Christmas Eve & Christmas Day 2015

Christmas Eve Dad and I went to Starkey for our weekly soak, so wonderful and beautiful in all the snow!

On our way to Starkey we dropped Hyrum off at Brother Mangums to do some duck hunting.  He was successful and harvested two ducks!  We cooked them up with some BBQ for dinner on Christmas along with a goose he got the week before.

Christmas Eve gift opening.  Lydia got her long awaited footie pajamas.  Zerin and Porter each got stuffed animals (monkey and dog) and I don't remember what Hyrum opened.

Dad trying out Zerin's plasmacar. 

The goodies left by Santa.  Lydia and Hyrum each had a clue in their stocking that led them on a treasure hunt to find their gifts.  Lydia and Zerin each got a Kids Kindle Fire, Hyrum got $100 (he only wanted money to go towards a Hoverboard), Porter got the green and black balance bike, and Ephraim the rocking horse.

Porter and Ephraim both were a little naughty with getting into gifts this year so instead of going under the tree after they were wrapped they went high up on the shelf.

Dad, Mom and Hyrum's stocking.  The little jars by Hyrum's are applesauce and salsa.  Christmas Eve is also so fun and exciting.  One of the many joys of being a parent!  This Christmas Eve I had a realization.  I caught a small glimpse of the joy our Father in Heaven must have when we receive the gift of His Son Jesus Christ.  I thought of the joy I would see on my children's faces in the morning and the amount of joy that it brought me being able to offer them gifts they would enjoy.  Our Heavenly Father offers us the most glorious gift in all the world, a Savior, Jesus Christ.  When we accept and utilize that gift I know our Father rejoices and his joy is full.  He and our Savior want nothing but the absolute best for us!

Instead of small individual boxes of cereal this year, Santa brought two large containers of cereal, hot cocoa mix, toaster pastries and sparkling cider.

Nothing's sweeter than this!  Such a happy babe!

A karaoke machine for our singin' boy!

He always says he wants a green dinosaur so he got some green dinosaur pajamas.

Hyrum and Lydia each got to go to the store and pick out present for their siblings.  They gave blankets and stuffed animals.  If was fun to see them be excited for their siblings to open the gifts they'd chosen.

Lots of new fun stuff!  I think everyone would agree this was one of our best Christmases (minus Hyrum's stitches).  How blessed we are to have the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives and to be able to celebrate His birth and His life at this time of year and always!

After removing the clay.  He had seven stitches put in.  Despite this he still had a wonderful Christmas!

Poor Hyrum :(  He got a new knife for Christmas and was using it to open a toy for Ephraim when he sliced really deep into his thumb.  We quickly put a towel on it and applied pressure.  Then we made a bentonite clay poultice packed it on and wrapped it tight with saran wrap.  It was bleeding so profusely that we had to wrap a towel around it as well and keep applying pressure.  The pain was intense and the poor boy was doing all he could to endure it.  Thankfully, the clay took effect and before too long he was pain free.  Fast forward several hours to bed time and I knew we need to readdress the issues.  I'd never got to look at how deep the wound was due to all the blood.  We carefully removed the clay and I could tell it was deeper than we thought.  I felt it was best to have it stitched, especially since his basketball season starts soon.  Hyrum had to beg Dad for quite some time to call Brother Mangum (a PA from the Council ward).  Dad finally sent a text with a picture and Brother Mangum said to come on over.  It was 10pm Christmas night by then.  Dad loaded Hyrum and side by side with the snow plow up and off they went.  Brother Mangum took Hyrum to the clinic and sewed it up while Jon plowed their driveway in near zero degree weather.  How grateful we are for trained and talented professionals so willing to offer service!  Our first, and hopefully our last, stitches for our family.

The view from our front porch Christmas morning.  BEAUTIFUL!

All stitched up and doing much better!  However, the pain was quite a bit worse the next day.  It truly was amazing how the bentonite clay decreased his pain.