Where Are You Christmas

Christmas did not linger this year. It seems like every year, things get busier and busier and time goes by faster and faster. When I was little we didn't put up the tree until 2 weeks sometimes just the week before Christmas. It was my family's way of trying to keep the worldly part of Christmas out of reach at least for a little while, but despite the fact that the tree was up for a lot less time, it seemed like Christmas lingered on a little longer. Now it just seems to come and go! I guess that this is what it is like to grow up, sometimes I wish my perspective didn't change as an adult and I could see the world through the eyes of a child again. Don't get me wrong, there are so many things I love about being an adult at Christmas...by far the best one is to watch my own children experience the magic of it all. Thank goodness for them, they make it so much fun.

Colby woke up first Christmas morning. He was so sweet to wait patiently for about 20min for little Brody to wake up. Brody actually never got up, we woke him up. Lucky little boys, Santa brought exactly what was on their lists. Colby ended up with a Nintendo DSI, an Imaginext Space Rocket, and a slinky toy. Brody got a ride on car, and a slide, which he broke in all morning long, probably sliding down it about 50 times. And low and behold Santa even brought Daddy just what he asked for, a money tree. Santa wasn't on top of his game with this one...it's a fake, but we didn't tell Colby that :) Don't look to closely or you'll see all one dollar bills...I guess Santa doesn't grant money wishes.

Brody is our little chocoholic. He found the big chocolate Santa in his stocking and sat in this very spot for about 30 minutes, just gnawing on it. Every time I tried to take it away he cried. I let him indulge...and he did all day.

Colby's Rocket

See, still gnawing.

Brandi, sent me this darling apron and gloves. She knew somebody that knew somebody and this lady actually custom made this for her. She wanted to give me a little piece of Texas...isn't she sweet. She has always been good to my boys, and she spoiled them this year too (no surprise). They loved everything and so did I!! Thank you so much girl!

After we had our Christmas at home we went to Mimi and Papa's house to open gifts and have brunch. This year we tried to tone it down over there and asked to draw names, but Mimi and Papa had other plans. The kids of course were in hog heaven, tearing open packages, and for a while the floor might have gone missing, and Brody may have even disappeared for a minute or two in all the paper. Then just when we thought all the craziness was simmering down, they made everyone close their eyes and brought out bikes for all the kids and Matt and I. One day, maybe one day, we can tame Christmas, but it wasn't this year, so we sucked it up (as difficult as it was :) ) and totally enjoyed it!

We never get pictures with Mimi, so I kept trying to signal Matt to sneak in some pictures. I thought this one was adorable.

Before the madness of unwrapping began, Brody was saying everyone's names, and we were all clapping for him. He was very proud of himself for saying "MiMi, PaPa, and GiGi"

Let the madness begin....

We had a great Christmas, and even got to come home early in the day this year. We spent the night relaxing and winding down from all the excitement. We missed everyone in Texas for sure, and hopefully next year we will be there somehow! It even snowed in Texas this year. We missed that snowy and icy Christmas day! Pretty cool considering it hadn't happened there since the 1920s. Happy New Year Everyone!

Here Comes Santa Claus

Every year, the Greenwald's Christmas Eve tradition, is to have dinner together and read the Christmas story from the bible while the little ones "act" the parts of all the biblical characters. It never fails though that the "big kids" also play a role (probably because they just can't let it go :) or more often than not we have not had enough little ones. Last year I had to play Mary, and Brody was baby Jesus. This year the naked doll got the role of Jesus, and I had to carry the sheep because he wasn't cooperating. So needless to say it is always a sad production, but always fun and meaningful.

Before we read the scriptures Taya gives a short FHE lesson for the kiddos. This year she talked about the different symbols of Christmas (i.e: Holly, Angels, Candy Canes..etc)

I hate to say this, but Clint, you look a little bit like a terrorist...

Uncle Dave did a fantastic job reading the story, and even improvised and added in the part about the Wisemen (that actually comes much later in the bible- I think they arrive when he is about 1 month old)

We all voted that Courtney should have actually put on the size 3T angel costume, but she too improvised and well, Callen we aren't sure what kind of Shepard you are, but you might be from Mexico, and you might also have though you were playing the role of the Karate Kid. Conner... Colby informed us you were the fearless leader of the Wisemen, you do in fact look fearless with that crazy beard on...I'm just not sure if you are the fearless leader of the Wisemen...maybe an Amish Hell's Angel!

There is nothing funny to say about this adorable sheep. Although had I not cropped my face out we could have said something funny about me :)

Colby was a great King, his staff could use a little work, but it served its purpose. We had a great night. It was so great to see Courtney and John. Bentley and Gracie were so big, and so adorable, and little Lucy, oh my gosh, precious! Of course if I left out how excited Colby was about Santa coming it would be a crime. He was literally on pins and needles. Counting down every hour of every day. We had special privileges with Santa this year and got to call him 4 times to see where abouts he was. We made the last call when we got home from Mimi and Papa's house. Colby hand selected all the cookies for Santa and put them along with some milk by the Christmas tree. He had no problems going to sleep that night. Despite all the poking fun, I love all my cousins and they played excellent and memorable rolls in the play! What a fun night!

Polar Express Video

Any one who really knows me, knows that I absolutely can't stand to hear my voice or see myself on video...so this is a huge stretch for me!! You have to know that most of the first part of the video is black, and it is just mostly us talking because it was soooo dark our tiny video recorder just didn't have enough light. We literally steps from the train as it arrived...it was really cool. Also, we were so excited to be in the moment with Colby that we were not really paying attention to what we were doing with the camera. It is seriously edited and cut in several places...but I really, really wanted my family to see this....so here goes...and really know that the pictures and videos did not do the magic of this really special day/night justice! It was truly magical! You'll hear other people talking and some guy yells something out about an iron horse in the beginning....but you'll hear Colby say "A Chooo chooo," "You gotta be kidding me," "I feel like I'm moving myself" (as the train is pulling up), and " Oh my gosh"... It's a little long, but gives you the gist of the night! Merry Christmas Eve everyone!!

All Aboard...

Last Weekend on the 18th we gave Colby the most fun surprise I think we have ever given him. We left Brods with Mike and Taya, and took him to Williams, AZ to ride the Polar Express train at the Grand Canyon Railway. I was so excited it took everything I had in me, not to tell him, since I had booked this trip back in August. We stayed in the Grand Canyon Railway Hotel. Our drive up was so fun. About 30 mi outside of Flagstaff the snow appeared. The ground was covered, and the road highway was just lined with pine trees and snow. The excitement just escalated! We didn't tell Colby anything except that he was getting a huge prize and we were taking him on a trip. After we checked in to the hotel, we told him and he was soooo excited. Just the weekend before he was begging us to go on a train one day and telling us how much he loved trains.

We decided to take the 8pm train so we had plenty of time to play and eat before we got on the train. The station was literally steps from the hotel, so we walked to the station picked up our tickets and looked at the two trains they had on display, and played in the snow for a little while.

How can you see all that snow and not have a snow ball fight? We finally found some soft snow over by the tracks. Most of it was like ice around the station, b/c it had been almost 2 weeks since it snowed.

You have to take what you dish out is all I'm saying. Daddy and I got smacked with so many ice balls that we had to give him a little bit of his own medicine (of course we were nice and found soft snow). He squealed and laughed it was so much fun.

Colby and I in the lobby before we got on the train. In our PJs all ready to go!

Waiting to board the train was so fun. Everyone was in the jammies and the kids and adults were all equally excited. Everyone was laughing and screaming as the train pulled up. It was truly a magical night. I really get teary eyed thinking about it. It was just that happy like a little dream land.

They really made everything so special. Everything was very simple, but really sweet.

Most of the train ride was in the dark, but we had to travel through a lighted "time tunnel", you know, to get to the North Pole. On the way we were served hot chocolate and cookies just like the book and movie by the sweetest chefs on the planet.

They read the book to us and walked up and down the isles carefully showing each page to the children. When we arrived at the North Pole, Santa and his giant sleigh and reindeer were in the town square waving at us, and all the toy shops and town were lit up behind him. It was a beautiful lights display (all the pictures were blurry). We sang songs and passed back by the North Pole one more time, and then much to our surprise....who appeared on the train....

Santa!!! As you can imagine the kids and adults went wild! It was really like being a little kid again, and if this is not the real Santa...I don't know who is!

Santa walked down through the car and gave each child a bell from his sleigh.

If you can see it, look at Colby's face after he got the bell...it was really incredible to watch him experience such joy!!

All he could do the rest of the ride was hold that bell to his ear and ring it. It was the perfect way to drown out all the rest of the worldly things and just experience the magic of this season.

The rest of the ride he was pretty quiet and quite tired. He was up way...way...way...past his bedtime, but that's what it was all about!

The next morning on the way home, we had to stop and enjoy the amazing scenery and soak up all that cold snow. So we just pulled over off (route 66, yes we can say we have driven on route 66) and played in the snow. We were sinking up to our knees in it, but managed to have Colby snap this great picture.

And we left, with the incredible memories we made in our hearts and this beautiful picture of snow covered forests in our minds! It was the best weekend ever, and there was no doubt about it we had caught the Christmas Spirit!

Sneeky Christmas

I feel like Thanksgiving came and was over so quickly and then all the sudden Christmas just sneaked up on me. Hmm sneaked...doesn't sound right but snuck isn't right either...anyway you get the point. The night before Dad left we took him to see the Temple lights. I had all these Starbucks gift cards so we stopped and got hot chocolate on the way to warm our bellies while we walked around the lights. Carrying around those coffee cups was like missionary magnets it was kind of funny. It really was beautiful this year and there were so many "new to me" figures of the nativity and the people's lives surrounding the birth of Jesus Christ. We got there just about 7pm when the choir was singing and it was just a really sweet night and helped put me in the Christmas spirit.

A day or two later Colby wrote his letter to Santa. I think he did a great job. We worked together and he wrote his own letters in marker and then I traced over them with glue. (I wrote dear Santa and the may I please part... but he wrote all the rest and was in charge of all the decorations. That might be why there is a "shark bite" out of the corner of the page. He worked really hard on this. It has since been sent to the North Pole and he even got a return letter from postmarked from Santa and the North Pole (thanks to and insider connection- yeah I have good friends) where Santa listed specific good deeds he did to make the nice list this year. Of course Brody got one too. He also got 4 phone calls from Santa tomorrow on Christmas Eve so Santa could let him know the progress on his journey to our house for tomorrow night. Pretty cool hugh?

Flight School

Early December Colby's preschool took a trip to the Gateway Airport. It was a great trip. Doesn't it look like I photo-shopped Colby into this picture?

They let them climb inside these little training planes and pull up on the controls and stuff to make the wings and tail move. This is Colby and his friend Maxwell inside the plane.

They also got to learn about and climb inside a medical rescue helicopter. The crew was a pilot, an EMT, and a nurse. They stay and hang out at the airport until they get a call and they said they go out about 1 time per day.

It was really cold the morning of the trip, but all the kids had a blast! They even got to see the huge airport fire truck shoot out a giant blast of water. Thanks Mrs. Vanderpool and Mrs. Krots for the great day!

Superstition Mountain

A couple of days before Dad left we went on an adventure to Superstition Mountain. First we went to the museum, and surprisingly it was pretty cool. The little tiny museum had some cool displays, but the best part was all the neat stuff that was outside the museum.

One of the coolest things there was this ore crusher. It was used in mining and crushing ore and was brought to the museum in pieces and reconstructed on sight. Actually a really cool place to take pictures.

Right in front of it were some pieces of the railway and mining cars on it. Brody loved climbing in one of the cars and kept ducking down and standing back up to play peekaboo. There were so many things to look at and touch it was a great place for kids. Brody was super cranky this whole day and poor little guy when we got home we took his temp to find out he had like a 101+ fever. So he is asleep or has giant boogers streaming out his nose in most of these pictures.

Also on the property are several pieces of real movie sets from western films like - The Rifleman. There was a huge barn, a jail, and stagecoach ticket counter, a barber shop, and even the Elvis Presley Memorial Chapel. Attached to the barn is a real blacksmith shop, and this big burly blacksmith is actually there working on beautiful custom pieces of iron. It is really cool to watch.

This great stagecoach you can climb in is also part of the movie set.

After our trip to the museum we headed out to Superstition Mountain to go hiking. It was definitely dessert hiking, but it was fun. We went to the Lost Dutchman State Park and hiked part of the Treasure Loop Trail.

I was grateful dad carried the pack with Brody on the way up, and guess what..asleep again...poor little guy he really felt terrible.

On the way down I carried it for a little while. Thanks Dad for carrying him even though I know that bottom belt was probably in an uncomfortable place!