Christmas 2017

By the end of last night, Jesse wasn't feeling so great and Cyrus wasn't starting to feel to good either. So Christmas morning all 4 of my boys were sick. But that didn't stop us from having a nice Christmas morning. 

Christmas is very exciting with the ages these boys are in. I was really excited about it. But first I need to tell about our new stockings.

About a month ago I got this great idea that I really thought we could use some new Christmas Stockings. I found these ones that were firefighter ones and thought they were perfect. The set came with a tree skirt too. We also were 1 stocking older shy of 5 and I had the thought "Oh we have 5 letters in our last name. I wonder if I could find ones that are letters of the alphabet and could spell out SMITH across the fireplace mantle (which I love that we have this year). Sure enough I found some and ordered them. 

As the weeks go on and many Christmas orders were being delivered from Amazon I began to wonder what was taking the stockings so long. So on December 10th  I emailed the company and asked them when they were thinking they would be finished? They emailed back pretty quick and told me they had been delivered on the 1st. Hmm? I hadn't seen it. So I asked Jesse and Heidi if they had? Nope. Nothing. I went through all the packages I had received in the mail (that I had stashed in my closet) and none of them contained the stockings or tree skirt. Dang it. I was feeling worried. Did someone steal it off our porch? 

I emailed them back that I never got the package. They responded asking if I would double check with neighbors and the post office. I asked if they could describe the box that it was sent in? They told me it was sent from USPS in a medium flat rate box. 

I confirmed with my neighbors and the post office that it had been delivered and no one had seen it. So the company was gracious enough to make me another set and mail it to me. They sent it to Mike and Heidi's house to make sure it wouldn't get stolen again.

After a few days we finally got it and I was so excited to put them on the mantle.

Last week when I was pulling boxes out of my closet to wrap them, there was one box I had put on the upper shelf for the boys and when I pulled it down, a white soft package fell from the shelf. Not knowing what it was I opened it. What I found shocked me. It was the Firefighter Stockings. I show Jesse and told him where I found it. He looked at my a little guilty and said "Oh ya, I remember putting that package up there." 

So now we have 2 sets of Firefighter stockings and 2 tree skirts. We both thought it was in a white USPS box, but it came in a white USPS bag. Gosh dang it. I felt so bad that the company was so gracious to make us another set thinking that it was stolen, but in reality we are the ding dongs that can't remember where we put stuff.

 

Christmas Morning and these boys! I just love them.

Ryker had been asking for a HEDGEHOG for Christmas. It was the only thing he had on his Christmas list. I wasn't so sure about getting one. But the more I studied about it online, talked with friends that had one and a breeder about how to take care of them... Jesse and I decided to go ahead with it.

It made me SO EXCITED for Christmas morning because I knew that Ryker would be head over heals about it. Also Jesse made the coolest cage from a $25 dresser we found off of ksl. He's so skilled.

When Ryker saw the cage he was a little confused and hopeful. He wasn't sure what he was looking at. But I could tell he was hoping to find a hedgehog in there. Grandma Mike gave him a flashlight to look inside. Mike and Heidi had spent the night. Since they watched Fynn since yesterday afternoon and they wanted to be here for the boys Christmas morning (they chipped in with paying for some of the hedgehog cage needs). I loved having them here because they made the morning that much more special.

After the boys opened their big gifts, we read the Nativity Story from the scriptures. We each took turns reading all the while Fynn was lining the Nativity into a perfect row.

This picture makes me smile because Fynn currently loves mints or gum. So he got mints in his stocking and after opening one he came to show me. I love his pursed lip smile.

The family got BOP-IT and Cy had it figured out quickly. I remember when I was a kid and we got a BOP-IT. I loved it. It's improved so much too.

After breakfast we got the hedgehog out of the cage and Ryker was so excited. The hedgie was really nervous of his new home so he stayed curled up in a ball making an engine revving noise and would pop/jump if we touched him. All of us would laugh because of how much it would startled us.

Around 2 pm the whole Smith Family gathered together. We started off with our traditional "Good King Wenceles Las" story drinking hot chocolate or herbal tea. It is a great story and a good reminder to think about and serve others.

Fynn was extremely onery. I think the steroids he was on plus not feeling very good just made him very temperamental. The tiniest thing would upset him and he would melt down. It happened over and over again.

Gathering to open gifts.

By nightfall we were all just exhausted and we just called it a night. Especially with everyone feeling under the weather we needed to get home to bed.