Carlsen Family Christmas

Christmas this year was wonderful. We bought a real tree, trimmed it with ribbon, lights, ornaments, read Christmas stories, ate yummy treats, and had lots of short scripture studies that helped Ethan (and the rest of us as well) learn about how Christ’s life and sacrifice is the reason for the season.

On Christmas Eve, Ethan and Sienna both got new pairs of snuggly warm pajamas (the zip-up kind with feet – too cute!)

The Christmas Eve story this year was a book entitled, “Beyond Bethlehem” which told of the events in Bethlehem surrounding Christ’s birth, but also covered the events in America as well.

  Christmas Morning!

Ethan is really good at indentifying letters and recognizing some words, so he helped distribute the presents this year.  Good Job, Ethan!

Ethan and his fire truck. The two have been inseparable ever since. Wish we could say the same thing about Ethan and his clothes.

The bracelet Jeff gave me – good job, Jeff!

Ethan drawing a “guy” on his new AquaDoodle pad. Only$7!

We spent the rest of the day with Pete, Tasha and their kids and had Christmas dinner with them. We love spending time with their family; Ethan and Sienna are entertained for hours by their cousins! Whew! Thank you!

Didn’t quite make the Christmas card

Not that I planned on doing Christmas cards this year anyway, but if I did, this would not be on it. Ethan loves Santa; no problems with Santa. Grandparents and Santa (in that order) are the providers of all good gifts.

Sienna and Santa? Not so much. The blurry mess in the background is me wrestling Sienna while attempting to get close to Santa.

Unfortunately, this is a picture and not a video. If it were a video, you would have witnessed a pregnant mommy wrangling a toddler while trying to smile a “everything- is-just-fine-smile.” I’m sure it would have provided more entertainment, but the picture will have to do.

Jeff’s Birthday (that was over a month ago…)

Oops! I’ll skip the excuses and apology and cut the chase. My darling Jeff turned 32 on Dec 11th! We made lasagna, Caesar salad and cheesecake!

Although we got him a speedlight sb-600 for a gift (it’s a camera attachment), Ethan was very insistent that what Daddy really needed was a monster truck.  Ethan talked about it for days. So, here it is. We also sent daddy on a treasure hunt with clues hidden around the house for bags of treats. Ethan loved the anticipation of daddy looking for hidden treasure, but Sienna uncovered several of the hiding places before Dad even had a chance to look! It was so much fun and the least we could to for our hero Daddy who provides such a wonderful life for us.