So the 2011 Edition of Christmas at the Haven started rather abruptly. It was the year when.....
Well, I can't show it to you -- it just had to be experienced. We'd told the kids not to wake us before 7:30 am. So, precisely at 7:30 am, they went into Darcie's bedroom (which happens to be directly below OUR bedroom), cranked up the volume on the iPod player--first--and THEN selected a likely Christmas song, and pressed Play. I don't remember the name of the song. It was a traumatic experience, and I blocked it out.
So THAT was how we woke up that morning. To blaring Christmas music. When I went downstairs to the Fort Mothership (see previous post), three older children were awake. But Emma was sleeping. They keep telling me that she really was awake too, but I'm skeptical.
We came upstairs to find what Santa had brought....
Emma checks out her stocking....
But her impressive present was the new Pink Princess Bike:
Brandon was also pretty pleased with the laptop that Santa brought. It should come in handy as he is off to BYU-Idaho for the Winter Semester.
I've purposely not included pictures of some of the gifts that the girls received. That will come later when they're actually used. But the Big Gift....... was a gift to the whole family. And it was BIG. So big, it was two days later when it was completely ready for use:
Yes, this is the same room as the water damage -- that's the sheetrock repair on the left side of the wall. Now you can see why that repair really needed to happen right away. The testosterone is oozing out of this thing. The answer to the question you're asking is, "70 inches". And I must say that I readily admit that it was time to replace the TV. And the picture on this thing IS absolutely AMAZING. And the floor doesn't vibrate too badly.....
Anyway! Back to Christmas Day!
We were pretty glad that we didn't meet for church until 1:00 pm. It was nice to have a leisurely morning with our family and our gifts and our cinnamon rolls. So, later I grabbed these pictures of the girls:
Alyssa was playing Mad Gab, and that's why she's looking down. Later, the lack of sleep caught up with the girls. They kind of slumped over right where they were:
That evening we went to Grandpa and Grandma's house for dinner with all the Extended Huffakers. There were so many of us, that Grandma set up carpet, tables, and decor in the garage (true!), and we ate with everyone in there:
But the true highlight of the day for me (well, for all of us) was the chance to talk with Cameron, our missionary son!! Up until a few days before Christmas, we were slated for a regular phone call with him. Then, we received a call, which was actually his companion calling, to tell us that we could Skype for Christmas! That was THE BEST news!! A phone call is great, but Skyping is ten times better.
Since Brandon was on his mission for the last two Christmases, we've now had three years in a row that we've talked with a missionary son on Christmas Day. I don't know if I can express what joy and blessings it brings to our family when we have a missionary serving. Todd and I both feel like it will be a bit of a let-down when Cameron returns home (20 months from now), and we no longer have a missionary.
Cameron looks great and is doing well on his mission. He's just been transferred to a new area and is with a new companion. Please check out his mission blog for his updates. He would love to get a letter from you -- his current address is in the sidebar on the right. We send out huge thank-you's to the family that made their computer available to the missionaries to call home. That was an awesome Christmas present!
Hope your Christmas turned out wonderful as well! It really is the best time of the year!
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