We got to have Al, Margit, and Michael with us for Christmas! (Al is Doug's older brother.) Michael is leaving soon to serve a mission in Macon, Georgia, so they wanted to come out and see the Washington and Oregon parts of the family before he left. They stayed at our place, since we're kind of centrally located and had room. When they drove down to see Grandma Mary they brought her back with them, so we had a full house! The kids loved having people around to play with.
Michael wasn't quite born yet when Doug and I were married. It's hard to believe he's old enough to go on a mission now.
Some people go on cleaning binges when they're expecting guests. We went on a home improvement binge. (Okay, there was some cleaning in there too.) We put in our new floor in the living room over a year ago, but hadn't gotten the baseboard moldings replaced, which was keeping us from putting up our bookshelves, which was keeping us from unpacking the boxes of books that were being stored in the extra bedroom downstairs. I'd done some experimenting with staining baseboards earlier, with mixed results. I determined that if we could get the baseboards put in on just that one wall, we might be able to get the extra room usable in time for our company. The week before Christmas was full of sanding and staining and borrowing paper tools from neighbors--and we actually got it done. On that one wall, anyway. And we got one bookcase up. We did not get as far as using the extra room, but for chronic procrastinators I figure it was a major victory. And we learned a lot about baseboards! And even cut a coped corner!
We've always waited to get our tree till after Doug was finished with classes for the quarter. This year we didn't get it up till the 23rd. Kate was super excited. She kept saying, "I feel like Christmas is tomorrow!" (Almost!)
On Christmas Eve we had Kate read the story from Luke, and we sang some songs. (I taught Kate the alto part to "Joy to the World" recently. She's really good at it!)
In the morning Kate came into our room around 5:00. I told her I wanted her to wait till 7:00. (We had people sleeping in the living room!) Once we were up we opened presents.
Kate got a Sculpey sampler pack from Grandma Kathey. This will get a lot of use!
Andy got two new Elephant and Piggie books, and
Knuffle Bunny. (Hooray for Mo Willems!)
Mothman's Curse is by my BYU roommie,
Christine Hayes.
Al and Margit open a gift. (Doug got them some cool smoked salts.)
Andy's latest Magna-Doodle.
We put the couch diagonally in one corner, and the Christmas tree in the other corner. There was some nice light coming in through the window, so we had to get some pictures on the couch.
Family pic!
Christmas sunset.
I often feel a little sad around the holidays, seeing all my friends posting about getting together with family. I was excited about having somebody around this time. For the most part it was very nice, though a few things could have gone better. They'd originally said they were going to stay till the 28th, but told us on the morning of the 24th that they were going to leave Christmas afternoon. If I'd known earlier that they were leaving that soon I would have planned some of my pre-Christmas preparations a little differently. But I am really glad that we got the baseboards up. (We've been trying to get that done for a looong time!)
for Andy. We figured they'd be right up his alley--putting things in order. He seems to be enjoying them. I did have to tell him a few times not to try to sit on the garages. They're not that sturdy. 
