Christmas Magic

Okay... So it's mid January and I'm now just posting about Christmas morning. But it's been an amazing first 15 days of 2011! This year is full of promise, possibilities, and hope. :)

We didn't travel for this holiday season and it made for a very relaxing (church callings aside!) Christmas for the Smith family. Although we missed being with our loved ones, it was so great to have our own family Christmas. Kevin and I reminisced about our very first Christmas together after we were married. We both worked for BYU/ the MTC doing early morning custodial. So we got up at 4am on Christmas morning, went to work together for 4 hours cleaning carpets and vacuuming miles of hallways and classrooms, polishing glass doors, and cleansing drinking fountains with Foamy Q&A. Good times... Then we came home, had breakfast and opened our gifts. We spent the rest of Christmas day putting together a new entertainment center and talking to our families. It was great. And we loved every minute of this Christmas with our little boy and his pretty little pup. :)

On Christmas Eve we decorated sugar cookies for Santa's plate.


Kevin added to the holiday spirit by creating a sugar cookie Homer Simpson! Of course Noah picked this cookie for Santa's choice few!


Leaving carrots and peanut butter for the reindeer... This was one of my favorite traditions when I was a little girl.


Christmas touches around the house:



Lighting the carousel on Christmas Eve... We actually cheated and burned the candles a few times before Christmas, just because Noah loved it.


Christmas morning!!!! We wondering just how late Noah would let us sleep, and around 7:45am he wanders into our room, saying he was ready for breakfast! I think he just forgot. :)



Proof that "the Big Guy" actually came! Oh yes, Noah checked.


Merry Christmas!


Don't forget about breakfast...


Kev knows me SO well...


Kevin tackling the Christmas morning puzzle/ game that my parents always give... This year was a miniature pinball game and he enjoyed every minute!!!


But the BIG deal this Christmas was setting up another entertainment center 11 years after our first Christmas day set-up. Only this one is exponentially SWEETER... Here's a peak:


And here's the big picture... So to speak!


Here's the grand entrance on Christmas morning and discovering all the magic downstairs!




Santa brought Daddy and Noah some really cool remote cars called cyclones. Noah's favorite color is red and Daddy's is blue. So the cars just happened to match!

Of course, Abbie likes the cars too. But she just wants to show them who's boss. She gets so worked up after a play session that she usually has to take a quick trip outside! Yeah...

Alas, the Christmas tree came down before New Year's Eve this year. We had to make room for the new set-up. But TRUST ME. It was SO worth it to watch Inception on such an amazing TV. We decided that was the first movie we would watch. Noah had to wait until the next morning to watch what he wanted. I think it was How to Train Your Dragon... Outstanding. :)

K, until next year!!! Be good.

Love,

Someone who now enjoys the BLISS of the Food Network in HD. You heard me...

@>->--