Christmas 2011

Christmas was a little different this year, mostly because a lot of our family have moved away. Randy and Courtney came and stayed for a few days, but Randy had to work Christmas day, so we ate Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve and even opened presents on Christmas Eve. My kids (especially one of my children) have begged me for years to let them open presents on Christmas Eve, and I wouldn't ever let that happen. But we really didn't have much choice this year! 

We started Christmas Eve morning off with some Monkey Bread

My parents came and opened some presents too, even though my dad really doesn't like to do that on Christmas Eve.

Blake's niece Melinda wrote a children's book about Grandpa Mark Purcell, it was a favorite among everybody!

Courtney reading the book while we all listened. It is a really nice book, written very well with some really nice pictures.

Blake was thrilled with this new tool set.

Courtney was thrilled with her new snowmachine coat! Now she and Blake are really styling because their coats match their helmets.

I wasn't worried about Christmas being ruined because we had already done most of the Christmas activities, because we had something really fun to look forward to! Of course the best part of Christmas when you have a child serving a mission is THE PHONE CALL! It was so wonderful to hear Jared's voice and carry on a conversation with him! We worked it out so that we could hear and talk to Jared on a speaker phone, then he could hear and talk to Cindy in Michigan, and Brian in Texas through skype and speakers! Randy was even able to call from work and could hear and talk to Jared through the speakers on the phones! It was a great Christmas Day!