Christmas 2009 ~ PART TWO

So after we got home from Tahoe, we returned to the Andersen House. It was Christmas Eve Day, and we were SO ready for Christmas Morning. Every year we read the Story of Jesus Birth, and talk about why that is important for us. As kids we used to act it out, and we ALL wanted to be Mary. It is a good reminder of what this Holiday Season is all about. Also, at the Andersen House we have a family tradition that we get to open one present on Christmas Eve. We put all our names into a hat, and pull names for who we buy one present for around Thanksgiving time. That present is the one we open early on Christmas Eve. This year we put the adults in one hat, and the kids in another. It works out well for our family! We really like this tradition, it makes for less shopping and spending money! Christmas Eve is also when we negotiate what time we will be waking up in the morning. We used to get up at like 5:00 a.m. but I think we negotiated 7:00 a.m. this year. We got the kids to sleep, and watched a little more TV and headed to bed. We awoke to Preston telling us it was time to get up!! HA HA. Here is Sharon holding Hailey right before we all head out to see what SANTA has brought our way!

Matt and Landon look REALLY awake huh?

Hailey headed straight for the Tree. She has been wanting to open presents for a while, and when we told her she was able to get them out, she was SO excited!

This lucky girl got an Orange in her stocking! That is another Andersen Tradition. My parents have an Orange Tree, and we ALWAYS got an orange in our stocking! We also got Diet A&W Root Beer in there too!!

Here is one of the presents Landon got from Grandma and Grandpa Andersen. Hailey and Landon enjoyed playing with it together!! The kids always score with Grandma and Grandpa's! Landon got a little FP Baseball Tee with ball and bat, church clothes, Christmas pj's, a puzzle, a Disney Cars little chair and other little items. Hailey got the Princess Tales DVD, Princess pj's, a church outfit, a magnetic ballerina doll, and Mrs. Potato head accessories. (Santa aka Matt and I got her Mrs. Potato Head) We would have pictures of these items being played with, but our camera has seen better days, and was not performing for us very well!

Matt scored too! My parents got him garments, lots of socks, Reef Sandals with matching Board shorts and money for his Soda Card for our cruise. I got Twilight books, two Cd's I wanted, garments and a gift card to Marshall's. It was a GREAT Christmas. We also got the kids and ourselves a few things... but not too much. Matt got a Fresno State Polo, and a basketball. I got a plain white shirt I wanted and cute Reef sandals.

Sharon got the New Moon Game (from the Twilight Series) Game, and we played that until LATE that night! We played other games as well, but mainly enjoyed playing with our new toys, and watching the kids be excited about the Christmas Season! We had homemade Clam Chowder for dinner....YUMMMMMMMOOOOOO!