29 Dec
Christmas 2009
A quick recap of our Christmas experience in 2009.
Christmas Eve began with brunch at the house of these two adorable munchkins.
We presented their family with a copy of “You Are Special“. It’s a must-read, must-own in my opinion.
We made prepared an enormous brunch spread, with waffles (gluten-full and gluten-free), sausage, eggs, and Magleby’s/Kneaders syrup. I put myself in charge of getting the frame of the gingerbread house up while we ate breakfast.
That Husband and I had some minor disagreements about the syrup but it all worked out in the end.
After breakfast, all I wanted was a nap.
The promise of little candies in pastel colored bowls lured me away from the couch though.
Apparently I did a lot of this while decorating?
Martha would likely scoff at our efforts, but I’m feeling quite proud. Notice the “snow” falling in the top left photo? 
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When we got home it was time to give That Husband his Christmas present. I wasn’t really planning on giving him anything but a few days before he came up I realized I could give him one of the things he talks most about wanting.
Was it a puppy, like That Sister said it was?
Nope, no puppy. Cake! Strawberry white chocolate from Simply Desserts, the bakery where we bought our wedding cakes from.
I think he likes his surprise.
I cut the cake up into sections, saran wrapped them (twice), wrapped them in foil (twice), and flew it all home to Texas with us to enjoy over the next few weeks.
Christmas Eve evening my dad’s side of the family came over for dinner and gift opening.
What did we have for dinner that night? Tacos. KISS was the motto for christmas this year.
And we couldn’t forget the green goop! It’s a must-have for this side of the family.
Time for presents!
I let Keestan know I did not approve of her mismatched socks. Tanaya presented several of us with the sweetest little scrapbook all about her. I loved it!
TH received his first gift from grandma A (this is definitely something you want to have happen), and baby got a gift as well!
One of my aunts makes jewelry and it’s always a treat to see what she’s giving us each year.
I think the best gift of the night were these frames of an image from my grandparent’s ranch, stamped with their brand.
The Andersen brand is everywhere in our family!
I gave two of my cousins a photo shoot as their gift, and That Sister rocked the latest in Utah fashion.
After all of the gifts were opened it was time for my favorite tradition of all — the Christmas sock! Reach your hand into one of grandpa’s tube socks and pull out as much change as you can.
Somehow I was able to dip my hand into the sock twice this year! Once for myself and once for the baby. Baby now has $7.49 in his/her piggy bank.
My first video with the new camera! As you can tell I need some practice with the focus.
2009 Christmas Sock from Jenna on Vimeo.
The next morning we woke up nice and late to open presents with my immediate family, the same way we’ve always done things. It looks like we ahve a ridiculous amount of gifts because my mom likes wrapping things individually so there is more to open. One of my gifts was a spatula wrapped in a box big enough to fit two pairs of shoes.
That Sister crafted 5 adorable onesies for baby.
I told her it was a gift worth $100 since the same type of onesies are sold on etsy for $15-$20 each.
We opened up one box and found a can of beans inside…
along with a check to cover the cost of a Beaba Babycook!
That Sister and her husband drove up which meant no suitcases to pack. They were more than happy to pack this home with them.
Not sure why I am making this face but as you can tell I was ridiculously excited about the robe my parents gave me from Nordstrom. It’s like going to the spa every time you get out of the shower.
That Sister is taking this coat back because it doesn’t fit right. Sad, huh?
And then we learned about the jeans.
My brother-in-law is such a good sport for showing off these jeans for you.
That Sister got a shootsac! She’s going to love it (I absolutely adore mine).
Dad got new luggage.
But when we used the new luggage scale we got we learned the bag weighed 12 lbs so I think this gift is getting returned too.
The last gift of the morning? A plane ticket from Th & I to That Sister so she can visit baby next Spring.
Christmas day ended with a family portrait session out in front of our house (photos coming soon!) and a night spent out at my maternal grandparent’s house (no pictures from that because by this point I was exhausted. We look forward to having the same experience two years from now!
I'm a farm-raised almost-crunchy stroller-pushing picture-taking lifestyle-blog-writing gastronomy-obsessed divine-seeking thrift-store-combing cheese-inhaling pavement-pounding laughter-sprinkling lover of individuality and taking chances.
Looks like a fantastic Christmas!
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1So jealous of the Shootsac. I asked my husband for that for Christmas but didn’t get it. Good thing my birthday is in February…!
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2This post is adorable and made me smile! What a great Christmas you all had.
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3The last few years I got up and put some makeup on… I am thinking I should do that again next year for the pictures.
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4I love green goop! In my family though, we call it green fluff. I made it for my in-laws this year and they had NEVER heard of it. I can only imagine what TH thought of it.
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5Opie’s family does the “green goop” too, though I think they call it green stuff. Sadly, the texture makes me want to vomit, but I’m very weird about texture.
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6I love that video! Everyone is so excited! Those Beaba Babycook are amazing! I want one.
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7You are a sincerely thankful person - it is beautiful to read (and see).
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
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8Couldn’t get the video to work
I have never heard of a Beaba Babycook-I just watched the entire video on Williams-Sonoma.com
I’m not even married yet and I want one!!!!
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9I love reading everyone’s Christmas posts. So fun to see how families celebrate.
I love that picture of the Christmas tree where you can see the reflection of the lights in the mirror! So pretty.
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10Your bump really looks like a bump!!! I love it. Your family farm photo in that frame was just great too. But the best part was what a great present you got your sister…my sister did that for me a few times when she was having her babies and it was the best gift ever, to be able to be there with them when they had each of their children meant so much to me.
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11What a wonderful Christmas!!
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12That is an amazing book, btw! So great!!
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13Your husband looks so much like my friend’s husband. His last name wouldn’t happen to be Vaughn, would it?
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14I love individually wrapped packaged, I do the same at home.
Is there a midnight mass in the LDS faith as well? It’s one of those traditions from my childhood that really makes Christmas… well Christmas.
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Jenna Reply:
January 13th, 2010 at 1:46 am
There is not, although after this Christmas season I have been thinking that I would like to attend some type of service on Christmas eve. Not sure if midnight mass would be good for the kiddos though! I felt a little bit disheartened on how little my Christmas celebrations in 2009 focused on the Savior and I would like to change that in 2010.
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Cécy Reply:
January 13th, 2010 at 11:33 am
Well they have earlier Christmas Mass in most churches. Like a 5 or 6pm service, which is still duable with children I think. And then there are morning ones on Christmas morning too. It’s worth looking into.
There was a little girl, probably about 3 at the service we went to. I was amazed that she stayed up until way passed midnight, although in the end she fell asleep.
I did hear a few babies too, but very little fussing, most of them were probably asleep in their parent’s arms.
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what a lovely Christmas-and I love the tube sock tradition. The video made me smile
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