Merry Christmas!

As I prepared our house for Christmas this year, I came across a talk by Elder Holland entitled, Maybe Christmas Doesn't Come from a Store.  He does such a wonderful job telling the story of the birth of our Savior, and it really put me in the Christmas spirit.  We had our annual Christmas Eve dinner with the Bradley's.  The kids acted out the Nativity Story and Debbie shared a wonderful story about Rory's great grandpa Hollis.  The kids then opened presents and got extremely wild!  Christmas day we opened presents then headed over to Orangeville to have breakfast with my family (another tradition we keep every year).  The breakfast was delicious and it was so fun to open presents with everyone.  After all the presents were opened, Jerod and Elise surprised Gary with a basset hound puppy.  It is so cute and the kids were seriously in love.  Mathew and Kinlee were so intrigued and wouldn't leave grandpa or the puppy alone.  We had such a wonderful Christmas and are truly blessed.

Christmas Morning

Curtis kids and papa

Christmas Day

Crazy Connor showing off his presents

Kinlee, Kadee, & Matt hanging on Kadee's new cot

Matthew

A week before Christmas Rory called me and asked how I felt about watching a little boy for awhile while his mom gets her act together.  I agreed and she gave us temporary legal custody and we welcomed Little Matthew into our home.  He is such a happy sweet baby.  We have enjoyed having him so much.  We aren't sure how long he will be with us, but we will enjoy him while we have him, and we were able to give him a good Christmas.  Everyone has been wonderfully supportive.  He came to us with no clothes, toys, or even the basic necessities  and people have really stepped up to help him out.  I am so grateful for the people in our life, they have showed us that there is so much good in this world.  Life has been very different with 4 kids, but I am finally adjusting and getting into the groove.  Rory and the kids are crazy about this little boy and seriously spoil him rotten.  Hope we can give him some peace and happiness for as long as it takes. :)

Electronics family- I came into the living room to this scene

Santa Claus

We had a surprise visitor tonight.  Santa Claus himself!  He stopped by to say hello to the kids and bring them a goody bag.  Connor and Kadence were super excited to see him, but Kinlee wasn't so sure how she felt about him.  She wouldn't sit on his lap and kept saying she was scared, but she did tell him she wants a doll for Christmas.  It's funny that she wouldn't sit on his lap, because after he left it's all she could talk about.  She even had to call Nana and tell her that Santa brought her some candy.  So glad we got this fun visit from Santa!!

Max Powers

This year Santa brought us our very own, unique, Elf on the Shelf.  He came with a movie and a poem about how he works and the kids were so excited.  It took us FOREVER to decide on a name, and I didn't think we would ever agree on one, but the kids finally agreed on Max Powers.  Max Powers has been a lot of fun to have around the house and is sometimes very mischievous. Here are a few of the things he's done since he got here:

Mr. Piano Man

Just "popped" in to say hello!

Mission: Impossible

"Santa, they're on to us!"

Snow Angels

Max Was Here

Be Good!

Egg Nog anyone?

Let's get hitched

Calgon take me away!

Evil Canival

Merry Christmas 2012

Grizzlies

Kadence got invited to go to a grizzlies hockey game with her friend Tawni, I didn't think she would want to go, but she was so excited and couldn't wait.  Tawni's parents picked her up around 3pm on Saturday and she didn't get home until 2am!  They spoiled her rotten.  They took her to dinner at the Olive Garden then went to Hollywood Connection to see Santa and ride all the rides.  She LOVED the hockey game and said her throat hurt from screaming so much, she was so excited the "bears" won and is already begging us to take her to another game. When I asked her what she asked Santa for she said she asked him for something special.   Wendi (Tawni's mom) sent me a picture of Kadence on Santa's lap and it was too cute not to post.  So grateful for my kids friends, love them almost as much as my own kids!

Oh Christmas Tree!

Today we loaded up the kiddos and headed to Joe's Valley to find the perfect Christmas tree.  It is absolutely breath taking up there, the water was so glassy and the views were amazing.  It didn't take long to find the perfect tree, so after cutting it down we hunted for pine cones, took a few pictures and shot Rory's sniper rifle.   Here are a few pictures of our great day:

Beautiful Joe's Valley

Our Perfect Christmas Tree