'Twas the day after Christmas..

'Twas the day after Christmas and we traveled because..
The family was gathering at the Smyka's!

As turkey and stuffing scents waft through the air
We were all happy Aunt Julie could also be there!

Three missing families were at home snuggled tight
With memories of having their own Christmas delight!

The family much smaller than 'twas years before
We were wishing that they would jump through the door!

The dinner was wonderful! A great job by Grandma!
Then off to open gifts from those that aren't Santa!

Some books, and horses, and gifts of all sizes!
A car game, and gift cards and all sorts of prizes!

Gifts from Aunt Julie, so generous and sweet
like tents, ornaments, & cookbooks all wrapped really neat!

Then toys from the Grandparents so many you see
for Treycen and Aspen and Hyrum and Me....

Then came the gift that we gave all together..
The one that we'd wanted to give for forever!

"A Microwave Oven!" M&R exclaimed with glee!
from families of Devin, Jeremy, Chelsie and Stacey!

Now with the sink Cole and Lindsie provided
The kitchen looks like the President could be invited!

Mom and Richard, we're happy to give this to you
think of it as "thanks" for all that you do!

Goodbye old Microwave.. Hello new one!

The old one is going into retirement!

"Merry Chri'mas!"

Aspen and Treycen in their New Christmas Church clothes, the Sunday before Christmas.

It was very important to Treycen that we made a gingerbread house! He was so excited to make it and even more excited at the prospect of eating it later! He loves gingerbread!

I iced the house and Treycen and Aspen helped decorate it! Hyrum helped Treycen put the candy on the roof!

And I helped Aspen put it on her side. She surprised me... I thought she would make a mess out of it or eat all the candy, but she did a really good job with those tiny fingers!

Treycen had the idea to put a really big window in the back with a Christmas tree in it. Good idea buddy!

The kids were so proud of the job we did!

Treycen had the really good idea to put the candy canes in front and the ornaments on the ground! He's so creative!

Christmas eve... opening the new PJ's

We let Treycen give us his present that he made for us on Christmas eve... he was so excited and we were too!

A cookbook! I love your recipe Treycen!

Then Treycen and Aspen got to open their gifts they got each other!

Aspen gave Treycen some awesome race cars and an airplane and Treycen gave Aspen a Tinkerbell lamp... she LOVES it! We hung the stockings, put the milk and cookies out for Santa and read our Christmas eve stories, then put them to be to dream of sugar plums!

Christmas Morning!

Treycen was so excited when he woke up cause he wanted to see if Santa ate the cookies and drank the milk!

WOW! He did and he even left us a letter!

They were excited to see that the stockings were full of prizes!

Treycen was soooo excited to see all the presents under the tree!

He loves his light-up snowman ornament that Sharon and Ward gave him!

Is this for me?

A new camera for me!!!! I was so happy and started using it right away! Hyrum was smart and charged the battery ahead of time for me! Pictures with the new camera start...

... now!

I made Hyrum this quilt for Christmas! It was a lot of work, but it made him really happy!

This was Aspen's favorite Christmas present! "It's a treasure chest!" she exclaimed! It was really a dress up chest... even better! She was so happy that she immediately put on an entire Princess outfit! She's worn at least the crown every day since!

"A crown! Open it Mommy!"

"Put it on Daddy!"

"Zat!" She kept saying as she pointed her wand over and over again at everyone! It was hard to get a picture of her because she was so excited and "zat"ing around!

Aspen's Potty doll... she gulps when you give her a drink. No water needed... thank goodness!

My pretty little Princess!

"I hate little cars!" Treycen wanted this "smash oh smash" toy forever! Obviously he was so happy to get it!

Another favorite toy of Treycen's... the splash mountain waterfall track for Thomas the train.

Yay me! A new shirt!

Aspen's Tinkerbell set. She loves Tinkerbell!

Hyrum's big gift! A guitar and all the accessories! He was really happy about it!

It snowed BIG TIME over the night, Christmas eve! So as soon as we were done unwrapping presents, Hyrum got started clearing off the snow on the driveway. He also helped the neighbors get their walkways and driveways clear. Thank goodness for a snowblower!

The snow was above my knee when I went out there to take the pictures! We got all of that snow the night before Christmas! What a surprise to wake up to!

It stuck to every little branch! Watch the video to see what Treycen had to say about that!

The snow postponed the trip up to Grandma and Grandpa's house until the next day, when the weather would be better.

So we all relaxed and set up and played with our toys! A cozy Christmas snow day!

The Garbage truck was something that Treycen wanted sooo bad and talked about it every day! Santa knew and he gave it to Treycen for Christmas! HE WAS SO EXCITED! It was his favorite present he got on Christmas day!

Our Christmas Was wonderful! We were finished shopping weeks before Christmas and got to really enjoy Hyrum's time off from work together as a family! Treycen and Aspen were so excited for Christmas that it just added to the joy of that day and all the days (or should I say Months) leading up to it! Treycen started asking about Christmas and counting down the days before Halloween even got here!

Aspen very quickly learned the Christmas songs... I sang Jingle Bells to her about 5 times and then she knew all the words to the whole song! I am impressed! Aspen also likes to sing We Wish You A Merry Christmas.. only she doesn't often use her "S's" (about 50% of the time) So she says "Chri'mas" instead... so fun! Snow sounds like "no"... "dashing through the no!"

All season long, Treycen put pictures for Santa into the special Santa mailbox and, in return, Santa gave him treats. One time Santa's elves saw Treycen and Aspen being very good and cleaning the house so nice! The next day, Santa left them a letter of appreciation and a little toy prize for each of them!

Treycen couldn't wait to leave Santa his milk and cookies Christmas eve! He asked about leaving them every night for many nights leading up to Christmas eve and even set some make shift treats and milk out for him a couple of times. He and Aspen were very excited to see if Santa had eaten the milk and cookies on Christmas morning... it almost was more important than the presents... well for a minute anyway!

The fact that we were practically snowed in on Christmas day (overnight snow that went above my knee caps) only gave us a more cozy and relaxing Christmas day than we are used to having. The kids (big and little) all got to play with their new toys and (get this one) take naps! Though, Treycen couldn't wait to go to Grandma's and would have happily left his toys behind to go there!

Overall, it was a special day and the snow only meant that we got to have two special days!