Continuation of Christmas Festivities!

Thursday I took Ben to his very first movie in a theater. We went and saw Arthur Christmas, which was very cute. He was amazed with the big screen and the food and all the different theater rooms... and he enjoyed the movie. He had to get up a lot because he was too little for his seat, but I expected that. He is 3 after all. That night we hung out with the Kranendonks. We went out to eat (very cautiously since there were bad storms and tornado watches in affect... 3 days before Christmas for Pete's sake!) and then they came over to our house. The kids decorated some sugar cookies and we watched Elf as well. At the place where we ate, just as we were leaving Ben asked me quietly "Mommy, can I hold Aubrey's hand?" (eek! So cute!) and I said "well, you need to ask Aubrey!" So he did, and she said "SURE!" So they held hands. I didn't get a picture, but it was sure adorable. Especially since she's a bit taller than he is! Those two have a lot of fun together and they are great buddies, they play so well together.
We spent Christmas Eve-Eve with our friends which was lovely. Actually we went to lunch with Delinda and Jen that afternoon and hung out with them for a little while. Then the Elton's, Ashley (no Jacob or Savannah because Savannah was sick) and Martha came, Taylor wasn't feeling too good, came over. We ate pizza and talked and then showed them our now annual Friend Yearbook DVD that Ryan and I started last year. Since we are the picture junkies of the friends, we like to make a chronological photo DVD put to music of all our fun adventures with our friends. They look forward to it too. It's kind of the equivalent of a slide show we make them watch, which is so 70's of us, but we all enjoy it. It's fun to see how the kids have changed! We exchanged presents and hung out which I always love. Christmas Eve I started cooking about 11am after washing some dishes and getting prepared for the day. Delinda came over around 2 and she helped me finish up our traditional Collier Family Christmas meal. We usually eat this meal Christmas day, but since DJ could only spend Eve with us and we were going to Ryan's parents we decided to do it then. So we made Roast Beef, Roast Potatoes, Yorkshire Pudding, Cream Corn, Mac & Cheese, and I also had made a cheesecake earlier in the day. It was mine and Delinda's first time really making the roast and pudding, and I'd say it turned out pretty good. I've made roast in the crock pot, but we make this one in the oven. It was a little chewy but the flavor was good. I was pretty proud of us! Then afterwards we went to Jen's parents house for dessert and headed home and called Grandma and Grandpa in St George on iChat to do our Christmas Eve "cuddle". This entails everyone sitting by the light of the Christmas tree on the couch ALLLLLL squished together under a blanket and we read "The Christmas Whale" which is a story of Santa's reindeer all getting sick and not being able to deliver the Christmas presents on Christmas Eve, so the animals recruit the friendly whale to help. She takes Santa all around the world and they deliver the presents. We grew up reading that story and it was always our favorite when dad read from the book "it's a catastrophe!" in the words of Santa! Then after we read the Christ Child, which I don't have so we read a preschool version of the birth of Christ for Ben. I am so grateful for technology like that that we were able to "cuddle" with my parents even from so far away! It was great to have Delinda to cuddle with too and it was fun to giggle and everything like we used to when we were kids. Mom and I even took turns reading. After we said goodnight to my parents, we exchanged gifts with DJ and then put Ben to bed so he could prepare for his big Christmas day. DJ stuck around for a bit, and then left and Ryan and I got ready for "Santa to come". 
I actually woke up first Christmas Day (I realize this will not always be the case) but got Ryan up so we could get up before Ben so he wouldn't go in to the family room with out us videoing his reaction. We got him up and let him know we had a visitor and showed him the cookies and milk on the table and then his stocking! He opened his stocking and then we had him go in to the living room where we spent the majority of the rest of the morning opening gifts! I got a waffle maker for Christmas, so I made waffles for breakfast and we had eggs and bacon too. We got ready and went to our [noisy] Sacrament meeting. We were in the back, so it was a little... uh... "busy" back there. But the music was pretty and the Spirit was still there. After church we went to Nana and Poppy's house and waited for Ryan's sisters family to get there. We ate and then opened presents. Ben even got his very own (first) remote control car! It's Mater and it's super cute. The kids had fun opening and playing with their gifts and us adults got spoiled too!
When we got home we chatted with my parents again, only this time my brother John and his family were all there. His son JC is leaving for his mission and so we got to give him virtual hugs and wish him lots of luck! What an amazing young guy... I almost said "young man" and had to catch myself from sounding like an old fart. HA! I have to admit, after we got done chatting... I cried. I miss my family combined with pregnancy hormones. It's been a long time since I've spent a Christmas with them and seeing them once a year is kind of hard. I mean, we are where we're supposed to be and I'm SO grateful for our friends and family we have here. I just miss my little chaotic Collier family sometimes! Ben came to me while I was crying and asked what was wrong, I told him I missed my family to which he replied while hugging me "It's okay mommy. Can you stop crying now?" He doesn't like to see either of us sad. He's a sensitive little dude. It was a wonderful Christmas, BUSY, but good! Ben had so much fun and he scored! He kept saying "Mommy! Santa is so cool!"

Monday, we went to see The Muppets with Ashley and Martha and it too was cute. After that we hung out at Ashley's for a bit then went to IKEA. That place wears me out. After we ate there we came home and thus ended our Christmas vacation. I had a total of 10 days off including the weekends, and it was busy, but so nice. I missed my little squirt today. Hugging him when I picked him up was awesome and so sweet.
That's Christmas 2011 summed up, so Happy New Year! (I could only upload one photo, so I'll have to do the rest another time... stupid blogger)