Hello, it's just 1:30am on Christmas day.
I had already put out the presents (there weren't a lot)
I'm giving cash to kids in junior high and older (so Sophi through Joseph) and the elementary kids get to open a present from Santa. So only a few gifts under the white tree but there will be plenty cause they'll have presents under the family tree that they got for each other, so it will be good. Ethan is spending Christmas up in Idaho with Bella and her family (things are getting pretty serious between those two!) and here below is what I've been blogging the past hour as I waited for kids to go to sleep... And now I'm going to bed, Merry Christmas!
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Ok, I got a lot of pictures for today. We got to church early for the Christmas program Rehearsal. I smiled when I saw Owen in back of car - 
Just chillin' taking it easy. In for the final rehearsal before the big musical program!
The violin choir ~ We had a wonderful Christmas program today. A lot of work was put into it. I didn't want the stress of performing to distracting me from feeling peace of Christ, so I was really praying to not focus on the program or me or my kids at all, but to worship Christ and have my heart and mind single to HIM and all He has done for me. And it was a beautiful experience. It started off with the sacrament. There were so many people there ~ college kids visiting home, extended family like my parents and Wayne came to support their grandkids, and also lots of wonderful neighbors that don't often come to join in person, so it was wonderful to see them all, but because of the unusually large congregation, there was not enough sacrament water cups for everyone to partake of the sacrament. The deacons brought their trays back and Wes and the other priests prepared more cups and water and blessed the water again. And I was thinking of how Christ must feel - he wants everyone to come! And when we do come, he makes it possible for us all to receive the blessings he wants to give us. We seriously just need to want to come to Christ. If we do, he will receive us! He's not like Mel's recent college professor who will not count her final paper because it was late. It's not us begging Him to let us in, it's HIM begging us to come. If we come, He receives us. And I just felt that he was so happy for all the people that came today. He was trying to have them feel his love, with hopes that they will continue to come and abide in his love and the fellowship enjoyed by his saints. I love Jesus Christ and his church! I love belonging to a stake of Zion. My goal: be willing to receive all that He desires to give me. 
But you know... all the work that we all the adults and older kids did, and guess who steals the show? It's the children of course.
Singing Christmas Bells (Natalie and I and Jack and his mom Jess all sang the obligato) I loved to see sweet Peter, Owen and Daniel (behind Peter) up there singing with all the lovely primary children. I just love kids. They are so sweet. They definitely brought in the spirit and it was a wonderful touching feast for the souls of everyone who came. My real favorite part of the program was the primary children singing "Born to Be a King"
Baby Jesus, sleeps in a mangerHis mother holds Him in her gentle armsCould He really be called the Son of God?This baby here is born to be a King
"Hallelujah", the angels sing His nameFor unto us is born a King this dayBells are ringing as children sing alongThey sing a heavenly song to praise His holy name
Softly, softly, His mother sings to HimI wish I knew Him all those years agoI will praise HimThe spirit testifies that He is Jesus Christ, His only Son
"Hallelujah" (hallelujah), the angels sing His nameFor unto us is born a King this dayBells are ringing (dingdong, dingdong, dingdong)As children sing alongThey sing a heavenly song to praise His holy name
After we got home, Abi got gift bags ready to give to neighbors (eventhough I told her we're not doing it this year! "I told you! We gave money to the neighborhood food drive as our gift!" Just can't keep the kids' holiday spirit down.
I blogged a bit and took a nap, and during my well deserved break, Isaac cooked and everyone set up the party. I woke up and came down just after 4 and every one was here. Mark had shown up and had long banquet tables and chairs that he had just used for a wedding in Vernal over the weekend and that was all set up amazing. And Isaac wanted nice dishes for the meal, so he got all of JeNeal's Christmas china all set up. Wow! The little boys were the waiters, so they dressed up real fancy.
Looking toward the fireplace above, toward the kitchen below ~
A round of applause for Chef Isaac and our dapper waiters!
Let's see if we can get a pic of everyone on Christmas Eve - Corey with his side kick Katharine - 
Owen and Peter -
Natalie and Daniel -
Sophi, Jordyn, Natalie with their desserts - snowman cupcakes and Santa hat cake pops (and reindeer droppings?)
We had Christmas music playing and the next activity set up - building candy houses but with a little extra something to make it interesting...
The kids were put into groups of 3, and of those three, one person was blind (bandana over eyes) one was mute (duct tape over mouth) and one was deaf (ear plugs). Here is the MJO team -
Grandpa Daniel and Mark -
It was pretty funny to watch.
Natalie just gave up and ate candy -
Some of them gave up on the blind mute deaf rules.
Rhyan, Lily, and Chalane -
Natalie took a nap after that, haha, keeping her blindfold on.
And next activity - saying "Fluffy Bunny" one time clearly as you shove large marshmallows in your mouth.
It was a valiant effort by all. Mark won.
Then we did Christmas Carols with Chimes that JeNeal and Wayne made for all of us years ago.
Katharine enjoying the spoils of the party aftermath - a bowl full of MnMs
Then we all washed up and got ready for a few Christ centered activities - one was writing a letter to themselves to read next Christmas (and idea I got from a LDS Friend Magazine)
I will try to make sure I bring them out next Christmas. Just put it on my calendar for Dec 15, 2024 to find those... Goal tomorrow is to put them all in the Christmas Box downstairs, I think that will be the best place for them.
And then we read some Christmas scriptures by candle light. 
This was my favorite part of the day. At 10pm, I got out candles and a list of different scriptures I had collected and we each drew a slip of paper and read our scripture one at a time, and after we did, we got to light our candle.
I need to find where joseph wrote out the scriptures we did and the order it ended up being in. It was really nice, a nice calm moment together after a busy day.
At 11:20 I started to put out the presents.
"Fair point, mom..." while they also admitted "Christmas has lost it's magic..." Well, you can all still go sleep under the tree. The little kids had already put themselves to bed - Can you spot four kids in this photo?
These 7 are still awake. You better go to bed! Santa's not coming until you're all asleep!
Oh, haha, that's right... you already saw me. Well, NOTHING in the stockings until you're all asleep!
(That's a lot of stockings...) Some of the kids told me the other day that they were amazed that this house just happened to have enough hooks for everyone in our family to be able to hang a stocking! Then I let them know that I put those hooks there... "oh..." Well, it was amazing when the thought it just came like that - 15 hooks! WOW! So I brushed my teeth and read for a few and then the older kids were finally laying down. And here we have PROOF that Joseph DID indeed sleep under the tree with y'all!
They always give Joseph a hard time saying that he never sleeps under the tree cause he missed one year, so it's kinda funny.
Last Christmas with Wes for a few years... leaving for his mission in less than a month!
Mel, Wes, Abi, Lily and Sophi all saw me and protested "Hey! That's not allowed! We can't see you putting the presents under tree." I said there is no need for me to wait until 3am and wake myself up and sneak out to do it after they've all gone to bed WHEN THEY ALL KNOW that it's me...
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