Christmas present

Our Christmas, so far, has been so fun. The family went up town to see the Bell Choir at the Conference Center (it was Logan and Spencer's first time, so they thought it was pretty cool to be in the same place the prophet speaks to us from). I have to say, I love the bell choir when we go to the Mormon Tabernacle Christmas Concert, but I didn't realize I probably like them so much because they play maybe 2 songs in between the concert singing. Well, an evening of all bells for over an hour is a snoozer to say the least. I'm glad they are sharing their talents with us, but dang gina, it was pretty boring.
Every night we are home together as a family - which isn't that many - we choose a DVD from our vast collection of Christmas movies to watch together. We just watched one of my favorites today - "Buzz your girlfriend - woof!" That's right, Home Alone - a Christmas classic. I never get tired of that movie.
Also, when we are all together we have a Candycane Hunt. Boyd or I hide a candycane on the tree and whoever finds it, gets to eat it. The boys love it - it's a family tradition. Logan has kicked bootie this year - Bryant has only found it once and Spencer's found it twice. The last time Logan found it Spencer stomped off because he's getting sick of Logan finding it. All hail, Logan, the Candycane King! We decided to switch it up a bit today and Logan hid the candy cane. I found it - Boo Yah!I guess I know where Logan gets his coolness...

I went into the front room the other night and found Logan looking at the tree. I ran and got the camera and snapped a quick photo...
I love Christmas with the boys. Spencer and Logan are so excited this year - more excited than I have ever seen them. I told them today about how Ryan would always wake me up around 2 or 3 in the morning. We would then round up the rest of the kids and go peek at all of the presents under the tree. Having 7 kids, there were always a ton! We were so excited and always stood there shivering. One of us was the designated "wader" and we pointed out presents for them to go see who they were for. We always freaked out over the big ones. Dad would always hear us and yell for us to go get back in bed. After laying there for another hour, wide awake and excited as all get out, Ryan would sneak back into my room and we would round the kids up again. After looking through all the presents, I remember all of us sitting on the couch just looking at the tree and the presents. I remember holding one of the little ones on my lap and we'd all be whispering and wondering what was inside all of the gifts. Christmas was the best in our house. I still get excited as an adult, just because of the feelings I had when I was little. It's those memories that make me so thankful for my big family. Althought we were poor, we sure knew how to have fun!