Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Merry Christmas!

As a mother, Christmas morning might be one of my most favorite days of the year. This year the boys had a really hard time going to sleep on Christmas Eve because the excitement of what was to come was so overwhelming. They were incredibly anxious, as any little boy would be, and Logan was so eager and excited that he actually gave me a massive hug and about 25 kisses. That NEVER happens. I'm lucky if I can get one kiss out of him. It's little wins like that that stay with me forever and give me some sort of hope that I'm giving this kids a good childhood.

Christmas morning we got our wake up courtesy of Logan who was in our room bright at early at about 7:00 am. He promised me he ran to our room and didn't see all of the presents that were already in the living room. It was too cute. We made a plan to go back to his room to put on some pjs, go potty and wake up brother. Within a few minutes that was all complete and the party started in the living room. The boys were both very kind and well mannered. They wanted to actually go about this in a somewhat organized fashion. They took turns opening presents and liked seeing what the other received.

By about 9:45 we were done with presents and the boys had already begun to play with their toys. The house was a disaster all day but it was fun to see them layout all of their stuff and try to play with all of it that day. We built several Lego sets, a huge train track, played new games, ate a nice ham dinner and ended the evening with Rogue One at the theater.

I love the spirit of Christmas and the love and charity that's in the air this time of year. I'm thankful for baby Jesus, whose birth we celebrate, who came lived, taught and died as our Savior. I'm blessed with my little family who I love dearly. I love spending time with them. I was off work for a week and we had no real plans other than to just be together and in many ways it was just perfect. I hope that we can always remember the reason for the season and the blessings we have and the love and hope that we share.

Merry Christmas to all!
This is a picture of our Christmas card this year. 
 Late Christmas Eve the boys set out some cookies and milk for Santa. 
 This year we left some presents under the tree in addition to their piles on the couch. 
 Santa must of come because the cookies and milk were gone!
 Stocking stuffers for Lincoln included Minecraft guys, a ticket to Trans-Siberian Orchestra (TSO), an iTunes gift card, modeling clay, Yugioh cards and some chocolate.
 Logan's stocking stuffers included a ticket to TSO, airplanes, an iTunes gift card, a wallet, modeling clay, some Minecraft guys, some train books, chocolate, and a Hallmark train ornament. 
 Both boys got these crazy glow in the dark sweatshirts that they've been wanting. 
 Santa brought Logan a new iPad mini (and case) that has more storage and is faster. 
 Lincoln got a new football, a Cardinals hat and some new football receiving gloves. 
 Since Logan is always trying to play my Ticket to Ride, we figured this kids version will be perfect for him. 
 Logan put a skeleton on his wish list for Santa. I'm not sure why but he's pretty fascinated by bones. Maybe he will follow in Tutu's footsteps and be a chiropractor!
 Most of Lincoln's haul for the day. 
 We carried on the Phillips' tradition of giving presents from random people. This year we brought Lincoln in on the fun too. I got presents from Calais Campbell, Ben Spies and Mr. Byers. Ricky got presents from J. Lo, Dwight, Yoda, Beth the Dog and a brother in our ward. Lincoln got presents from Kylo Ren, Carson Palmer, Yoda and Larry Fitzgerald. 
 Ricky's scored some North Face jackets, some T-shirts and tickets to see Jesus Christ Super Star. 

 Logan lined up all of his toys on his own. The soccer goal has since been put up in the backyard and we immediately got to building those train tracks. 
 The first big track from the new set. 
Unfortunately, Christmas Day was the last day Elfie was with us. The boys said their goodbyes and were sad for a bit but told him we'll see him next year. I hope he doesn't mind the warmth of Hawaii!

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