Christmas Eve, ready or not...

I woke up so early this morning (4:45am), you would have thought it was Christmas day and not Christmas Eve... so I took advantage of not being able to go back to sleep and put on my favorite Christmas sweatshirt

and headed out to the store to pick up groceries for our annual Hoagies and root beer floats traditional Christmas Eve dinner. I had been putting off this trip not wanting to tackle the crowds or take the new car out onto the frozen roads all week, so early was the only way it was going to happen.

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I just had a few more stocking stuffers to grab...

hmmm... 4 packages of treats, interesting there is that an extra one?

And how many stockings is that? Seems to be an extra one to fill this year?

Yes, we have a little Christmas surprise a brewing...

When I finally made it back home, my strong silent mysterious man made the best mountain man breakfast and we all sat and ate at the dining room table, which if you know us very well is a Christmas miracle in itself. It was so good, and so nice not to have to do groceries AND breakfast. I love him, he is the best!!

Then he serenaded me while I did the breakfast dishes and cleaned up the kitchen.... did I mention I LOVE this guy? Mr. Wonderful!!

I am loving having him home from work an extra day this week, sigh!

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The teenager went with me to deliver some neighbor gifts... I finally got around to making some almond roca (so sorry to all of our family for not getting any homemade treats in the mail this year).

Then we were in the mood for a drive and saw this guy... no we did not adopt him, just felt bad for him having to ride in the back. He was so adorable, and looked so cold and sad.

After the movie we walked over to Home Depot and the teenager who's current obsession is TOOLS, was in heaven!!!! He had been saving a small allowance each week from his paycheck and wanted to buy some more tools for work. It's fun to see him feel a little reward for all of his hard work. And he has been so good about saving. It's amazing how careful he is with his own money.

I saw this tool kit, it reminded me of the tool box my brother bought me filled with all the essential tools I would need to keep my household going. It was perfect! I used it all the time. A hammer for hanging pictures, screwdrivers, tape measure, a box cutter, etc.... I was surprised at how much I used it and loved it. And to this day, it is off limits to the men in my house, because they don't return things and then you don't have what you need when you need it.

And this one came is this cute compact carrying case, and was only $9.97!!

It would be a perfect graduation gift for the girls in your life.

And our little Christmas surprise... meet Oakley!

Just teasing!!! Mom, I promise we didn't adopt him!!

His parents are visiting from Oregon and his Grandpa, well lets just say we are pretending he is allergic to Oakley and that's why he can't stay at Grandpa's house. So we have gotten word into Santa that Oakley can be found at Dusk Ct. this year! He is so adorable and all our pups are getting along great with him, after the initial "leave me alone" growls that he very infatically put out to their curious nosie noses... everyone is now respecting each others space. So all is well!

A happy accident...

I often find strange things in the washing machine when I go to move the load into the dryer. I have a rule that everyone is responsible for cleaning out their own pockets before the clothes go into the hamper to be washed because it is hard enough for me to get the stuff sorted and washed and dried and put away without having to go through pockets too. So I have washed some very odd things, but they don't usually forget often, because if you have ever had something you LOVE washed and ruined... you remember to empty your pockets (like your cell phone or ipod, or your payroll check). So it works pretty well for us.

But apparently the dogs didn't get the memo on that rule because I found this in a load today.

It was a happy accident, because I don't think to wash their grubby toys... I am just really happy this bright red toy didn't show up in load of whites, that could have been a very pink unhappy mess up.

Pick a card, any card...

The process to make a Christmas card is never fun or easy at my house... I love photo cards, I have for a long time. I love getting them, so I think others might as well. And when I found sites and times to order them for free I am all over free, I normally just pay like 3 or 4 dollars shipping for my cards and then of course the postage to mail them out. But it makes it affordable, or I might not send Christmas cards at all. This makes me really appreciate each and ever card I get, because I know how much time it takes to do them.

But back to the process... not fun. You first have to have a photo :)

Sounds easy... right!

I should probably think of this earlier in the year and get a cool family photo on the beach or on vacation, but we don't go to the beach or on vacation... so it is allot of work to try and get my little tiny family together dressed in something other than our casual around the house wear for a family picture.

And "the family" means the puppies too at our house... so that is an entire other factor.

This year Jim didn't want me to ask anyone to take our photo for us, so I was forced to try and get a good shot by setting up the camera on the tripod, setting the timer, and jumping in the picture and trying to get the dogs and everyone looking forward and smiling. You can see why I procrastinated this year.

Well this was a near disaster.

So as funny as some of the shots came out... I almost decided to put them on a Christmas card to share the humor.

One photo everyone was really cute, everyone smiling, no hair sticking up, no open buttons, but Jim had some kind of choke hold on Taylors neck! We can't use that one, it looks really questionable.

Another one, Morgan is in a full yawn and you can see half way down her throat to her intestines.

And another, she is actually snarling and growling at me because I was trying to make her turn around and sit looking forward before the flash went off (she was sensitive about being pushed around that day). And she never snarles or growles (just a sign of how intense it is to do Christmas photos at our house) and I didn't want the whole world to see her dark side.

Not always a happy process to get to even an acceptable result.

If there is such a thing.

So the sarcasic me, who can make light of any bad situation... almost went with this version... but the otherside of me (the one that was taught better and knows when sarcasm is probably not appropriate) decided I better not.

So "we" (I say that like the boys had anything to do with this decision... no help at all people) went with something a little more sensible instead.

I have to say, I didn't really like them. It was a total compromise to just get them out and in the mail. But I tried to put lots of love inside the envelopes as I sealed them up.

I have no idea what I will do next year... the teenager will be on a mission and as much as my family loves me, they probably could care less about getting a picture of our dogs, and I am not going to torture myself to try and get a photo with just me and Jim. It really has been all about sending an updated photo of the teenager and how much he grows from Christmas to Christmas all this time.

The Nativity...

A family in our ward puts on a live nativity and invites all the children that want to come participate in the program to come. They have costumes and they do an entire pageant of the nativity, complete with live sheep, alpaca, donkeys and chickens.

They put this on with new actors each night for 3 nights leading up to Christmas.

If you come just to watch you are part of the choir and sing along to the beautiful music to help tell the story of Jesus Birth. Tonight was opening night, it was cold but mild and tolerable outside in the big tent.

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Because I am still learning to do photography in low light, I was pretty challenged all night, but I still think these pictures will tell the story much sweeter than any of my sarcastic commentary...Yes he is a live baby Jesus on loan, but I promise he was not cold... the manger was complete with a heating pad... and he was only there for a short time before he woke up and protested the "humble circumstances out of his daddy's arms. And in case you are wondering... complete and proper care and protection of the children and animals were enforced and none of them were forced to participate against their will, or harmed in the process.

Everyone warmed up afterwards with hot cocoa and cookies!

Botanical Gardens in lights...

My friend Janice and I went on another outing that I could not get my boys out to... The Botanical Gardens at the old Penitentiary in Boise.

I took the small pocket camera and you would think that I have never taken pictures in my life... I could not figure out what setting to capture all the beauty!

But some of my mistakes were interesting none the less.

We look like we have some crazy seventies neon fro's... couldn't recreate that if I tried.

And we got to see Prancer!!

I had no idea he was so low to the ground... for the maximum lift to drag ratio I suppose.

The walk thru took us to the top of the hill and you could see past the gardens full of lights across to downtown draped in lights. So pretty!!

I have no idea... but kind of retro

I tried so hard to get a picture of the Winnie the Pooh honey tree.... this was the best I could make of it... so cute.

The purple lights were kind of my favorite...

I really loved watching the kids drinking their hot cider and cocoa watching the lights... kids and Christmas, nothing better, Ahhhh.

Ward Christmas party...

Our outgoing ward activities committee... Great party girls!!

Way to go out with a bang... our activities really won't be the same!

Awesome breakfast burritos... yum!

A video of family Christmas photos... who doesn't love seeing themselves in a video :)

That was fun to see families together!

Getting to play with the kids...

Being together and trying to stuff a little more Christmas spirit down this guys throat :)

The primary making graham cracker houses...

Siblings helping each other...

One last activity in primary... these girls will be in young women this next year... Yay, but wow!

Passing OSHA inspections... ha ha just kidding...

And who can resist a little more frosting...

Then the performances... beautiful Christmas songs and the annual "12 days of Christmas" by our Elders Quorum. The video is too large to upload here, but I am working on another way to view it... it's hilarious. The teenager was 4 calling birds... a real stretch for him to play like he was on the cell phone walking across the stage during his part of the song (NOT)!

But it was awesome to see all the little children watching and laughing and clapping through the whole song and performance... THEY love this every year! It's really all about the kids anyway isn't it?