Our first white Christmas

...partly because we are never home on Christmas Day.
(Please note that since Jared is out numbered 3 to 1, all of his presents were wrapped in bright pink Hannah Montana and baby blue Disney Princess wrapping paper. Poor guy. He needs a son.)

We finally got one! It might have been January 4th, but it was still a White Christmas for us! Since we weren't sure how long we were going to be in the Valley with Marlene, we decided to leave all of our presents at home and just celebrate when we returned. I am so glad we did it that way! My girls deserved it! They were such troopers over the 3 weeks we were there that they deserved a reward. I have to admit that it wasn't easy trying to tell Addie that Santa would be coming once more (he always stops at Grandma Hatch's house, too) since she was so good while we were away. I had a really hard time putting all of the presents under the tree and trying to tell myself that it would be fun to do it all over again. But when Addie came in my room to wake me up and let me know that Santa came and put a bunch of presents under the tree, it was totally worth it. She got some new hair clips in her stocking and when she opened them she screamed "ahhhh! clips!" And it was like that with every present. Even Kimber got excited. She loved her new jammies and had to try them on right away.

This picture makes me laugh. She got a set of twins and was so excited! But if you know Kimber at all, you know she isn't very gentle. Here she is beating them with Addie's rolling pin from the cooking set she got.

Here are our stockings. Marlene made them and kept them at her house, but requested that we take them home after this Christmas. Each year she fills them for every person in the family (that does not including the presents she buys for each person that won't fit inside). She made around 30 of these! They are done completely by hand and each one takes between 80-100 hours to complete. In 2002 she had four to complete. That was huge year for her, 2 new grandkids, 2 new daughters in law, a new high school to move into (she was the registar at Queen Creek High School for 12 years) and so much more. I don't know how she did it!

Each son or daughter in law got to pick their own and then each mom picks one out for their new baby. Now it's all up to us girls to keep the tradition going.

Addie's was done while Marlene was undergoing Chemo. Many times she would take it with her and work on it while the Chemo was being administered.

Kimber's was done while Marlene was undergoing Chemo as well. One of the side effects that came with that round was neuropathy, meaning she had no feeling in her fingertips.

Take a closer look at the detail. Every single peice is cut out of felt and sewn on. It is truly a labor of love!