Time out with the Turpins: Christmas

Christmas was very special for me this year. We spent Christmas Eve for the last time at Grandpa Jensen's house. It was bittersweet with Grandpa gone, but still nice to be able to sit and reminisce about the many wonderful memories we created there. We had our traditional stuffed cabbage (my favorite :). We did our amateur nativity production, and opened our Christmas jammies, but my favorite part was singing christmas songs. We sang silver bells, and I don't know why, but that song always makes me think of grandma. For a moment it brought back my childhood to me with grandma playing at the piano. It was very special and emotional for me, both sad knowing that it will never be exactly the same; and happy knowing that grandpa and grandma were probably together smiling down at us.

Ethan latched on to uncle Glen during the weeks after Grandpa died. Now, he is his favorite person! He insists on being with him anytime the family gets together. Poor uncle glen probably had tired arms by the end of the night!!

After grandpa's we went over to Grandma Milligan's house and took pictures and played with Sadee and Koda. When we got home we told the boys that Santa can't come until after they are asleep. Jayden has never been more enthusiastic to sleep! He didn't even want to sing a song before bed, he insisted they needed to go to sleep immediately.

The next morning we woke them up so that we could open our gifts before starting our visits for the day. Santa brought them a big tent that took up the whole living room, but they were too tired to play with it. They woke up enough to participate in their presents though. It is so fun as they get older to see their enthusiasm. Jayden's favorite things were the goldfish from his stocking and his curious george dvd. He did play a lot with his magna doodle, transformers, and a sesame street garage Ethan got, but he didn't want to part with the goldfish. He cried when we had to leave them home from grandma's. We didn't expect Ethan to get into it as much as he did this year. He was so cute! Every present he opened he would exclaim with his most animated voice his excitement. He got both a bumblebee and optimus prime this year. I wish I were more tech savvy, I would put the tape on here. It was ADORABLE when he said their names.

We went to grandma Milligan's and she made a delicious breakfast of cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate. We opened presents and played for a while. Santa always visits her house too, so Jayden got more goldfish... He was pretty happy about that.

The best time of the day was when we got back home. We had a few hours before going to Grandpa and Grandma Turpin's so Daddy, Jayden and Ethan had tons of fun in the tent and we all played hungry hungry hippos. At grandpa's we ate dinner and opened MORE presents. Ethan loved the little dump truck they gave him. It is very LOUD!! The power was out most of the time we were there but turned on just as we left. It was such a cold day, Jayden hated going outside. In fact, we changed them out of their Christmas jammies for the second trip outside because the morning was so torturous for them. We left the tent up for a few days and they loved it. Now we can't wait for summer, so we can set it up outside!