Christmas Has Come and Gone

Brooklyn's Stuff from Santa

Brooklyn Playing with her Stuff from Santa

Carson's Stuff from Santa

Carson Opening Presents

Carson's B-Ball Hoop


Christmas Morning

I seriously love Christmas! Ever since I was a little kid I remember always feeling gloomy after Christmas was over. My parents always tried to make Christmas memorable for us, and I have so many great memories of Christmas as a kid, it's honestly hard to look back on them and not fee a little sad that they've all come and gone... But making memories is what life is about right? Well, hopefully we've helped start a tradition of happy memories for our kids!

Santa sure came through this year for Brooklyn and Carson. Brooklyn did get what she asked for! She got her "My Little Pony Sweet Sundae Amusement Park with 1 Ferris Wheel", and in addition to that she got a Pixie Hollow Playset with Tinkerbell and all of her friends. She was so excited! Carson got a basketball hoop, a ball popper (that he's completely scared of) and a truck. It was hilarious to watch Brooklyn come into the living room to see what Santa brought. She saw her stuff, but instead went right to Carson's basketball hoop and started playing with it. She had Britney and I in stitches all morning! Carson's also doing a lot better with sitting up because almost all of his toys are geared towards motivating him to sit up, so he's finally MOTIVATED to try!

We all got some nice gifts, but most of all just had fun seeing each other's reactions and enjoying one another on Christmas Morning.

We spent Christmas eve with Brit's family, they're always a blast to hang out with. My parents and Amy came over in the afternoon on Christmas day, and we spent most of the day with them. It was honestly a lot of fun and just a good way to spend a day. (We missed you Alisha and Jesse...). All in all we had a wonderful Christmas. It was honestly one of my favorites ever!

I always hate to see this time of year pass because the holidays really give me a lot to look forward too! I am excited though to see where 2009 will bring us! 2008 was a big year for our family (Carson's birth being the biggest event!) and we're excited to see 2009 unfold.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and we wish all of you a very happy New Year!

Santa Claus is Coming to Town...

Ahhhh, the joys of childhood. Britney discovered the other day that if you give a self addressed stamped envelop to UPS along with a letter for Santa, they will deliver the letter to Santa and use the self addressed stamped envelop to help Santa send his response. (Obviously Santa's been hit hard by the recession too since he can't buy his own stamps :) ). It was well worth the stamp though... Brooklyn has to my knowledge never been so excited about something in her life! Brit helped her write the letter, took her to UPS and helped her drop it off for Santa. 2 days later Santa's response came, and wow Brooklyn was EXCITED...

In case you can't read it on the picture the letter says:

Dear Brooklyn,

I am very happy that you wrote to me. I can't believe you are already three years old! You are getting so big! I will see what I can do about a My Little Pony Sweet Sundae Amusement Park, a baby basketball hoop and a truck for your baby brother Carson. You are such a great big sister. Have a Merry Christmas and remember to be nice to your friends and family.

--Santa

After she got the letter she sat in the living room for hours "reading" it to herself and looking at it, in total awe that Santa wrote to her. She'd be silent for quite a while, and then out of no where you'd hear her say "I got a letter, from Santa, yah!". Talk about enthusiasm! I think she's going to jump out of her skin on Christmas morning if Santa keeps his promises...

Carson is getting ready for his 1st Christmas ever. Each day he becomes more and more animated and has more and more personality. He's so full of adventure and is rolling all over the place. (Now if we could just get him to sit up we'd be happy... but he doesn't seem to feel that he needs to sit up to get to where he's wanting to go, so the motivation just isn't there yet.) He sure is cute though. It's pretty hard to be a cute baby when your dad looks like this:

The true measure of a person though is how they overcome hardships, and so far Carson's been amazing. Unfortunately though, I was a pretty cute baby too (or so my mom says) and now look at me? Yeah, sorry Dooder, it's all going to be downhill from here...

Luckily though for both kids, they have Britney. Not only is she beautiful, but she's also the most caring person I've met. Her entire goal in life is to make Carson and Brooklyn's lives amazing! So even though Brooklyn and Carson don't realize it yet, Santa already gave them more than they'll ever hope to get again by giving them Britney for a mommy!

I hope everyone out there has an AMAZING and SAFE Christmas and a fantastic New Year! From our family to yours, we send our sincere love!

The Week that Was Last Week...

No “Christ” in Christmas

I remember singing Christmas songs in elementary school, legitimate Christmas songs like “The First Noel” and “Away in a Manger” now everyone’s worried they’re going to offend by simply stating the word Christmas. I’ve always thought this was sad. If someone wishes me a Happy Hanukah I don’t get offended in the least, but apparently wishing someone a Merry Christmas is now an offensive act. I put together a monthly newsletter for our department last week and had a “Christmas Tree Factoid” in it. The Factoid focused solely on facts about Christmas Trees, like how many are used each year, how many lights are purchased annually for Christmas Trees, etc, nothing religious. I was then asked to remove it because of the use of the word Christmas… I had to replace it with a Festivus Trivia instead. I personally was offended. I’m sure I blew it out of proportion but it honestly depressed me to remove it. I think it made a sad statement regarding society, apparently we now live in a society where even saying “Christmas” without religious intent is offensive. I love Christmas season, but saw the stark reality last week that we really have moved away from a true Christ mas.

Brooklyn, Where Did Sleeping Beauty’s Shoe Go?

It finally happened; Britney had to dig something out of Brooklyn’s nose. We’ve always prided ourselves on the fact that our children had never swallowed something they shouldn’t have or shoved something in a hole that something shouldn’t be shoved… (seriously, it’s something to be proud of), but alas, all good things have to come to an end. We’ve noticed Brooklyn has started to stick things up her nose, but we’ve always caught her early in the act, before she really “lodged” something in there. Well, last week we had our first all out DIG IT OUT moment! Britney was in the bathroom getting ready for the day when she heard Brooklyn start crying. She went to find out what was wrong and saw a look of despair on Brooklyn’s face as she apologized for putting Sleeping Beauty’s shoe UP HER NOSE… Fortunately, after a struggle Brooklyn was able to get it out by blowing really, really hard. The best part of it though was she got more upset from having the shoe taken away from her afterwards than she did with having it stuck up her nose… Kids seriously have their priorities messed up! Well, we still have a couple of streaks going… we’ve never had kids running around outside naked, we’ve never had poop smeared on a wall and we've never had a kid shoot their eye out with a Daisy Red Rider BB Gun… (I’m knocking on wood right now to hopefully avoid an article next week proclaiming that all of these things happened this week).

Christmas Memories

Festival of Trees 2008

On Friday we carried out our annual trip to the Festival of Trees in Sandy, UT and loved it. We've done this at least 3 years in a row now as a family and have really enjoyed the experience. This year was especially neat for Brooklyn because she got to tell Santa that she wants a "My Little Pony Sweet Sundae Amusement Park with 1 Ferris Wheel" for Christmas. It's a mouthful, but she managed to get out. Of course she did have to ask Santa for a candy cane first though before she said anything else to him. (Ahhhh, gotta love being a parent!). She really was super sweet with Santa though, and it was fun to see her finally get to tell Santa what she wants for Christmas. She's been a pretty good girl this year, so I think the chances are good that she'll get it. :)

If you've never been to the Festival of Trees I'd highly recommend going. It's not too bad cost wise (we got the entire fam in for under $10) and the proceeds go towards Primary Children's Hospital. So the money they earn is definitely going to good use. Besides the beauty of the trees, there's a special spirit involved as well, knowing that each tree represents a loved one who has passed away. It's amazing some of the different types of trees people create to honor those who have moved on to their next life. There's a sincere dedication expressed in each tree, I always find it simply amazing.

Our family's doing well. We're gearing up for Christmas and are excited for the weeks ahead! We wish you and yours the happiest of holiday seasons!

--The Quarnbergs