Christmas Day {with the Knowltons}

Christmas Day was pretty early at our house - I woke up at 3 AM and decided to try to go back to sleep before I woke Jake up for presents and then woke up at 6 and made Jake get up too! I love Christmas so much and I was so excited to open presents!!

After Santa had come

Max seeing what Santa brought him

Pedi Paws {for trimming his nails}, treats, some new toy balls and a new blanket!

Max got us a vacuum!!

Jake got a cordless drill

Jake got me the most gorgeous earrings EVER all by himself that match a necklace he gave me for Christmas in 2009

Jake got a salt and pepper shaker that is shaped like an hourglass

Jake got a floor jack as well for the Mazda and I got a magnified mirror for the bathroom counter and a new vanity bench for the bathroom. Yay for awesome Christmas presents! After we had cleaned up the wrapping paper mess, we made breakfast! We had belgian waffles with strawberries & whipped cream and hickory smoked thick cut bacon. Jake was SO excited for the bacon all week - he kept asking if we could open it early but I stood my ground and made us wait until Christmas. It was so worth the wait!!

So excited for bacon!

Jake was so excited to eat our yummy breakfast :)

After we were done eating, we piled all the dishes on the kitchen counter and laid back down for a little while to take a nap. We woke up and hurried to get ready so that we could go to Sacrament Meeting with my family. Their ward started at 11 AM and ours was at 9 AM, so we got 2 extra hours of sleep by going with them. There was a wonderful Christmas program where the congregation sang most of the Christmas songs in the Hymn book and then Leslie Jones gave a wonderful talk about the excitement of babies and how the shepherds and wisemen must have felt to see baby Jesus. Leslie was one of my young women leaders and I just adore her so it was AWESOME that she was speaking when we were there!

Afterwards, we went home and changed our clothes and I hurried to make the funeral potatoes that we were taking to my parents house. I got the recipe here and it turned out SO good! I stacked all the dishes on top of the ones from breakfast and we ran to go to Jake's parents house to talk to Clint. It was so good to talk to him! He has sent us emails weekly and included some funny stories about "horror" mission experiences, but while we were on the phone he told us a few of them and they were SO much funnier because of his sound effects. He has been out for almost a year! I can't believe it! I feel like it's going by pretty quick but Mom McClellan sure doesn't think so!

Then we went back to my parents house to have lunch and open presents! We had some of my mom's famous Night Before Christmas casserole but this year she put hashbrowns in it instead of bread pieces - SO yummy!! Then after we were finished eating, we opened presents! Here are some highlights of gift opening!

Mom opening her family blocks I made

Close up of the blocks

Roo gave Popper a cute scrapbook and Popper gave her a huge hug after she opened it - so cute :)

Buzz got Max a stuffed cow & reindeer - the cow's life ended yesterday when his stuffing came out EVERYWHERE in our living room

Jake taking pictures of me opening my garments!!

Popper got Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in paperback! She is WAY into Harry Potter right now!

Jeannene's UVU hoodie!

Poppa's T Shirt we got him - Grandpa Established 1988

Rick modeling his new temple shoes {he had slippers before and wasn't a fan}

We gave my mom the family block letters {pictured} and BYU stuff for her office - a paperweight, a beanie baby of Cosmo, and a "Y" I crafted from Wood Connection. We also went in on a book from Shutterfly with Jeannene & Popper of family pictures - my mom really liked that. We made Rick a matching "U" for his office. We got the Mummy & 17 Miracles on Blu Ray, a Pampered Chef stoneware for making the Night Before Christmas casserole in, a super cute pink moc croc wallet, a Utah Temple Passport so that I can track each temple in Utah I go to {since it is a goal of mine to visit every temple in Utah}, a beautifully illustrated copy of The Night Before Christmas, and 2 pictures from Deseret Book:

A Picture of the First Presidency with a vinyl I made at Tessa's that says "Follow the Prophet"

And a picture of Christ by Greg Olsen called "Lost and Found" 

After we were done with presents, we had our Christmas feast of glazed ham, funeral potatoes & green bean casserole. I know there was other stuff there, I just don't remember what haha. The ham was amazing as always - my mom makes the BEST ham. Then we had pumpkin & apple pie - oh so yummy. Shortly after we finished eating, Jake and I left to go home and get some sleep. Santa was going to come Christmas Day night at the McClellan house since Kenzie & Emrie had just flown into town from Arizona so we needed to get some sleep for that! It was an awesome Christmas - aren't they always?