Our holiday began on Wednesday, Christmas Adam (Adam came before Eve). I didn't having any more shopping to do or Christmas preparations to go through, but Dale wanted me to take the kids shopping at the dollar store to buy presants for each other. I decided to take them to the dollar store in Brigham City with hopes that it wouldn't be as crowded as the dollar store in Ogden. It was a good choice. I don't know how it was in Ogden, but the Brigham store wasn't bad. The kids were able to find some fun things for everyone in the family. I think the fun was trying to keep things a secret at the checkout counter. We had to pay for things in shifts, but it all worked out. We came home and got everything wrapped up, and placed under the tree. Speaking of "under the tree." Dale felt like I shouldn't be putting everything under the tree like I have done in the past. He was worried about it possibly getting stolen, and he felt like the magic is lost on Christmas morning if they see all of the presents before the big day. So I put them downstairs in the toy room, where the kids saw them anyway, but I guess they were not in full view because they were in the closet, so therefore Christmas was made more fun. I'm not real sure it was all that much more "fun," but I did agree that the presents were probably safer there than under the Christmas tree next to the door, and I was NOT going to take them all back out through the snow to the trailer. It was hard enough getting them in to the house to be wrapped in the first place. The toy room was a compromise that I was willing to accept.
Christmas eve was at "Grandma Higley's" as usual. Mom had everything beautiful and the smells in the kitchen were heavenly. We had a buffet dinner of Turkey and Ham and everyone helped out by bringing salads, and desserts. It was a yummy feast. The entertainment for the evening was the annual talent show. Everyone that wanted to participate is allowed a chance to perform. Marie signed "Silent Night" while she sang. Valerie played a piano piece that she had played for Choir and had been practicing for MONTHS: ) Dale told a story called "Puff No Eyebrows," and I had made a video for Young Womens that I showed. Jessica and Jordan chose not to participate this year they didn't have anything ready to contribute. We forgot about Jingle Bells on the head. Jordan is suppose to duet with Dad. Dang it! It was rather quiet without the Chamberlains and the Little Higleys. I missed them.
Christmas morning was different this year. Dale and I were rudely awakened by my children this year. They jumped on the bed to wake us up. In years past we have had to wake them up, but this year they came a calling at seven and I wasn't ready to get up. We finally hauled ourselves out of bed and quickly got dressed, and headed into the living room where Santa had left all of the presents. This year Santa left a Wii and the kids were pretty excited about that. We always take turns opening gifts so that Christmas morning last a little bit longer. I once again went overboard on the presents. Every year I start out with good intentions of not going overboard, but every year it happens again. I don't think I'm extremely extravegant with the gifts I give the kids, but it always seems like so much...They get a lot of clothes and shoes and coats and other things they need but haven't got yet, and then I have to get them some fun things too. With the Wii that Santa brought, the kids got games to go along with it, so it seemed like a lot. We got to enjoy our Christmas morning a little more this year. We weren't due at Grandma Sorenson's for breakfast or lunch like in the past. Alicia and Jeff couldn't make it to Sorenson's house until five, so we had a Christmas dinner at "Grandma Sorenson's" house too. It was also buffet style, but this time it was yummy roast beef sandwiches (one of my favorites). After a quick bite, we opened presents, again taking turns. It's a lot of fun watching the little kids open their presents. They get so excited. We also get what we call "Verge" gifts. Verge is a friend of Mom and Dad Sorenson from Stockton, California where they use to live. He came to visit one year when Jessica was a baby, and I got to know him a little. Every year for as long as I have known Dale he has sent us gifts. He loves to wrap the gifts in several layers of newpaper (especially the comics) and LOTS of tape. It is usually things that maybe you would find at the dollar store and we all get a big kick out of what he sends us each year. He always sends crayons and coloring books by the arm load. I think he remembers how much Jessica loved to color. It is one of the funnest things about Christmas each year. He is getting pretty old now. Dad Sorenson says he is in his eighties. It will be really sad when we don't get "Verge" gifts anymore. For the rest of the day we just sat around and talked and ate and ate and ate. We left about 9:00 to come home. After being hyped up on sugar and candy all day, we crashed on the way home. Things were pretty quiet. We got home and pretty much went straight to bed. No one stirred until nine or ten o'clock the next morning, a very rare occurance at the Sorenson house. All in all it was another great Christmas and the Sorenson home.
No comments:
Post a Comment