Christmas 2012

Taj got himself a set of spurs from Grandma Lori as a consolation prize for helping her move earlier this month.

Taj is so so proud of his spurs. He even wore them to daycare. I pretended not to notice he still had them on when I dropped him off because I really didn't want to be the bad guy on this one and make him take them off, so I let his teachers be the bad guys. I picked them up from the office when I picked him up later that day. This was actually well thought out because now when he wants to wear his spurs out to church or preschool I simply tell him his teachers will take them away from him and THEY are the bad guys and not ME for once!

Little Miss Haivi a few days before Christmas. She figured out how to crawl up on this chair and was quite proud of herself for such an enormous accomplishment. I was very proud of her too considering how short her legs are compared to the height of the chair. The best part about this chair is that it rocks, which also makes it dangerous. See that marble mantle in the background? I hovered anxiously around her the entire time she demanded to hang out on this tilting, head cutter-opener, chair.

This move especially made me jumpy and I was sure she would somersault off the edge of it and break her collarbone. How could I resist letting her do it though, given how cute she looks with her lopsided piggy tails?

My sister and I set the table for Christmas Eve dinner using odds and ends we could scrounge up around the house. I think it turned out quite well. It was definitely fancy-schmancy enough for the lot of us Griswald's.

Even Taj had a place set for him at his vintage 1950 something table. I don't know where my mom gets this stuff, yard sales I'm sure! I wish I had as much luck as her at yard sales up here! The highchair she has is also vintage 1950 something with a flower pattern and actually now that I think about it, it's probably a 60's design, given the flower pattern.

Taj was like a little leech and glued to my brother's leg for pretty much the entire weekend we were there. Poor Matt...he brought it on himself though because he actually seemed to enjoy having a permanent side kick. Poor Taj, you would think he's been starved for attention!

Another unsuccessful attempt to remove the said "leech" from his leg.

Haivi bug loved anyone that would pick her up, especially since she wasn't feeling good the entire time we were there.

Ignore my lopsided glasses, hair, and face. I had to get proof of Haivi's bed head. It's pretty ridiculous and it always looks like this when she wakes up in the morning and from her naps.

We had Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve since a few of us had to leave on Christmas Day. My mom made us a turkey dinner with all the fixings, even pie! It was like Thanksgiving all over again, only better because we got to open presents the next day.

Taj enjoying his feast of turkey and macaroni and cheese.

Taj opened his first present with Auntie Marci and Uncle Brian

This was his gift from Santa, a toy chainsaw that is SUPER loud and SUPER annoying, but he loves it, so I tolerate it. The blade moves on it and he spent the rest of the morning trying to cut anything he could. I think at one point he became quite frustrated because it wouldn't actually cut through anything.

I have never seen him so excited about a present before. When he opened the chainsaw, he kept putting his hands on his head and had a permagrin on his face. He told Auntie Marci to "cut da stwings off!" so he could give it a go.

This was Haivi's present from Santa. She is always playing on the piano at our house, so I thought it would be cute for her to have her own. I told Santa what she wanted since she is still working on the whole language thing.

Brannon took this picture and immediately remarks afterwards, "Haw Haw, look at your face!" Thanks love, who doesn't like having their picture taken on Christmas morning? The only reason I put this on here is because I think Haivi looks cute trying to look at the camera through my arm.

See the red polka dot present in the background? That was to Taj and Haiven from Auntie Marci and Uncle Brian. It was a sleepover party that included a movie, popcorn, cookie mix, and candy. Such a cute idea!

Haivi holding her cute little teapot from Grandpa and Grandma.

You may as well call my mom the Diet Dr. Pepper Grandma. She changes back and forth between diet drinks, but you can always count on her having something brown and bubbly in her cup. Haivi caught on real quick that the good stuff is where grandma is.

We opened this present Christmas night when we got home from Monticello. We waited to open it because we knew Taj would want it out of the box and set up immediately and the thought of packing all those pieces  and traveling for nearly six hours with parts floating all over the car was less than appealing, so we waited. He did of course want it set up asap and we've spent all week playing with it. Definitely a great present grandma and grandpa. You can tell how excited he was when he opened it because Taj hates having his picture taken and hardly ever smiles for pictures. This grin is the permagrin I was talking about with the chainsaw.

Some of you have seen this I'm sure, our visit with Santa went very well I thought. Taj loved him, Haivi not so much. I think the beard was weirding her out.

We had such a great Christmas this year spending time with family in good ol' Monticello, UT. We even got to have a white Christmas! It snowed and snowed on Christmas Eve, so really the weather was absolutely perfect for the occasion. Both Taj and Haiven had to be taken to the urgent care clinic while we were there. Both of them were diagnosed with ear infections and Haivi has croup (sp?) as well. She is still not better yet and Taj isn't all the way up to par either, but I'm hoping they will be okay by Jan. 2, because I have to go back to work then! I actually took Haivi to the ENT yesterday and she has won herself a set of tubes in the ears. She's all set to go for Jan. 7th and I'm really hoping that will help her out, poor thing. Despite having sick kids, it was still super nice to be able to spend time with my siblings as we are spread out all over the place and in different states. We don't get to see each other much at all, so of course we all got a little choked up when it was time to say goodbye. I HATE saying goodbye. It is the absolute worst and no fun at all. We left on Christmas Day and I spent the rest of the day feeling melancholy. Anyone else experience acute depression the days following Christmas? I think mine lasts about a week and I'm finally able to overcome it after I bring myself to put Christmas away. 
My parents are so fun and they always have things planned out for us when we come home. We played Catch Phrase, telephone charades (sounds pretty goody goody doesn't it? don't ever underestimate the Nielson family's ability to be overly competitive, loud, and slightly rough around the edges while playing ANY game), and on Christmas Eve we played one of those present games with dice where you fight over random presents. It actually turned out to be really fun except for the part when I thought me and Brannon were going home with a Poopy Potter Putter thing. Marci and Brian gladly took that off our hands, doesn't surprise me in the least! We also watched the always wholesome movie Uncle Buck. If you haven't seen that, highly recommend it, without young children of course. That movie fits our family's sense of humor perfectly--we are quite the bunch of roughians, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm so grateful for the holidays that allow us to spend time together!