GREETINGS FROM THE AUSTINS: The twelve days of Christmas

12.18.2008

The twelve days of Christmas

This is my last post before we hit the road for Christmas break. Since I am feeling festive, this post is going to be all about the things I love about this season. Last year Brian's mom did the twelve days of Christmas for her kids and it was great. We were excited to get another twelve gifts again this year. My MIL put a lot of thought into each gift, and each gift is meant to help us focus on our family and the true meaning of Christmas.

With the gifts we've opened so far, we have been able to snuggle with a big, soft, warm quilt while listening to the book-on-CD The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, while our house has been filled with wonderful Christmas scents. The kids can't wait to open tomorrow's gift!

Scentsy has the cutest candle warmers and the candles smell yummolicious.

I collect Willow figurines, and I was very happy when my MIL gave me this Willow nativity a couple years back.

And of coarse I love staring at the Christmas tree. The kids hung all of the decorations, and I don't even mind that the ornaments are all clumped together on the bottom of the tree. I did manage to hide all of their homemade ornaments from previous years, but somehow, that did not make a difference, as my tree is now cluttered with new homemade ornaments. For some reason I can't get myself to take them down, just like I have not been able to throw away any of their ornaments from past years.

Merry Christmas!

6 comments:

Stephanie said...: we're so excited to see you! I think Katie is more excited about seeing Kali than she is about Christmas. Be careful! Hope the weather cooperates. See you soon!; December 19, 2008 at 8:14 AM
Jennifer said...: Looks like fun! Glad you guys have 4-wheel drive to make it to Utah... all they've got is snow in the forecast for us. It is great for me, but not for all you traveling folks.; December 19, 2008 at 9:55 AM
5Kgoatgirl said...: Hey - no fare! Oh well maybe next year we can come to UT for Christmas. Have a safe trip in the snow. We are just WAY cold with out the snow...hoping for at least a little for Christmas.; December 21, 2008 at 7:20 PM
Kali said...: Mom!I love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!; December 26, 2008 at 1:56 PM
Ellie McFreaken said...: Jamie...It was SO SO good to see you! It was like old times hanging with you and Stace although it really made me miss you guys more. I can't wait to see some of the crazy pictures of us.
Your kids are the best Jamie, I can't get over how big they have gotten. Kali...what a sweet girl, man do I wish she and Ellie could be neighbors....Caleb, what a handsome little guy...Emi, what can I say that girl has some "J-spunk" that I just want to hug her and squeeze her cute lil face.
Hope you guys had a safe trip home.
Love your guts!; December 28, 2008 at 11:32 PM
Stacy and Mike said...: Loved seeing you Jamie and your kids and Brian. Thanks for my gift. I've already put it to good use. Love ya!; December 29, 2008 at 9:32 AM

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Say What?

Emi: after running around the house and getting out of breath, "Mom! My heart is singing a song!" 9/09

Caleb: "Grandpa, how do you know all this stuff?"
Grandpa: "Because i'm [his age] years old"
Caleb: "You make it up?" June 09

Emi: "Can I have a brownie?"
Mom: "Sorry they are all gone."
Emi: matter of factly, "But I will give you a hug and a kiss."
(She knows how to get anything she wants.) 6/24/09

Mom to Emi: "You're beautiful."
Emi: "Noooo, I'm pretty, you're beautiful." 5/21/06

Emi to Caleb: "I love you more than the sun."
Caleb to Emi: "I love you more than the moon."... and so on..
Emi to Caleb: "I love you all the way from the temple." 5/17/09

Dad: "Kali, are you even listening to me?"
Kali: "Not really." 4/4/09

Caleb: "What's a parody?"
Emi: "Perry is a platypus." 3/24/09
(Perry is a character on Phineas and Ferb)

Caleb: "What kind of adult loses their keys anyways." 3/16/09

Caleb: "Mom, you're weird." 3/14/09

After getting in trouble for talking back to her mother, Kali yelled, "Sometimes I feel like I live with the Dursley's!" as she slammed the door.

Emi thought "California" sounded like "Kali-fornia" (I guess we were talking like the Governator), so she said, "What about "Caleb-fornia?"

Caleb was telling us what he learned about nocturnal animals at school. He said, "Dad is kind of nocturnal because he sleeps all day on Sundays."

During family scripture study we were talking about loving our enemies. When we asked Caleb to explain this scripture, he used Spongebob Square Pants to explain to us about Mr. Crabs and Plankton being enemies. Nice analogy.

When Kali was told that she would be going to a babysitter, she said, "But mom, i'm not a kid! I'm a young adult!"

During dinner, Brian was talking about how he is a heavy sleeper. Caleb put his arms around Brian and tried to lift him out of his chair. Caleb then said, "yep, you are a 'heavy' sleeper."

Kali said she wished she was an only child, and when I asked, "wouldn't you be sad if you didn't have your brother and sister?" she said, "I can't miss them if they never existed."