Super Angie...If you want to play with Jesus, you need to eat your "num num "first.

Our Christmas eve was interesting.
First, as par German tradition, we celebrate Christmas on the 24th, so we had our Kase Spetzle, but, well, I totally over cooked it and it burnt. Usually its yummy burnt, but I cooked it WAY TOO LONG. So thats how we started the evening....burnt dinner. (On an up note though, Rick was able to finally get our table to open, so we could put in our leaf, so now our table is Oval instead of round and its so much nicer and bigger. Brennan actually noticed it was oval. I'm proud of him for knowing his shapes so well".

Dinner was a bit irreverent with people farting and burping while discussing Christ's birth. I brought out a small nativity for Tan too look at as she ate, but instead of looking at, she wanted to play with it. So Rick told her, "If you want to play with Jesus, you need to eat your num num first". So, there you have it. If you want to play with Jesus, you know what you have to do!

I tried again in vain to bring the spirit of Christmas into our Christmas eve by reading a children's book about Christ's birth, but Brennan only had one thing on his mind--"When do I get to open a gift?". Every minute or so he would ask and it seriously drove me NUTS! Dallin ended up reading the book to all of us and it was really nice. He is turning out to be such a great reader!

Then it was time to open gifts. Again, since we celebrate it the German way, we opened all the gifts, except for the ones my mom had mailed. My brother and sister in law Laura picked just the right gifts for everyone. Rick got a book off his wish list (I gave him some books too), Dallin got a DS game with monster trucks and ATVs, Brennan got Lincoln Logs, I got a really darling sign to hang in my kitchen that says, " STRENGTH. The capacity to break a chocolate bar into four pieces with your bare hands...and then eat just one of the pieces." LOL Of course, Jeff and Laura know me and know my fondness for Seattle chocolates, so they sent me some bars as well as FRANGOS. We have some great memories of frangos and they pretty much hook me up each year. THANKS YOU GUYS!!!

The cutest gift was the bag of fake food they gave Tan. She ate bananas, pickles, chips and had us all licking ice cream cones. She just played and played all evening. It was great!

Dallin got a lot of gifts tonight that I bought him in China--some things he had forgotten about and was excited to see again. Brennan was thrilled with his Buffelo Bill book and Tan liked her many coloring books and My Little Pony books.

Dallin and Brennan also both got some BEN 10 stuff, which of course was a hit.

Rick surprised me with a LAMB watch by Gwen Steffani. Thanks so much sweetheart. Also, since I have committed to climbing Mt. Rainier this summer, he bought me my summit coat and I'm syked...its red!!! So dang cool.. Thanks so much honey. The kids got me a fun day by day calender that looks like it will be fun for the whole family.

We ended our evening by talking to Jeff and Laura who were enjoying the evening with my parents. It was fun to catch up and I miss them all so much. MERRY CHRISTMAS YOU GUYS!!!

Now, Rick is getting syked and ready. On Friday we are going ice climbing with Micheal and Nate. YEA! Its our first outing of the season and I'm so excited. So we are watching an ice climbing DVD and I'm so excited. :)

--super angie