Merry Christmas 2009!

Merry Christmas 2009! Christmas was a great experience this year. For us, it has been a tough year but also a great year. Owen hasn't worked full time since November 2008. Over the months we have worked together to make lots of changes in our family spending. Everyone has worked together and I am proud of all of us. The boys have learned about the expenses of the home and have been so responsible for their own expenses and have helped with the household when necessary.


This year we decided to draw names for Christmas gifts and gave ourselves a spending limit. It took a lot of pressure off of mom and it was fun to concentrate on one person. Some additional gifts appeared as Santa had done some bargain shopping the prior year and found the stash when cleaning out for a yard sale! How funny was that?


Dad got a waffle iron that flips just like the ones at the hotel's free breakfast...that we ate a ton of going back and forth from Utah for over a year. It was a very thoughtful gift for him because Greg really paid attention to something that would make his dad happy.
Mom got an iron that she really needed and really wanted. Nice and heavy duty and does vertical steaming so I don't even need to get the board out :) Thanks Barrett.

Grandma got some clothes that she wanted from Owen. I had to help a little with the shopping on that, but he didn't expect me to do it for him. He asked for my help.

Greg really wanted a Stanley classic thermos, green with a handle. I never question why he likes what he likes but he was happy. He used it the next day when he worked outside all day in the cold. He put homemade Turkey soup in it and was happy that when he went to eat it the soup was still so hot he had to blow on it to cool it down. Note: he also made the soup! Barrett went window shopping to prepare a list of ideas for my mom, he came back and wrote his list: LOST Season 5 with 40 dollars attached to the list to pay for whatever the amount would be over the limit. It was funny. Mom found it on sale and he got most of his money back. He was happy.

Once all of the gifts were exchanged, Barrett took out a note from the "Stow Away Elf" explaining that he stowed away and brought special gifts for all of us. It read:

Sorry I couldn't put these into your stockings. The Big Man never turned his back long enough for me to get to them. He thinks I'm back at the workshop. Shhhhh...don't tell. Wel, got to go. I just heard Blitsen's signal, the sleigh is leaving. Merry Christmas, Secret Santa's Stow Away Elf.

I love this picture of Barrett reaching into his stow away bag (aks Raley's shopping bag) he has such a genuine look of joy. He was so excited to be the elf and to see our surprise. The spirit of Christmas: he gets it; I think we all did this year.

Dad got Band of Brothers and Greg and dad watched it for days. Well done but I can't watch war movies. It hurts.

Beans is always in the middle of the action. She got presents from Grandma and the Elf.