Christmas Memories

Our house is abuzz with remote controlled vehicles, including airplanes, helicopters, 4 wheelers, zero gravity micros, and even a submarine. That was the hot item this Christmas at the Whiting home. It was pretty exciting at our house starting on Christmas Eve morning with a never-ending frenzy of busy-ness.

Aunt Pat sent this cute outfit for Lizzie and also an adorable skirt that she (and Rebecca, the fashion primadonna) are going to love. Lizzie has already worn this fuzzy, warm outfit a couple times.

Grandma Whiting sent a lot of treasures this Christmas, including this puzzle of the Salt Lake Temple, which Daddy and the boys (and Lizzie) spent the day putting together.

The Finished Product:

The Sandalls, Kris' sister Kaylynn, and Brother Clark came over to our house for Christmas Eve dinner and the Nativity. We enjoyed a feast of ham, turkey, gravy, stuffing, potato casserole, rolls, breadsticks, salad, veggies & dip, cheese ball & crackers, corn, and invisible koolaid (the table extended onto the carpet). We were all stuffed! After we ate, Kris, Kaylynn, and I went over to our friend Tami's house to take some leftovers and see her newborn baby. It is fun that we have newborns in the ward now -- for a long time Lizzie was the youngest baby. There was a baby girl born on the twins' birthday and now Tami had a baby boy on the 23rd. After we returned we got the kids dressed for the nativity.

I'd been working on Rebecca for weeks trying to convince her that we should let Kaykay be Mary, but Rebecca was not persuaded. She didn't get to be Mary last year so she was determined not to miss out this year. Finally she was appeased when none of the boys wanted to be Joseph, so she gladly took on that role.

Our nativity was the most active & exciting nativity in town, with Mary & Joseph full-on wrestling at one point. Shepherds, angels, and wise men were making wise cracks. Chaos reigned. And Baby Jesus was nowhere to be found when he was supposed to be born and laid in a manger. Luckily the Sandalls had brought Lizzie a cute little doll with blond braids and she made a darling, although extremely feminine, Baby Jesus. The "real" Baby Jesus was later spotted in the basement where he'd been played with earlier that evening by the scheming Mary & Joseph.

Samuel the Lamanite and Nephi were starring roles in our Nativity and the eldest Whiting boy played Nephi while the eldest Sandall boy played Samuel. We sang many songs and Kris was our accompanist. James was our narator. Derek was the photographer. Brother Clark was the video cameraman. I was the director of chaos. And Kaylynn just sat in a daze and wondered what on earth she'd gotten herself into! Wouldn't Christmas have been much more peaceful if she'd visited other relatives? Oh well, it was a Christmas Eve to remember.

The 3 Wise Guys: Ian, Kyle, and Teancum

The Whole Chaotic Cast:

Joseph & Mary with Baby Jesus

Dessert for the Tired Actors: Red & Green Birthday Cake

After the Sandalls & etc. went home for a peaceful evening, our festivities continued with our Christmas Eve traditions. Last Christmas Eve we each wrote promises to Ammon & Kija of things we would work on throughout the year. We put them in their stockings. On Christmas Eve I passed them out and each person privately looked at their promises and determined whether they had followed through during the year. Some decided to continue with the same promises for 2009. Others wrote new promises, and all of these were again placed in Ammon & Kija's stockings. James had a preview of all of the promises a couple weeks ago when Rebecca pulled them out of the stockings and brought them to James, asking him to read each one. It wasn't until he was halfway through that he realized what he was reading and that he probably wasn't supposed to have seen those papers -- they were supposed to be private! He said he'll definitely remember that next time Rebecca carries a pile of folded-up papers and asks him to read them to her.

Our next Christmas Eve tradition is to open one present on Christmas Eve. It used to always be pajamas. Then one year it was socks. Then it was gloves. This year it was slippers. At first Teancum complained and said he didn't like his slippers, but he's been wearing them 24 hours a day ever since, so I guess they sort of grew on him (maybe literally?).

We read scriptures and then read out of our Christmas book (that Kristi bought us) by candlelight and pulled a link off our chain. One link left! It must be time for bed!


Once the kids were snuggled in their beds with visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads, Mr. and Mrs. Santa got to work filling the stockings and putting together toys. The Barneys gave us an air hockey table and a car track that zips cars through it. Even James had fun playing with that one. I pulled the presents out from under the tree to make them easier to find.

Harold was quite helpful also.

As soon as James found out we weren't going to Disneyland, he immediately started bugging Colt to find him a great deal on a kayak. True to form, Colt called on the day after Thanksgiving from Denver, CO and said that he'd found kayaks for under $200 and wondered if we wanted him to get one. So James bought one "for the kids" and that was our main family present. Can you guess who was the very most excited about the kayak?James and I could not sleep on Christmas Eve because we were so excited! Finally we woke the kids up at 6 a.m. and the opening of stockings & presents began. Lizzie did not know what to think -- she'd gotten in trouble for opening the presents and now she was supposed to open them? Her siblings ended up helping her open quite a few of them. She liked all of her new toys and also all of her siblings' new toys.

It was a very fun Christmas and it concluded with a lovely Christmas dinner of pot roast, sparkling cider, and Christmas Eve leftovers, in the evening followed by the family watching "Walle" and then going to bed for some much-needed rest!
Video: Lizzie is an air hockey fanatic:

Tomorrow I will write about their individual presents.