Christmas 2010

Christmas was perfect.  We had my parents and my sister Kara and brother Christian here for Christmas Eve day.

After my parents arrived, they surprised us with some T-shirts for everyone.  Starting as a child, my dad constantly talked to us about the importance of having specific family values.  At one point, he had a family flag made up with the ten stars that represent not only each member of our family, but also the ten values that we had selected.  This Christmas he had Thompson family T-shirts made up for everyone and a laminated card with each of the family values we had selected over the years.  It was a great present and a fun memory.

Here are more highlights of Christmas Eve. Romney and Christian took the kids to an amazing swimming pool at our local recreation center.  The day was also filled with Christmas music, shopping with my dad and sister, baking with my mom and Kara and lastly, eating a yummy meal. 

For as long as I can remember, elves named Jingle & Jangle show up on Christmas Eve with new jammies for everyone.  It is a really fun tradition and is always a highlight of the season for me.

Santa had white flannel nightgowns made for the girls.  They absolutely loved them.  Sophie said she felt like a Christmas angel.  Much to their delight, they found out the next morning that Santa had some made up for their dolls as well.  It was great.

Time for Bed!!

The kids were in bed by 11:00 and miracle of miracles...Romney and I were in bed by midnight.  (This has NEVER happened).

We told the kids that when they woke up on Christmas morning, they would have to yell to us to come and get them.  We have a "No Peeking" policy and we told them to stay in their rooms until we came.  They agreed.  Well to our surprise, they started yelling for us at 3:00 AM...yep 3:00!!  We somehow convinced them that Santa had not even come and they slept until 7:30.  It was a magical morning and we spent the day surrounded by wrapping paper and smiling kids.  It was perfect!

The excess can sometimes take away from the sacredness of Christmas Day, but being surrounded by my loved ones giving special gifts to each other certainly helps to keep things in perspective.  I feel blessed.