a watch set from Grandma. She told me, "I like it because it's kind of a grown-up gift!"

This has to be a tie for Todd's #1 gift. He it a Guitar Hero nut... I'm seriously thinking he may need an intervention soon!