christmas 2009

we had a good christmas. someone told me that they heard once that 3 gifts was good enough for christ and because of that, 3 gifts was good enough for kids also. i told my kids that and they took it really well. they didn't really care. it isn't about the gifts, but the anticipation of christmas and the memories you make. blake on the other hand decided that his 3 gifts would be a horse (the one he wants is $7500), a saddle, and a new tractor. he didn't get any of his gifts this year, maybe next year. update: his tractor is supposed to be delivered this week some time from tennessee. he is so excited!!!

anna got a bike and it was so cute to see avery more excited about her gift for her than his own. i don't have a lot of pictures to post because truthfully blake was photographing and being 9 months pregnant and bra-less they are kind of scary. i told him he should have told me to go put a bra on when he was taking pictures, but you know how men are, he didn't even notice.

blake had to work christmas morning so we got up at 3:30 to make breakfast (stratton family tradition), eat, cleanup, and then open gifts. after anna fed her lambs at 6:30 she went and laid down and i was already napping on the chair and kept on waking up to avery humming christmas songs and putting together legos that megan gave him. it was so adorable that after an hour or so, i decided i better get up and interact with him. we downloaded bubble bobble on the wii and him and i played until anna woke up and then spent the rest of the day with my family eating and enjoying each other. that night blake kept on asking if avery had a fever because his little cheeks were red, but i kept reassuring him that it was because he had spent the whole day outside playing with his cousins (he just adores raquel's boys and would move in with them in a second if i would let him, lorin is his idol and they get along great, especially now that anna is into more "girly things" according to lorin).

anna crashed her bike first thing coming down dusty's hill and i was surprised when my dad handed the phone to my mom (he was talking to billy) and jumped in his truck to make sure that she was okay. when the kids came running into the house and said that she crashed i was just sure we were going to spend the rest of christmas day at the emergency room with a broken arm or something, but she was mostly just scraped up and with a little bit of neosporin and a few band-aids was ready to ride again. alyssa got a new bike too and they rode the rest of the day up and down lawson drive, it was pretty cute. i kept thinking, this is what christmas is all about, just being with family and having a good time. i missed my husband though and more than once my emotions would rise up and tears would spring to my eyes realizing that he was missing this, so i tried to call him a bunch that day, because he was pretty depressed about it too, and keep him involved over the telephone. it wasn't the same, but i realize that in the power industry, it is a 24-hour a day, 7-day a week job and it makes me remember not to take for granted the time that he does get to spend with us.

we all took turns talking to billy on the phone and it was fun to see how much he has grown and to hear how his goals and ambitions have changed. he is excited about upcoming baptisms.