Christmas 2016

Christmas morning we woke up and went to a lovely Sacrament meeting.  The kids were very patient about opening presents and waited until we got home from church.

Abby still wasn't feeling well and wasn't thrilled that I was taking pictures of her...

So for her sake, I won't post that many :)

Ben seemed even less aware of the festivities than he has in the past.  He was all about lining up his cars and trains.

We would partially rip some paper on a gift and show him and try to get him to finish but he would either just look away or throw the present in the opposite direction and go back to his old toys.

These guys had no problems with their gifts :)

Andy and I ended up unwrapping Ben's for the most part...

We would show him what was inside and sometimes he would be interested and sometimes he would not.  Always, he would go back to what he had been doing in the first place. 

This is a picture that Andy had purchased a while ago.

It is done by Walter Rane and is not one that is available to the casual seeker.

Andy actually ended up contacting Walter Rane's wife and she did a special order for him.

It has special significance to our family because of the Bible story that it depicts of the father asking the Savior to heal his son.  Andy has always loved it.  After it arrived, it sat rolled up in a tube for quite a while and I decided to have it framed for him for Christmas.  It turned out lovely and he was very pleased with it.

To make a long story short...

we had kind of a last minute gift for the kids.

A couple of weeks before Christmas a neighbor friend mentioned that they had to get rid of their daughter's hedgehog because she was moving out.

I had no idea that there was a pet hedgehog in the neighborhood!

I jumped at the chance and Andy was very supportive of my desires even though he wasn't thrilled about the idea :)

After the kids were all done unwrapping gifts I told them to look at their stocking stuffers and figure out what one last surprise was.  They each had 2-3 letters circled on their stocking stuffer packages that, when put all together, would spell out "hedgehog".

They wrote down the ones they had found (I think they had not been able to find one of them yet) and were searching for the last one when Josh blurted out "Hedgehog!"

I went into the guest room and brought out Humphrey to introduce to everyone.

Andy caught Matt in a blink here but I absolutely love his expression and his hands :)

I have kind of a goofy look on my face here as I am talking to the kids.

Josh looks a little unsure...

I had expected Abby to be the most excited but she was a little more subdued (probably because she was still kind of sick)

And Matt was so thrilled!

So he came with the name Humphrey which I loved but I wanted to add to it.

Reminiscent of our "Ms Honey McFluffins", I thought it would be fun to call him "Mr. Humphrey McHuggins".  Andy thought that was kind of interesting since he's not very huggable.  I told him the irony of it was what made it the perfect name...

Later I mentioned to him that we could name him after Humphrey Bogart...Andy quickly suggested "Humphrey Poke-art"!  I loved it and that's what he's officially been known as around here since :)

Isn't he just the funnest?

I think he will be a great little addition to our home.

Ben wasn't really into the hedgehog action and fell asleep on the floor...

Christmas Eve, Andy had been helping Abby with something secretive in her bedroom late into the night.  She surprised me with this awesome, wooden, barn quilt!

My sister in law knew I loved these and hinted to Andy.  He thought it was something Abby could make but when she ended up being so sick he was happy to help her with the project.

I'm so happy with it and was totally surprised!

We spent a portion of Christmas day with my family.

It had been a non traditional Christmas morning for them since Mom had been in helping with Grandpa who was continuing to fail.  The four of them had not been all together until we arrived for lunch that afternoon.  So, after we ate, they all sat down to open their gifts.

James with his new melodica...I had no idea such a thing existed :)

Matt and Josh both got nerf guns from Grandpa and Grandma and were very happy with them.

Ben was there even though he's not in any of these pictures :)  He got a train book and a stuffed elmo that is meant to play with in the water.  (He's used it in his baths since and loves it :)

We quarantined Abby downstairs away from everyone but she was able to enjoy some of the fine foods and loved her grandparent gift of a foot spa.

Now she can do foot baths in style instead of using a big kitchen bowl to soak her feet in :)

My dad's mom has recently been moved into a nursing home...she's just no longer capable of taking complete care of herself anymore.  It's hard to have her there but at least we know she is safe and well taken care of.

Mom, Dad, my brothers and I all went to visit her Christmas evening.

We had a good visit complete with some memories given by Grandma of what it was like growing up in the early 20th century on a ranch in Mountain View Alberta Canada.

I think my eyes are just about closed here but it was the best shot of everyone else so....

sometimes you've gotta sacrifice :)

On the way out of the nursing home I got a text from Andy informing me that he had just found out it was Humphrey Bogarts birthday that day!  How perfect :)

After Grandpa, Grandma and Uncles Jo and James came to visit briefly and meet Humphrey, we spent the rest of the evening playing games...

...listening to our new ipod since we were banned from the games because we were too sick...

...and lining up ducks and cars and trains.

Happy as a clam :)

It was a lovely day, and extra special to celebrate the birth of our Savior on the Sabbath.

Andy and I agreed it should be like that every year!