Merry Christmas to all and to all a Goodnight!

I hope that everyone had a safe and happy New Year. I know, I know I am seriously behind...I am just getting to my Christmas post, but at least I am getting there. Right?
We had a great Christmas. We were able to celebrate it at my parent's home. They live only about 10 mins. away from me, so it was quite convenient. I am not sure how we are going to be celebrating next year, as we will be in Amarillo. So, it was nice to have the ease of celebrating with family and not the hassle of travel.

We decided that we would spend the night over at Mimi'and Grandad's house. Earlier Greyson started to cry in the car trying to figure out how Santa was going to come and visit us. How would he know where we were??? How we he get into our home w/o a fireplace (my parent's have one, so there wasn't a huge concern about Mimi's home...just ours). I helped Greyson squelch his fears about Santa w/ the proverbial "Santa always knows where we are--he's watching us, right?". It seemed to help. My poor boys (especially Greyson) seem to carry the weight of the world on their shoulders. They are always concerned about something.
We started the night with our traditional Christmas Eve FHE. My dad read part of a talk about the first Christmas, we played the chimes (love that), Cooper was able to sing a few Christmas songs along with the actions and we watched Joy to the World accompanied by Celine Dion's Oh Holy Night. It's fantastic. I love it. Here are some pics of our FHE.

Mimi lovin' on Ella

Cooper holding his mallet for the chimes.

Greyson and Phillip. We have been sick w/ oh...everything. Greyson has pink eye in his right eye.

Cutie-patootie Ella

My boys playing their chimes.

Phillip and Cooper.

Phillip helping Cooper sing some of his Christmas songs.

The Christmas Elf always comes and visits our home after FHE. He has left the kids PJ's that they can wear for Christmas morning. When we heard the doorbell ring Cooper looked at me and he was off like a bullet. I have never seen Cooper run that fast. He was out the door like that. He heard the jingling of the elf's bell and we ran into Unle Mack outside with Daisy, their dog...but no elf. Drat. Uncle Mack did get close, though.

The boys opening their Elf presents.

The kiddos in their Christmas pj's.

Here are the kids first thing Christmas morning. (note: Ella is playing with Greyson's gift...not hers)
Here are the boys with their Santa presents.

Here is Ella placed in front of her Santa gift. Poor girl didn't know what was going on. She did warm up and figured out her Santa gift. She loved it.I picked up a CTR tie in Nauvoo and gave each of the boys one and a Stripling Warrior tie tack. Cooper wanted to show us how handsome he was in his tie.Greyson is a huge OSU fan. So, we got him a couple of OSU things (this hat and an umbrella...they love umbrellas).Ella playing with her Santa toy.

Mimi helping Ella figure out a present. She didn't really get the whole open and not play with the just opened toy.

We got our family a Wii. The boys (especially Cooper) was super surprised. We were able to play with the Wii in Nauvoo and they really enjoyed it. I was for the Wii because it is interactive. I am kinda a stickler about not sitting in front of a video game and rotting away... Ella abandoned opening gifts and decided to eat a pear.Phillip was able to receive his dream phone...an iphone. He loves it. Lets just say it was a huge improvement from the previous one.

One of the morning's highlights was watching my mom open a Liz Lemon Swindle painting that she got from my dad. The painting is beautiful! She was super excited.

Ella playing with her Little People home. It was so much fun buying a "girly" gift like that.

The boys playing the Wii.

Ella playing with her toys on Christmas day in her new outfit.

Mack and Cooper setting up his Coast Guard Lego set from Santa.

Just a cute picture of Greyson on Christmas. I am actually taking a random picture trying to figure out the new camera (hot pink!) I got from Christmas!! Thanks, Honey!!

We had a wonderful Christmas. It was filled with fun, family, laughter and love and I really don't think I could've asked for anything better. It was great to be able to take a day to remember our Savior, Jesus Christ, and His birth and share it with the people I love. I hope that you were able to have as blessed of a day that we had..