A Christmas Full of Surprises

Well Christmas has once again come and gone, but we definitely had a most wonderful time. Our Christmas began on the 18th when we traveled out to Vernal because Broc and Amy and their little family were in town from St. Louis. We had a blast with everyone (Except Austyn who we missed dearly) there to celebrate. We did a fun little party for Michael and Mack's b-day on Friday. Then Saturday we got up and went sledding. All the kids absolutely loved it. Then there was some swimming. (i don't recommend swimming at the Vernal REC center in December it was FREEZiNG!) That night we did our own little family Christmas party! it was a lot of fun. i'll try to get those pictures posted soon. As for the rest of this blog it is filled with the memorable stories of Christmas morning.

This year was our year to Celebrate with the Critchfields/Anderbergs. We stayed at Michael's mom's house and luckily Santa got our message that that is where we would be staying. i think his sleigh crashed there actuall he left quite the load.

The treasures that Santa left!

Michael and Jen coming down the stairs to see if they had been good this year or not (apparently they were really good)

Check out my new Lightening McQueen Bike! (i think the whole Santa thing really clicked once Michael got to come down and open his gifts he was a lot of fun to watch!)

Jennifer opening one of her gifts

Kimber opening the gift we got her (i had wrapped it in a brownie type box and her mom thought that is what we had really gotten her, but we tricked her!)

Addy had a lot of fun playing with the wrapping paper and following her big brother around to see what he had gotten. She had fun playing with whatever her brother was playing with at the moment!

This is the picture of the most coveted Christmas present of the day...The Sweater. This was Michael's gift from Nate. When Michael opened it he was a tad speechless as what do say...and so was i. We had heard that Nate was being very creative this year so when Michael opened this sweater we weren't quite sure what to say. i was thinking to myself "Well he is on a budget, maybe he got it for a really good deal and thought it was pretty sweet, but is it a girls sweater?" Michael was a good sport and tried it on while the rest of us just laughed at him. After all the gifts had been opened Nate said, "Well is that all the presents? Okay then Michael i have a challenge for you and you have 2 minutes to complete it. There are three clues hiding and if you find all three then you have a chance to trade the sweater in for something else okay ready go!" Luckily they played hot and cold with him, otherwise he wouldn't have found them in time. The clues were just 3 pieces of paper with the number 1-3 on them and Nate took them and stuck them on 3 different cupboards in the kitchen and said, "You can trade your sweater in for whatever is behind the cupboard you choose." Michael selected #3 and they opened it and there was nothing there so Nate said, "Uh you can have anything that belongs to mom in that cupboard." Oh bummer, well Nate Felt bad so he gave Michael another chance and that's when he found the REAL Christmas Present

New BASKETBALL shoes! Pretty sweet eh? However he did have to turn the sweater back over to Nate in order to keep the shoes.

Michael was getting surprised all over the place! i surprised him with the gift from me as well. He knew i was getting him something about two weeks but i refused to give him any clues. Then one day i decided to give him one so i told him it was a tool. He said, "You're getting me a shop vac huh?" and i said, "Well it does have a bag in it." he replied with, "You got me a golf bag didn't you." i didn't admit that he was right, but he was so i had to go about and come up with some plan to fool him into thinking that he wasn't getting a golf bag. So i bought a golf hat and put it in a plastic bag and wrapped that and placed it under the Christmas tree and i hid his golf bag until all the other presents were opened. i gave him his hat and he opened it and said, "A golf hat" and i said, "it's a hat in a bag!" And he's like, "Oh" i cold tell i had him where i wanted him. So after all the presents were opened i ran upstairs and pulled out the Golf Bag, which he absolutly LOVED! Yeah point for me!

Now on to MY surprise. Well about a week before Christmas Michael told me that my gift wouldn't be there in time for Christmas so we needed to go and pick something out so i could have something under the tree. The only clue that i could get out of him was that he'd gotten it online so i had no idea what it could be. So for Christmas Michael's mom had gotten him and Nate these little car deals for their phones so we decided to go for a drive and test them out. We headed out and these little toys were a joke. They didn't even work, but that's a whole other story! We continued to drive and we went on to Bangeter and were headed North. We were following Nate, Mom and the girls and i said to Michael, "Where are we going?" and he said, "i don't know call my mom." So i called her and she just said, "it's a beautiful day for a drive, just follow us." So i got off the phone and i was like, "i understand going for a drive up the canyon, but just driving down the freeway?" and Michael's like, "You just don't understand my mom." And i said, "Okay." Then we turned to go toward our house and i just figured that my Mother just wanted to see our cute little Christmas Tree, Okay, whatever...or maybe Michael was just checking to see if maybe what he'd ordered had come in yet. So by this time i'm talking on the phone to my mother to see how their Christmas morning was. We pulled into the driveway and everyone got out of the car, except for me. Then i finally decided that i ought to go in and visit and what not. So still talking to my mom i walk into the house and this is what i see...

A piano!!!!!!!! Yep that was my Christmas present. The best surprise ever. i walked through the door and saw it and exclaimed, "i got a piano!" i had a perma grin on the rest of the day! i absolutly love it and yes, yes i am spoiled!

After that we went to Dad Anderberg's and got even more spoiled i just don't have any pictures of that adventure because he had a new camera and was taking all the photos!

We have truly been blessed this year and are so grateful for our Savior's birth and most of all Atonement. Where would we be without that. What most wonderful gift that is to each an everyone of us and that is why i love Christmas so much because all that it represents and the blessings that has become of that one special baby's birth! i know that he lives and loves me and each of you! He gave his life and he has walked more than a mile in each of our shoes. Never forget that you are NEVER alone all you need to do is pray and he will hear and answer that prayer! Merry Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!