Sim Plify

For Christmas one year, someone gave my mom a hand-painted sign that says, "Simplify." The year she got it, I was a little confused about what it meant until I finally gained the courage to ask what it meant. The confusion was because there's a small space in the word, making it look like it says, "Sim Plify." Of course, I ask, "what does sim plify mean?" I felt much better when my sister-in-law said, "I was wondering the same thing!" I continue to feel much better every time I hear someone else ask the same question. I think the purpose of this sign is to remind us to simplify our lives to be able to really take it all in. This Christmas, I took on a few too many projects and got really lost in the stress and overwhelming feeling that Christmas can bring. After a couple of melt-downs, Christian convinced me that it would be okay to be later than I'd planned on a couple of things and just abandon others. I finally made this decision the week before Christmas. That week was thoroughly enjoyable and I hope I can remember to simplify my life next Christmas. My New Years Resolution will be to start projects throughout the year and have them finished before the Christmas season begins. I love Christmas and get so frustrated when the holiday is over before I even realize it's here! Thank goodness I had decided to make those changes before the week before Christmas because here is what that week included:

Firth Family Christmas Party

My family has a really fun tradition where we gather our very extended family together to have a family Christmas party. Our group is so big that we have to have it at a church. We have a small program, a visit from Santa (including gifts), an ornament exchange, and a DELICIOUS spread! This picture is of all the cousins, 2nd cousins, 3rd cousins twice removed (or whatever) waiting for Santa to call their name so they can have their present.

We did everything we could this year to prep Anders for this big Santa debut. We had him sit on the mall Santa's lap a couple of time, we talked him through it, I even sat on the floor with him while we waited for Santa to call his name. After all the pep talking, Anders still panicked! I of course, end up sitting on Santa's lap with him. Don't mind the hair in my face, my main focus was avoiding a panic attack on Anders' part. I was proud of him for uttering that he wanted a Wall-E toy to Santa. Of course, Santa delivered! Anders is a proud owner of a Wall-E toy!

This is our cute Ry Ry and Anders watching the program intently. I had to take a picture because it was so dang cute! They sat right on the front row, well, most of the time.

Here's the only picture of adults that we took. It is of my sister, Carly (recent U of U graduate)and her....(?) Jordan.

Speirs Family Christmas Party

This is my grandma and grandpa Speirs. We have a Christmas Eve tradition that I look forward to every year more than almost anything. You wouldn't know by just looking, but these two make the most AMAZING team in the kitchen! They prepare this fantastic lasagna dinner for us all to enjoy and they always make sure to make enough for everyone to take left-overs. Afterward, they give us their gifts and we open our Christmas pajamas. This year is our "in-law" year to spend Christmas, so we get to celebrate it on a different day (which means double the Christmas). Part of our tradition is that my grandparents stay late on Christmas Eve and come back really early on Christmas morning to watch us open presents. Now that Billy and I are married and have incorporated the "in-law year," we cram it all in on one crazy night.

Now do you believe me when I saw it gets a little crazy? This is Anders modeling his new matching big-boy undies my parents gave him and Ry Ry. Anders of course, wore it over his diaper and it was just too much. They were doing karate moves and jumping off chairs. It was a mixture of a sugar high and matching undies excitement! Notice the irony of Anders shirt! Whoever invented toddler boxer-briefs knew what they were doing...those chunky legs really accent the cute little tushy.

Yes, we all hit the jack-pot. I walked away feeling like Christmas was over and I could return all my gifts that I bought.
This is Anders checking out his new Imaginex castle he got. He loves this gift so much. He wants to take it out everyday and asks me where the "boys" are. I finally figured out that he was referring to knights.

Christmas with the Larsens

This Christmas was the Larsen's year to celebrate it together. We headed down to good ol' rural Utah on Christmas Eve to begin the Christmas festivities. The only kids that came down for Christmas Eve this year were Anders and Braxton. We had plenty of space and really enjoyed ourselves. This picture is of my favorite tradition Christian and I started when Anders was born. After he opens his Christmas jammies, he opens a new Christmas book that Christian reads as his bedtime story.

This was just after Anders opened his laptop on Christmas morning. He was very excited to have his own laptop just like Christian and I do. I am excited because that means he will not want to punch my keys while I'm on my laptop...hopefully.

Here is Christian after he opened his first gift. They are little ballerina slipper socks. They are so cute and I can't wait to put them on our little baby! Isn't my husband a hottie in the morning??

Some other things that happened over the week of Christmas as taking Anders to see Bedtime Stories in the movie theaters (so funny), visiting Christian's friend and old roommate and his new baby, visiting Christian's mission companion and their cute little family, a lot of shopping, and visiting with tons of family. We had a great time and now the hardest part is explaining to Anders that Christmas is over. He still asks to watch his favorite Christmas movies and wonders where the presents are that were under the tree.