Two Christmases...

We always make it down to Alabama for Christmas. We love it! It is our annual tradition of getting out of the cold and into the warmth! And we also love being with Ben's family for a few days of chaos and fun! This year, we weren't so lucky! It just didn't work out...so Ben's parents offered to come up to Spokane--and that they did! This also meant that we had two Christmases in Spokane this year. (which I, of course, won't complain about-- because who wouldn't love more than one Christmas!!!) :) Anyway...

The Campbell Christmas consisted of delicious food prepared by the master chef: my father; the traditional opening of the PJ's on Christmas eve (which I am learning through the blogging world seems to be a tradition in many homes); Lots of Christmas movies; A BIG YUMMY breakfast on Christmas morn and lots and lots of yummy treats in between! What can I say, our family is a BIG on food! This year we also threw in a Festival of Lights cruise on Lake Coeur d'Alene and a dinner out. It was more like a whole weekend long celebration. (We celebrated Christmas with my family on Monday the 22nd, but everyone pretty much got here either on Friday or Saturday) And we were so excited to have the 1st annual Campbell Family gingerbread house making contest, but we TOTALLY forgot about it and it never happened. Hopefully next year guys, right??!! We even spent the night up at my parents house on 'Christmas Eve' with the rest of my family just to all be able to wake up together and see what Santa brought us! It was so much fun having us all home at once and just hanging out and not having to worry about anything or anyone else for a few days.

Weekend festivities included:

Having puppy chow, caramel corn and fudge for breakfast.

(Not for Ben--dang his diet!!!)

Playing with present wrapping supplies...

Watching Christmas movies at grandmas house. The favorite this year was 'the train movie'...aka...Polar Express...

And watching more Christmas movies at our house...

Christmas eve and our matching pajamas...

This year we even had a Christmas Eve wrestling match...

My dad bought a train this year and the boys loved it! They wouldn't even let him set the whole thing up at first they were so excited just so see it go. Finally later in the afternoon, the whole track was set up! They spent a lot of time Christmas morning watching this thing...

And finally to the present opening...

I think its funny how the cheapest, littlest toys from the dollar store or Wal-mart can be the most entertaining for them. Next year I don't think we'll get him more than three toys. He just wants to play with them immediately after opening them and loses interest in opening presents after just a few.

They did get some pretty cool gifts though, like the McQueen, Mater and Mack all that go on their own from grandma and these cool fishing poles from grandpa! Those were the two big hits of the day.

You will notice all the presents still wrapped. We had to enlist the help of Aunt Kayla and Uncle Nathan to help them finish. They had gotten too distracted by all their new toys.

Ben even enjoyed other peoples gifts. Here he is modeling my moms new coat. A perfect fit!

Later that evening, we went to Coeur d'Alene for the light cruise. The cruise in one word would be: LAME! It was $15 a person and I was expecting some really cool lights. It also boasted that a Santa visit would happen. Not so. The boat floated near where Santa was standing and we idled there for about 15 minutes...and that was it!

Grandma and Tucker trying to see if they can see any lights...

getting bundled up to go outside to see Santa.

Keyton was excited to see Santa! :)

Being outside while we saw Santa was freezing!!!

Allen had to snuggle with Ben to keep warm! :)

And there he is folks... Santa himself.

And here are ALL the lights on this wonderful holiday light cruise! All three of them! :)

We got back inside the boat for the ride back to the resort and we noticed that my mom had put her boots on the wrong feet! It was no surprise to any of us! :)

And here's the whole gang!

just hanging out with Papa inside the boat!

Luckily we went out to eat afterwards, so the trip to Coeur d'Alene wasn't a total bust! :) Tucker had to try on grandmas glasses...

We had a wonderful time with the family and feel like we really got spoiled this year! Thanks for everything Santa!

The only weird thing about having Christmas on a day other than Christmas day is when the next day rolled around, it was weird that to the rest of the world Christmas hadn't happened yet. And then on the real Christmas day when everyone else is at home with their families doing what you had done a few days earlier, it feels weird not to be doing it! :)

Ben was actually traveling to Seattle on Christmas day to pick up his parents from the airport. So Tucker and I spent the morning at my parents house just hanging out with them and then spent the afternoon cleaning the house and getting ready for our visitors. We had our Christmas with Ben's parents on the 26th. And we had it at our house and it was just the 5 of us and it was a wonderful day! Tucker got to open his presents from Santa and Ben and I opened our gifts from each other. It was another day of great food and lounging around. Ben prepared us a wonderful Ham dinner that night and I think we were all still in our pajamas as we ate it! Some of the things we enjoyed while they were here were: eating, shopping, cooking, more eating, movies and more eating! We had a wonderfully relaxing time while they were here! And are grateful that they made the trek up!

I love the feeling and look of a house after Christmas morning. Toys and messes everywhere. Wearing pj's all day. Munching on food all day. Listening to Christmas music.

Tucker trying on grandma's glasses, I think I'm seeing a trend here...

Getting some good snuggling in with grandma and eating grapes together (the one and only healthy thing that was eaten all week)...

One time while talking with Ben's mom, Tucker grabbed a Kleenex out of the box and then asked her to lift him up to our nativity on the mantle. He then put the Kleenex on baby Jesus and when my mother-in-law asked him why he did it, he told her that baby Jesus needed a blanket. Who knew?

Kayla and Jason got Tucker this cute cute vest for Christmas, that I--I mean-- HE Loves!!! :) We had to bundle up a lot this week!

Bens mom loved the snow! She hasn't seen a lot of it in her lifetime, so she can appreciate it! I told her she wouldn't love it so much if she had to live in it every winter! :) I happened to mention one day that I needed to go shovel off the trampline and before I could even stop her, she was dressed and on the trampoline with a shovel and she was in heaven! I mean just look at that smile on her face! She couldn't belive all of the snow we had. The one thing that she wanted to do while here was go sledding, and we didn't even do it! I felt really bad. At least she got to shovel off a trampoline! :) Thanks grandma!

At first Tucker was a little confused at the idea of having two grandma's and two grandpa's. By the end of the week, I think that he finally started to realize that two sets of them means twice the love and attention and he was loving it! :) Now he says, 'I love my 'nother grandma and grandpa (Bens parents) AND my papa and paola. (my mom and dad)'

I love this time of year and how it brings us together with family that we hardly ever see. I love how it just seems to melt away any bitterness or frustrations I may have with something or someone and makes me remember and realize the truly important things. Like family...and faith...and friends...and service...and LOVE! As I look to the things I want to accomplish in 2009 these things seem to have a vital role in what I want MORE of in my life. I'm hoping to fill my life more with love, faith, humility and service, and LESS of selfishness, self-pity, doubt, and annoyance. More of letting go of little things, and less of feeling inadequate for what I may not have. Less wasting my time doing unimportant things. (blogging doesn't count as an unimportant thing) :) And more of realizing WHAT and HOW to truly enjoy and embrace what I DO HAVE!

And even if you only had one Christmas this year, I hope it was as wonderful as mine were! More to come on Bens birthday celebration and our grand adventure in Seattle over new years! :)