Colorado vacations part 2!

Moving on to part two of our Colorado vacation, I remember that a few days before Christmas we went to the Barker Christmas party!. Even though not everyone could be there this year, we had a great time visiting , making blankets to donate to the hospital, and playing board games. It was so fun watching Benji run around playing with all of the other little kids and having fun!

When Christmas Eve arrived we were all so excited (but also sad because the Maudsley's weren't able to be with us this year and because Cindy was in the hospital :( ). We spent the day getting things ready for Christmas. Aunt Cheryl Kaye came to eat dinner with us and take part in the Christmas eve festivities. We went out after dinner to look at Christmas lights and while we were gone, the Elves didn't forget to come and leave us our pajamas! I admit that I cried while we were in the car because I remembered last year when Benji didn't even notice the lights and this year he was looking out the window, pointing at the lights and saying "ma - ma - ma" :).

We went home and got comfortable with our pajamas and we continued the tradition of acting out the nativity scene and this year I was the angel. It fits my personality well :) hehehe. Benji was the baby Jesus again this year because he was the only baby there this year. He wasn't a very calm and peaceful Jesus though, he was wiggling around and wanted to play! Next, we took our traditional family picture in front of the tree. Lastly, we each opened a present and stayed up watching the movie "Skipping Christmas" for a little while :).

On Christmas morning we woke up mom and dad singing Jingle Bells and we went downstairs to see what Santa had brought!, and then we went to Church very early and there were a lot of special music numbers. There was a young girl who sang with her grandfather and it made everyone cry.
We then returned home to a delicious breakfast which we all helped prepare. We were then ready to start opening all of the other presents. Daniel surprised me with an awesome back and shoulder massager and Photoshop for my new fancy camera (Which was also a Christmas Present, but I opened it early haha). Benji got me some nice comfy slippers also. My stocking was full with lots of great, useful things :).

Daniel received a book from Benji that he was so excited to read and he was able to read it on his new HP Touchpad which he received for Christmas as well. He also received Donkey Kong for the Wii, which he had been wanting for awhile.
Benji got some fun toys to play with and he got a fun green stuffed dog from grandma that knows Benji's name and sings lots of songs and says a lot of phrases. His stocking was also full of lots of fun things.

We also received lots of other great presents from family members and from Santa like our own Scrabble game, some really cool crafts that Cindy made and a book for Benji, and some nice new electric toothbrushes from Mom and Dad.
We spent the day relaxing and enjoying each other's company and it was a great Christmas :)

We also were able to go to a wedding reception one night and one afternoon mom had organized a girl's craft day that was very fun!

The last couple of days went by so fast and we kept having fun. We can't figure out how three weeks went by so fast. We miss everyone so much, and Christmas is definitely such a great time to be together with family. We are excited to see everyone again! :).