The morning finally arrived! Here is the train Ethan found at Target a few weeks before Christmas and never stopped talking about.
He wasn't spoiled at all...
Ethan got two track sets from the Misty Island Adventure Thomas story. Grandma got him the "shake shake" bridge he'd been dieing for. And Mike got him a cool logging station.
Lego Thomas from Nana.
Bow bottom was totally an accident.
Of course Santa brought the Logging Locos which are three trains from Misty Island. Their names are Bash, Dash, and Ferdinand. He opened three trains in a row.
Of course the opening paused to play with these trains. And then it was time for 10:00 church. I'll admit I wasn't too excited about stopping Christmas morning to get ready for church, but I'm glad we did. We quickly got dressed and headed off to the church.
As I walked into church I saw Miracle 11, my friend Samantha! She was one of my young women in Mississippi and she just happened to be in our ward on Christmas! I got to meet her husband and she got to meet my kids! That was reason enough to be happy I went to church!
Our meeting on Christmas was a musical Sacrament meeting with all three wards in our building combined. Mike and I were both playing in it. I was nervous about my flute part because it was really high and kind of difficult rhythms and I don't practice as much as I should. This may sound silly, but in one of our first choir songs Miracle 11 happened: there was a high note I have never hit in my life that I always skipped in choir practice, but I was actually able to easily sing it! After hitting that note, I wasn't nervous about playing my flute anymore because I thought the Spirit must be helping the performers. When I got to my flute part, it went very well. Then on the last verse of the song, the conductor turned around and had the entire congregation sing with the choir! I didn't know that would happen so I played as loudly as I could and apparently I was heard even over ALL those people! Miracle 12! :) Sitting in church I was wishing we had church every Christmas day. It felt right to be there for an hour singing about Christ and not just lounging in my pajamas in a sugary haze. I'm so grateful for the Spirit that was there as we celebrated Christ's birth!
Back at home we kept going with the presents. Ethan got several movies from Nana and Papa and as he opened each one he said, "Is it a train? Let me check."
My sister made a book about being a super hero for Ethan and made "Super duper super shiny super hero capes" for the boys. It was really hard to get a picture of Ethan before he would disappear around a corner. Can you tell he likes it? Miracle 13: Lisa happened to call my mom right as Ethan and I were reading the book, so she got to hear all of his squeals and excitement as he ran around.
Mike got him this cute Thomas set from Costco. I had contemplated it a few times and didn't get it, but Ethan loves it more than I would have imagined. Mike was right on; it has a fold out "map" and 12 little trains, so perfect for Ethan.
My Dad sent a bubble machine and bubbles, big hit!
I hosted my first Christmas dinner! Nothing too fancy, but somehow I got it all finished, and at about the same time, and without Benton crying too much because he was hungry! Miracle 14!
I didn't get to make pies like I wanted, but cookies, hot chocolate, and candy made for a great dessert.
Miracle 15: Benton held the rattle Grandma got for him! His first time holding a toy! I can't find the picture, but he also got a light up Mozart cube from Grandpa Joe. He LOVES it. It is now my go to "pacifier" when I need him to be happy for a few more minutes before feeding him.
Ethan got this at Thanksgiving, but I couldn't leave it out of the Christmas post. My sister in law Lauren hand made gifts this year, and they were so creative and fun! She made Ethan this car mat. There are cars that go in each pocket and then he can wrap it up and take it with him and have a road to drive on! He really loves the numbers. She and Joe also picked up a Thomas the train lunch box with Thomas Pez dispensers in it! He'd never seen Pez before, so it was quite the treat! He calls them his "dispenser candy". As I've pictured before, Lauren made Benton a really cute giraffe. It's been a great baby toy, long and skinny, so easy for him to hold onto/hug.
Miracle 16: I got so many gifts I wanted, but hadn't even asked for! Mike got me an awesome backpack for my iPad. Jil somehow guessed I wanted new slippers that have soles and can double as shoes. She also got us a new can opener (ours was terrible), and this cool gadget that is a small flashlight with a bunch of different screwdriver tips. Now I don't have to go get into Mike's tools in the shed every time I need a screwdriver, which seems almost daily.
Miracle 17: My mom got me several pieces of clothing, and they all fit! I don't even have that good of luck picking sizes. I had new outfits to wear to church for the next 3 or 4 weeks! Here is the dress she got me:
I've been wanting to get birthstone jewelry, and last year I decided I wanted stackable rings. It didn't happen getting custom rings last year, but this year I found a
website that has customizable birthstone stacking rings, so I ordered this for my Christmas present:
The orange stone is for me, red for Mike, opal for Ethan, and blue for Benton (the boys' rings have their names engraved on the inside).
Christmas night we watched
17 Miracles (not why I talked about "Christmas Miracles", but why I stretched it to 17). It's a movie about the pioneers that came across the country in handcarts. The message I got from it was even though being obedient meant that they had to go through really really hard things, maybe things that didn't seem fair when they were doing what they were asked, the Lord's hand was still in their lives. It's good to remember that when we are called to go through hard things that, if we look, we will find "miracles" and the hand of the Lord in our lives.
The next morning Nana and Papa went back to Missouri. We sure wish they still lived in Phoenix!
Farewell Christmas!
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