Christmas 2011

Ok, ok. Here it is. What you've all been DYING to see pictures of and read about. May I present [drumroll please.....]

Christmas 2011!!!

And only 1 month after it happened!
{Sigh.... Someday I'll be more current.}


* Christmas Eve's Eve

Spent the morning finishing everything up - wrapping presents, packing and cleaning the house. {I can NOT leave the house messy...}

At this point we had picked Christine up from the airport the night before, so between the four of us and it being Christmas, we had the Explorer packed to the brim!! You can see it a bit in the picture below. I caught Ethan as he was nodding off in the car, so he was being silly.
* Christmas Eve

Uncle Tory came over for a little while and after much, much persuasion we convinced him to tag along while we braved the mall and took Ethan to see Santa.

Why-oh-why do even the minimum picture packages have to cost so much?? We opted out.

In the evening we headed over to Aunt Kay's house for dinner with my mom's side of the family. Christmas Eve used to be a big shin-dig at my parents' house back when all the cousins were little. Now, most of us are married and have families of our own and are in different parts of the country. In fact, Ethan was the only great-grandchild there. It was quiet, but fun. Papa's Pizza, salad, chips-n-dip and my dad's "famous" appetizers - ham roll-ups and little smokies (wrapped in bacon and topped with brown sugar). After dinner, everyone else went for a little stroll to look at the Christmas lights in the neighborhood (my aunt's neighbors go all out!) but my Mom and I stayed back to chat with Grandma Mary a bit.

After everyone got back from the walk, we opened presents - Ethan was so good about waiting, even though it was killing him!! The first present he opened was a Ratchet Transformer toy from Grandma Mary. He squealed with delight and I'm pretty sure it was worth the wait!

What's this?! A shot of Sean and I?! This is a RARE occurrence!

Arms straight and stiff by his side - like the giant nutcracker!

Sisters. Youngest to oldest. :)

Couldn't get Ethan to look at the right camera - but here's our Christmas Eve family picture.

Then, after Ethan was "nestled, snug in his bed" and we were sure he was asleep, Sean got to work on Ethan's Christmas present - a new bike! Despite what the pictures show, we actually did not leave the bike in front of the tree for Christmas. We hid it - to be revealed at a later time!

Meanwhile, Christine was on her laptop, my Mom was watching Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol (and trying not to fall asleep!) and I was wrapping the last couple presents and making sure stocking stuffers were in order.

* Christmas Morning

We got up bright-and-early, got dressed in our Sunday best and ignored the piles of presents and overflowing stockings. First, and most important, was church. We went with my parents to their ward and enjoyed sacrament meeting and feeling the spirit that Christmas morning. Of course, after church we had to snap a few pictures with everyone by the tree, all dressed up.

My handsome boys.

The whole Toftdahl/Southworth family

You'll notice Ethan is wearing jammies - even though we'd already been dressed for church... Yep, while we all got dressed in more casual attire, Ethan insisted that to open stockings and Christmas presents you have to be in jammies!

First present - a tool set from Mommy and Daddy!

A gag gift from Christine to Lizzy - a reusable, but disposable swimsuit that the have in the medical office Christine works at. Somehow, I don't think it will hold up in Lizzy's swim practice!

And then, after all (or almost all of the presents were open) a small gold box, tied with a red ribbon was pulled from under the tree. Inside was a letter from Santa. And here is Ethan's reaction to it all. It is hilarious! And priceless. :)

"There's nothing!"

Early afternoon we headed out to my grandparents' house for Christmas dinner {which was so, so good}, a few more presents (mainly for Ethan) and the annual grandchild/great-grandchild change grab! I think {and I know my sisters will correct me if I'm wrong!} that I won this year.

After dinner, my grandparents' devotional and presents, we had dessert - including an ice cream cake for Grandpa Chuck's birthday. Yes, it really is on Christmas.

And.... after all of that, we all crashed!

Well, pretty much everyone but Ethan. He kept himself busy playing with his new toys.

That night, back at my parents' house, we opened our gifts from Sean's family. We were all spoiled and missing them so much!! We were able to skype with them for a little while and are hoping to plan a visit to SoCal soon!