Christmas Day 2010

Christmas Morning:

Max kept changing what he asked Santa for. He saw 2 of them this year. At first he said a Hanny Manny and then he asked the SkullCandy Santa for a camera.

Action shot! I love these little pop guns. Rachel and I had some when we were little.

Getting excited while the presents are being sorted

This year we each took one of the boys to find a present for their brother and other parent. It was kind of a trick to get them to decided. I don't know how it when with Max. But Zac didn't want to get Max anything that he himself would want. I didn't quiet get that. So it took a while to explain the best way to pick a present for Max.

This year Max gave Zac a motorcycle launcher.

Max got Daddy a black skinny tie.

We watched StarWars last month and the boys really started getting into it. It is fun for them to be into different stuff. They also got light sabers.

Jon gave Emily some SkullCandy Headphones

Zac got Daddy a new watch battery. 

Grandma and Poppa Munk got the boys books that had their voices recorded so they could hear their grandparnets read them a book! It was very cool!

Max thanking Zac for his Tonka Chuck toys

Emily getting Christmas Money!

Zac REALLY excited-I don't know for what...

The traditional bow on the head pic

One of the partnerships Jon has through work, also works with Xbox, so they sent us one for Christmas!

The boys love having somewhere to play and color. This table is meant to be colored on, but it has confused Max some. He colored all over a few things that shouldn't have been. Luckily they cleaned up easy.

 His Buzz Lightyear gear.

This is on Sunday but Zac loved his Iron Man Helmet and Sponge Bob laptop.

Jon's Gift:

Its getting to the point that all Jon's wants/needs are sooo expensive. I debated for a long time what I was going to get him. I pretty much just had one thing to open, so I decided to gag wrap it so it felt like he had more to unwrap.

Box 1

Box 2

Box 3

"Yay, another box..."

Box 4

Box 5

I thought he would've figured it out at this point. Its a box from AT&T...

A new iPhone 4G!

This little thing in that big box.

Of course, no pics of Mom-I'm the one taking them :)  I got a new purse, some shirts, kitchen gadgets, books, makeup and hair stuff.

After we cleaned up we skyped with the Munk grandparents. And I made 2 cheesy potato casseroles and 3 pie crusts. Then we headed out to my parents for dinner, games and more presents.

Zac looks so big in this picture!

I love how the presents are piled on Max. The pic doesn't capture the full effect.

 My family made us a huge checker board. Its a blanket with huge checkers. It was fun to play!

I haven't been very good about taking pictures of what we've been doing. And I can't believe I didn't get pictures of everyone else that night. It was nice to have the whole family there!

Christmas Eve: Dinner and Wrap Up

This year we tried to perfect our Bethlehem Night. We read Luke 2 and watch "Joy to the World". Then we share our testimonies about Christ.

The idea of dressing up as shepherds has been something that we want to do, but we haven't been organized enough to make it happen. Max's shepherd wear did stay on very long.

Then we have food that doesn't need cooking, of a more humble sort, I suppose. With little kids its not so realistic for us to eat the same food that was had in Bethlehem during the time Christ was born. So we made some adjustments. We had fruit, lunch meat, pepperoni, cheeses, peanuts, flat bread, hummus and water. I thought it was pretty good!

Then after we cleaned up, the boys open brown paper gifts. They each get 2: pajamas and church items. This year they each got a church coloring book and a package of picture cards of the temple, and Christ's life.

I had this goal of making the boys pajamas each year. I made really soft pajama pants last year, but I just couldn't motivate myself to do it this year. I did try though. I shopped for fabric, but I couldn't find the kind I wanted or at a price I was willing to pay. So I decided we'd just buy them, it would cost less and there was no time or commitment.  Also, it was hard to shop for fabric when I live 40 mins from the nearest fabric store and all the other December busyness. I wanted a really soft minky type fabric, that was double sided. But I couldn't find any good designs that were double sided. And I wasn't willing to put the time in to line them.

We made chocolate chip cookies. And they got all dressed in their pajamas and ready for bed. Max had his shirt on backwards :)

Haha, I love how Zac is almost strangling Max.

After the boys went to bed, I set to work making breakfast. It took a bit longer than I expected. I made some syrupy apple rolls, that were not as good as the claim was :(  They sit over night in the fridge and then bake them in the morning. Jon and Emily watched the Santa Clause 2. And we all had a Christmas Eve toast before we went to bed.  A while later, with time consuming un-packaging Santa had arrived!
 

Christmas Eve: Gingerbread House

The day before Christmas Eve, my neighbor and friend, Sharalyn, decided we should make gingerbread houses. She started everything going and invited me over.  She found a printable stencil online and recipe. I loved making stained glass windows with hard candy.

 I had some sugar cookie dough left over from earlier in the week so we made the rest of that too.

The boys had fun frosting their own cookie.

We ran out of time to decorate. So on Christmas Eve afternoon, I assembled the house and everyone else decorated it while we watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.  My friend had a GREAT royal icing recipe. It was thick and soft and it worked perfectly and easily.

We had so much left over Halloween candy (I missed the donation date), that I didn't buy any candy to decorate the house. It was great! And it required a little more creativity, it was fun.

The Front. Dum-dums, candy necklace pieces, and bubble tape were the lamp posts, made by Jon.

 I love the skittles on the roof. It was the most traditional part of the decorating. Emily made bushes out of gumballs and jawbreakers, the chimney out of a tootsie roll log, and grass out of green jolly ranchers.

 Jon made a "snowman" out of lollipops with the sticks cut off, firewood out of almond joys, and a friendly life size slug out of billy bob gummy teeth, and candy sticks for antennae.

The boys put "gravestones" in the backyard with the candy watch/bracelet faces. And white mystery nerds were snow. Max also wanted to put that red candy on the back and a window out of candy sticks.

It was honestly the best looking gingerbread house we've made. Graham Crackers can't compare to real gingerbread! But of course, it was just for the activity-it didn't get eaten.

Christmas Eve: Snow Fort

With Jon's work being so busy, he hasn't had much time to play in the snow with the boys. On Christmas Eve Jon and the boys spent all morning outside. They (Jon) made a snow fort around the picnic table.

 The boys just played around, while Daddy did all the work!

 I don't have pics, but they had a big snow ball fight. Then snacks and hot cocoa in the fort. Jon also pulled the boys around on a sled in the huge back yard.

Then we headed to Provo for a couple last minute errands and to pick up Emily, Jon's sister. She spent the weekend with us.