Company for Christmas

We were blessed to have several of my family come to visit for the Christmas Break.  My sister Nancy was the first to arrive and my parents and sister, Janet came the Saturday before Christmas.  My sister Betsy and her family came the following Monday.  They were supposed to fly in on Sunday but the flight was delayed due to the wonderful weather we were having.  My family came to California to enjoy the nice sunny weather and that wasn't the case for the first half of the week.  They got to experience the constant rain and wind storms.  My roof leaked for 3 or 4 days while my dad and Trent tried to fix the leak.  Trent stayed home from work on the first dry day of the week and was able to fix it.  We were able to do some shopping and I also took everyone to the Candy Cane shop in Riverside so they could try a fresh candy cane.  They were as good as last time we went.  My sisters and mom and helped me make my goodie plates which was so nice. 

It stopped raining on Thursday so everyone except Trent went to Sea World for the day.  The weather was cool but at least it wasn't raining.  We enjoyed the amazing whale, dolphin and sea lion shows and got to see lots of sea animals.  I tricked my sister Nancy and Janet, my dad and brother-in-law Dave to go on a water ride with Talia and Tucker.  They all ended up quite wet and cold.  It was very entertaining to watch. 

On Christmas Eve day my sister Betsy and her husband Dave took their 4 year old Ella to see the princesses at Disneyland.  They left their 1 year old home with us.  It was OK because his favorite person is Grandma and he was very happy to have her hold him all day.  We spent the day running last minute errands and preparing for Christmas Eve.  We had cheese and broth fondue for dinner.  Betsy, Dave and Ella arrived home just in time.  It was delicious and very fun.  After dinner we acted out the nativity and played the Thimble game.  Even grandpa got wet.  Then we had chocolate fondue for dessert.  It was divine.  My family got our traditional matching pj's and Santa Claus brought everyone a Christmas Eve present.  Grandpa and the dad's got Nerf guns as usual and had the traditional Nerf gun fight.  It was very entertaining to watch.  Tucker was so EXCITED that he wanted to go to bed extra early so that he would go to sleep.  The problem was that he was too EXCITED.  The poor kid ended up laying in bed for 3 hours and was in tears he was so frustrate.  Trent went and laid down with him and he FINALLY went to sleep. I got sick Christmas Eve and Christmas Day but wasn't too sick to join in the festivities.  It was probably due to the lack of sleep and stress from all of the pre-Christmas activities.  I still remember when I was a kid and it took forever for Christmas day to come and now that I am a mom it never seems like I have enough of time before Christmas comes. 

Talia and Tucker didn't wake up until 6:30 and everyone was opening presents by 7:00.  I was excited to see the kids open their presents and they didn't disappoint.  They were very ecstatic with all of their presents.   It was a little chaotic but fun to have may people  here for Christmas.  I don't know how much my sisters liked it because all they got were pictures of their presents because there was no room in the car to bring any of them.  I am so grateful they came to visit us.   Everyone left within 1 or 2 days after Christmas and I was sad to see them go.  There is so much anticipation before everyone comes to visit and then it is kind of depressing to have them leave.  We did have a wonderful Christmas though and are so blessed. 

This is my favorite time of year and I love how focused everyone is on our Savior, Jesus Christ and wish it was like this year round.  We loved receiving the many Christmas cards that came in the mail and enjoy hearing about so many dear family and friends.  We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!