1, 2, 3 . . . GO!

OK, I know, I know... It is March and I am just getting to Christmas! I am very behind but for very good reason! I have been spending a lot of time with my family and we even took a two-and-a-half week vacation to Arizona (minus Josh). Before you get really mad that I didn't make a trip to see you, there is also very good reason for that as well, but we won't get a head of ourselves.

THE LEAD UP TO CHRISTMAS.

I love the lead up to Christmas even more than Christmas day itself. I make a real effort to do something "Chistmassy" all month long: maybe driving and looking at Christmas lights, watching Christmas movies, making paper chains, baking cookies with Dad etc.

Here are some of the highlights...

We took a drive up to the Spanish Fork canyon with our neighbors Marci, Cory, Thomas and Erik. There is a "Festival of Lights" display that is really fun. You pay five bucks a car load and you can drive around as much and you want. It takes about 15 minutes to drive through the whole thing. Vinny really liked it because Dad let him drive.







And of course rolling in the snow and playing with ginormous icicles makes it feel like Christmas! This is a picture of Jacob and Jayden with Vincent.

This is Thomas, Jayden and Vincent just about to start a "sword fight". Don't worry mom's, the ice breaks in about two seconds.




We watched Christmas movies and read Christmas books almost every night. We all know Vincent loves movies and he actually likes reading too, so, he was in heaven. And to make Christmas even more fun, Santa's elves came to visit during the whole month of December. Vincent would wake up every morning to see if the "Elves"came. He would look in his room, in the attic room, in his movie drawer, in the car, outside, ANYWHERE! Some days the elves would leave a present and some days they wouldn't. They even left them for some friends of Vincent's who were being good that year:)

Before you knew it, Christmas was two days away. So, we invited Thomas and Erik over to make cookies to give to Santa and the reindeer. We had a blast. I let the boys have free reign on what they wanted to put on their cookies. This is what they came up with...



This is Erik. His cookies were so heavy that when we tried to transport them on a different plate, they broke right in half.

The cookies included Hershey kisses, chocolate covered kisses, Hershey cheesecake kisses, lots of different kinds of sprinkles, cake decorations and LOTS of kiddie saliva:) I think they got more frosting in their mouths than on the cookie itself.


I tried to pay tribute to the man in the red suit but making a cookie sculpture of his face. Not bad if I say so myself!

Poor Santa. He probably had a tummy ache.


CHRISTMAS EVE...

To be honest, it has been so long since Christmas day that now I really don't remember what we did. I do know that we were very excited because Aunt Lacy and Uncle Larry were coming. They were supposed to come in that night but the snow was so bad they had to sleep in Kanab and didn't get in until late Christmas Day.

Josh and I waited till the kids were fast asleep and wrapped the gifts. Then, at 11 pm, we called my neighbor whom we were storing Vincent's swing set and asked if they wouldn't mind helping Josh carry it over. Of course they did because they are the greatest ever and are probably looking for any excuse to go out in the snow at 11 at night for the heck of it.

It has always been a family tradition to open a present on Christmas Eve.






Of course we can't forget to leave the cookies and milk for Santa.

CHRISTMAS DAY...

Christmas was fun and very white. It snowed the whole week of Christmas and the whole week after so I got my wish. As for Vinny, he definitely got what he wanted and then some.

Getting anything for Vincent is so anti-climactic because he doesn't give much of a reaction. In fact, he has to analyze everything!

This video you will DEFINITELY want to see. You will get to hear what my analytical son said when he saw his swing set for the first time





As you can see, Vincent made out like a bandit! Thanks again to everyone who made this an awesome Christmas for Vincent and Lily.


And a HUGE "Thank you" to Mom and Dad Bodine for making this the BEST Christmas of Josh's WHOLE LIFE! For those of you who don't know, Josh has been suffering withdrawals of Mexican food so bad that he has actually considered quiting school and moving back home just for his Mexican food. Sorry family, no offense but it's true. I think he actually loves his Spanish cuisine more than his own family. And, as a side note, he has lost 10 pounds since being here probably because of his lack of Mexican food calorie in take:) He shared with NO ONE!


Vincent's Christmas Gift To Me...

Josh asked Vincent one day what he would like to get for me. Without any hesitation Vincent said, "a ring!" So Josh took Vinny to the mall and went to Claire's. He told Vincent he could pick what ever he wanted. This is what he came up with...





He said he got me the ring because he loves me, the Jack Skellington ring because he wanted to wear it, and the necklace because "Mom calls me her best bud".

Our Gifts to Each Other...

I got Josh a bike to ride to school because the parking at BYU is SO bad that he has to park 4 blocks away and walk to campus and then, climb the longest flight of stairs you have ever seen. This should save him some time.

Josh got me a "FLIP" camera. That is what I have been taking this video with. I love it! It is great for blogging. Also, thanks to Nicole for the gift certificate to Best Buy to help with the cost of half of it!

Vincent got Josh Sorry Sliders. Really fun by the way!

Aunt Lacy and Uncle Larry got in later Christmas day. We hung out and played games the rest of the day because we had to save energy for sledding!

Sledding Day...








!

Man, right on his face. He felt it in the morning!

Josh fearing for his life... literally



It's cooooold! My feet are freezing.






Sledding was a blast! We went with our friends from Pleasant Grove and then went back to their house and played games. This is where Josh's game addiction started but that will be a whole other post!

Week After Christmas...

After Lacy and Larry left, Aunt Lindsay came to visit and yes you guessed it... more sledding!







We did a lot with Aunt Lindsay including lots of games and movies. One night we were watching TV and Lily was just chillin' on Aunt Lindsay. She NEVER does this. She always has to be moving so we thought we would capture this beautiful and immobile moment on camera.



One evening, we were having dinner and once again, Vincent was making Lily laugh. As I have said before, the only person who can really get Lily to "bust a gut" is Vincent. We decided to conduct this laugh test on Lily.

Thank you to all our family and friends who took the time to come and see us this Holiday season. We love you and had a blast with you. We look forward to seeing you again soon

And there you have it folks... Our Bodine Family Christmas 2008!