December 24th

Christmas Eve!

Not feeling to dandy.
Got a bit of a cold.
But got the turkey in the oven.
Considered going back to bed,
 but decided I had other things that needed to be done.

Gillams coming over for lunch.

I cooked the turkey, made mashed potatoes, corn and rolls.  Sam did everything else.

The food was awesome, just as it was for Thanksgiving.
In fact, Kevin declared it better than Thanksgiving.

Here are several photos!  It's just so hard to pick only a few.

Kevin carves the ham

Mike carves the turkey

Michael and Isaac

*(l-r)  Ellie, Coco, Madison, Zion with their ginger-men

and sugar cookies of course

Here is the link to Sam's blog with more photos..











Before church,
Zion put out treats for Santa and the Magic Key, just in case Santa came while we were at church.
(He did that one time in San Diego while we were at Christmas Eve service).

The Magic Key from Tia Maria a few years ago.



Zion put a post-it note on this candy cane for Santa over a month ago-so no one would eat it before Christmas.

















Isaac and Zion, Maddy and Ellie were in the church Christmas Eve program called a GREAT LIGHT.

Isaac had a reading from Isaiah

the kids heard the Christmas story first person from "Grandma Mary"

After church, we opened all the gifts from each other and those from the grandmas in the states.

Zion loves Cam Newton, thanks Mamo Duke!

we are seeing a theme here.....and we like it! 

War Eagle!!!

Michael is not much for my constant photo taking



THANK YOU GILLAMS!  I know that my coffee will taste better in this cup! 



We played a little bit of Wii Sing-it.  A game that the boys and MIke picked out for me

 (*well, three of us did)  It's going to be a fun family activity!!

You can see Isaac singing SOLO here!

December 23rd

Mike had Thursday and Friday off this week.  So the CEC guys had planned a family game of Ultimate Frisbee.  I had cookies to bake for church, so I stayed home.  The game started at 730am, so the grouch factor here was high in the morning.   But by the time everyone got home, they were happy and had a good time.  Also, I had about 50 gingerbread ready for eyes and mouths.  Zion and Mike helped, while I continued on to the sugar cookies.  I literally baked all day.  

We had swimming in the evening followed by rehearsal at church for the Christmas Eve service.  Maddy, Ellie and Zion were all in the choir, and Isaac had a speaking part.  So we decided to ride together to swimming and then the church.  I always enjoy my time with Sam, even if it's just doing "mommy stuff". 

After practice, the boys got to pick one gift and open it. They were excited about it, and it just helps Christmas feel closer!!  I wish somehow there was a way to make every day feel like Christmas!

Monday, December 20th

The first day of Christmas break was not accepted well by the Thornton boys. I scheduled a doctor's appointment at 8am for check-ups and medication refills.  It seemed like a good idea to just do it and get it over with to me.  They were not impressed!   Bummer is.....I couldn't get all three of them an appointment, so we have to go back tomorrow.

Later in the morning though, Sam and the girls came over, so play time and scrapbook time caused things to look up.  I didn't take any pictures.....and I can't remember if Sam did or not.  But either way, it was a good day.

December 19th

Sunday

After church and some afternoon downtime, we had the Gillams over for dinner.   On the 23rd, the Gillams will be having a Japanese exchange swimmer in their home named Coco.  I wanted to have them over before Coco arrived so the kids could exchange gifts.  We had a great evening.  Here are a few photos.

yes, I have salt and pepper shakers in my hand!

December 18th

One week until Christmas.........time for baking.

In the middle of my morning, my brother Derrick called me.

My family was out Christmas caroling.

6500 miles away.......  so sweet and thoughtful and music (and memories) to my ears.


Later in the afternoon, we made the trek up to Andersen Air Force Base.
They have this tradition there called, "Rota Walk".
I'm not sure how it got started...........but I would guess that a few competitive military types got into a secret competition about who had the most Christmas decorations.

It's ALL OUT!
The street is closed off for this one night.
And almost every house was giving away something.
The kids got lots of cookies and candy canes.
But there was also:

Popcorn
Snowcones
Glowsticks
Ice Pops
and more........

I also heard that it is SUCH a big deal, that you have to agree to decorate if you accept a house on that street.  (not sure that's legal, but it works for me.........I love Christmas)

Here are a few photos.

This plane "flew" across the street and dropped candy

Firefighters yard

uh....a pilot I'll bet.  :)

This was the snowcone house

playing with the glowsticks and the shutter speed

Santa stuck in the tree

Yep.........snow blowers!

Zion with "snow" in his hair

December 17th

Friday!~

The last day of school for 2010.

Up and out the door for the boys with sugar cookies in hand for their classes.

I headed for Sam's house.

She had the morning off and we hit the Exchange to print some photos for ALL the scrapbooking we keep telling ourselves we will be doing next week while she is off from work.  I hope we are not completely disheartened in our expectations vs. our outcome. 

We grabbed a quick lunch together and she headed to work and I headed to Zion's Christmas party.

Here are a few photos:

After school, we went to the pool and met the Lynch boys and the Seuss boys for some playtime.  
Three families, seven boys ages 7-13 = FUN TIMES!

Can I say how refreshing it is to have kids that can swim? 

And I can sit on the side of the pool in a chair and chat with my friends?

It was so nice that I forgot to take photos. 

We grabbed a few groceries and headed home for a lazy Friday night.

The boys had cereal for dinner.  (*I said it was lazy)

Next Friday is Christmas Eve!