and the countdown continued . . .

We introduced Eddie the Elf to the kids this year as part of our Christmas countdown.  I told them that he was here to watch them and then to report back to Santa each night on their behavior.  Their job was to not only be good kids, but they also had to find Eddie each morning and see what he had been up to while they were sleeping.  The first evening that we had Eddie with us, Jaxton came crying to me upstairs that he had seen Eddie move, that he had turned the lights on and off and that he heard him whistling to his elf friends to come get him.  Mac overheard the conversation and even though he had been questioning the whole "Santa" thing, he began telling everyone that he was pretty sure that elves and leprechauns were cousins and that since leprechauns were known to be tricky, Eddie was going to be nothin' but trouble.  Beckam couldn't sleep that night, convinced that Eddie was going to "get" him during the night. At this point I wondered if it was too late to return Eddie to the North Pole a.k.a. Target. The next morning they found Eddie in the fridge and to their delight he had brought them a breakfast of snow-covered donuts, apples and juice -- thankfully they didn't find him so scary after that.

We also marked off the days until Christmas by:

And then came Christmas Eve . . .

We spent the day at the Life & Science Museum

and then happily joined the Kelly family at the Klopfer home for more Christmas extravaganza then we could have hoped for.

To say we are big fans of the Klopfer family, would be an understatement.

We returned home with just enough time to open up cousin gifts before we shuffled the kids off to bed to dream of Christmas wonderfulness.

(But not before putting food out for the reindeer.)

I think everyone's dreams were made in to reality on Christmas morning.

Just look at that face -- his expressions says it all!

After presents it was off to church we went -- what better way to celebrate the Saviors's birth

Our Christmas princess was looking especially beautiful on such a special day.

And then it was back home to lounge in grandma and grandpa's gifts of USU attire.

We had a wonderful Christmas filled with the excitement of the season as well as the spirit of Christ's birth.  How grateful I am for His humble birth, His life, His death and His resurrection.  Merry Christmas!