Twas hours after Christmas....

Twas hours after Christmas and all through the house,
Dad and Mom go back to bed and the girls are quiet as a mouse.
With the tree, presents no longer adorn, but the crumnpled up paper is stacked by the door! The shopping and preparations are gone in a dash, but smiles on faces are shown with a flash. Christmas is gone for another year, But memories will last and are held real dear.


The Tree after Christmas morning


M with her DS that Santa brought her


T with her Aeropostal Christmas.


C with some of her treasures. She asked for clothes too.


The wrapping paper piled by the door!

What kind of Christmas are you?

Your Christmas is Modern

Your wish for the New Year is more happiness. For you, Christmas is a spiritual holiday. You can't separate it from your beliefs. You are patient when it comes to Christmas. You don't celebrate too early, and you don't like seeing holiday decorations in October. You like Christmas traditions, but you're not uptight about them. You do things your way. You like to celebrate Christmas your own way, and you don't like to have to compromise. You enjoy Christmas more than anyone you know. Some might call it an obsession! You give a big during the holidays but nowhere near as much as you'd like to.

What Does Your Christmas Say About You?

Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?

*This was a tag from Susan, my friend from SITS. I was also tagged by Tonya, and I will do hers in a couple of days...

Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?

1. Egg nog or Hot Chocolate?
I like eggnog, but not the calories it brings.
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
A little of both. Santa will place large items under the tree unwrapped, but the others are wrapped. I love big fancy bows, and pretty wrapping.
3. Colored lights or white?
White lights
4. Do you hang mistletoe?
No
5. When do you put your decorations up?
Usually I get the decorating done the Saturday after Thanksgiving, along with the tree decorated, and Mike usually puts the lights on the house too.
6. Favorite holiday dish?
Yams and I love peppermint iceream, although, I could eat it in a huge dish
7. Favorite childhood memory?
Christmas at Grandma Johnsons. She has been on my mind alot lately, and I miss her waffle cookies.
8. When/how did you learn the truth about Santa?
Fourth grade, and after that Christmas just wasn't as fun anymore, until I got married and had children. I tell my own children that if they stop believing, then Santa stops visiting.
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
No, unless it is from Nana. She will sometimes give the girls pajamas and then we let them open the gift up, so they can wear their new Christmas jamas.
10. How do you decorate the tree?
Mike sets up the tree. Since moving to Arizona, we have an artificial tree. The white lights are already on it, so Mike just puts the thing together. I put the gingerbread men on, the bows, berries, pinecones, and the girls put on the candy canes, and all of the red bulbs, along with their hallmark treasures from Grammy (Mike's grandma) and then Mike puts on the big bow on top.
11. Snow. Love it or dread it?
I miss the snow. We love to ski, and sled. I would love a white Christmas! I do not miss driving in it, or spring never coming.
12. Can you ice skate?
Yes. Another thing I miss about Cache Valley. Ice skating at the park.
13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
Probably a kitchen that Santa brought me when I was 4.
14. What is the most important thing about the holidays to you?
celebrating Jesus' birth, and teaching the girls that Christmas is about giving, not receiving.
15. Favorite holiday dessert?
Peppermint icecream
16. Favorite Christmas Tradition?
We always have clam chowder in bread bowls, along with Ceasar salad on Christmas Eve. We then have a birthday cake for baby Jesus. For Christmas morning, we all take turns opening presents, that way Christmas lasts a little longer, and we enjoy each other. AND THEN THIS IS THE BEST PART...MIKE MAKES A HUGE CHRISTMAS BREAKFAST AND CLEANS IT UP!!
17. What tops your tree?
a big bow
18. Do you prefer giving or receiving?
Both - I love to find that perfect that you know someone will love, and it is fun to receive a surprise.
19. Favorite Christmas song?
I really like that song "Mary Did You Know?" by Kenny Rogers
20. Candy canes. Yum or yuck?
I hang the things on the tree, but I don't really eat alot of them. I do like those soft peppermint ones. Infact I got a peppermint burn on the roof of my mouth from eating to many the other day.
21. What do you want for Christmas?
A white Christmas, to see my family in Utah, and go skiing.
22. Do you attend an annual Christmas party?
I have missed the last 2 years of the annual facutly party. Other things going on. (Dance recitals etc.)
23. Do you dress up for Christmas Eve or wear P.J.'s?
We wear jeans, and sweaters. We try to be dressy casual.
24. Do you own a Santa hat?
Yes, I wore it to school yesterday, and I was the only teacher with a hat on:( The girls wear the hat on Christmas morning.
25. Who do you normally spend Christmas with?
We usually spend it with family. We do our own Christmas morning at our home. Then in the afternoon we go to Mike's parents home and hang out. We usually don't do a big Christmas dinner. We usually do rolled ham, turkey, and roastbeef with rolls, salads, and junk food. Christmas Day should be relaxing.


I'm just going to leave this open to anyone who wants to play along....I know Tonya just finished a HUGE tag week, it would be fun to hear how everyone else does Christmas.

Our weekend journal of pictures...

Our weekend started with M having her December Winter Ballet concert. This is her 5th year of dance and she is in the intermediate ballet class. She did very well, and is the youngest in her class. She is 9 and everyone else is 12.

Next, came a Saturday of crafting. The girls and I made at least 12 of these metallic bulletin boards with magnets. We bought a scrap of 12 by 10 sheet of metal from Home Depot. We then covered them with cute scrapbook paper, and added a bow. We slightly bent the bottom of the sheet of metal so that the bulletin board can stand freely. The magnets are those clear plastic rocks that you put in fish tanks and we hot glued a magnet on the back it. They turned out darling, and they weren't that expensive to make. Great friend gifts and teacher gift.

Next, came my treasure. This is Goldie! 10 years ago, I refused to pay the $100.00 that ebay wanted for him. I was collecting Beanies back then, along with my mom and sister. I know that Beanies come a dime a dozen now. I payed 50 cents for him out of a vending machine at the pizza restaurant. He even has his plastic hang tag. My husband wants to sell all of my Beanies to a vender now!

Sunday we went to see Christmas lights. This is the next Criswold's house. After we came home watched a Santa movie and had hot chocolate.

Oh how Sweet it is....

Years Ago...Before we moved to Arizona, we would come visit for Christmas, and you could smell the orange blossoms. I just loved that smell. Anyways, last year Costco had a whole bunch of fruit trees on sale, and I bought three of them for our yard, thinking that it would be years before we actually got fruit from our little trees. Well, I was wrong. Our little orange trees are producing fruit, the yard smells sweet, and they taste yummy.