This gift is Max's "year supply" of snacks and treats! Tutu always brings a little bag of treats for Max on Sunday...the box behind him should last until he's 5!
And the super huge present was this super huge horse! They said they were getting him a stuffed animal...:)
After they left we started to get dinner ready. Our next-door neighbors, the Lintons, came over since they were staying home as well. And our friend, Charla, came with her little boy. Her husband is out to sea right now and she doesn't have any family around here. It was so nice to have all of them here! We had steak and potatoes and salad and asparagus and sparkling cider...maybe not your "traditional" meal, but it should be the tradition if you ask me. Everything turned out SO good! Our meal ended with some amazing caroling! One of my young women and her family came and they each played an instrument and did three songs for us. I was so impressed with their little setup and red tablecloth...it was great! They are the cutest girls!
Afterward we had the three little people do the nativity scene which was pretty funny and cute. Mary just wouldn't keep her costume on, but she did a great job riding the "donkey" (the huge horse from Tutu and Grandpa Ted) at just the right time. Max loves babies and Charla's little boy is 6 months old. He was our Baby Jesus and Max (aka Joseph) kept hugging him, which I thought was quite appropriate. :)
After they left we started to get dinner ready. Our next-door neighbors, the Lintons, came over since they were staying home as well. And our friend, Charla, came with her little boy. Her husband is out to sea right now and she doesn't have any family around here. It was so nice to have all of them here! We had steak and potatoes and salad and asparagus and sparkling cider...maybe not your "traditional" meal, but it should be the tradition if you ask me. Everything turned out SO good! Our meal ended with some amazing caroling! One of my young women and her family came and they each played an instrument and did three songs for us. I was so impressed with their little setup and red tablecloth...it was great! They are the cutest girls!Afterward we had the three little people do the nativity scene which was pretty funny and cute. Mary just wouldn't keep her costume on, but she did a great job riding the "donkey" (the huge horse from Tutu and Grandpa Ted) at just the right time. Max loves babies and Charla's little boy is 6 months old. He was our Baby Jesus and Max (aka Joseph) kept hugging him, which I thought was quite appropriate. :)Here's Max doing his darnedest to reach over and hug the babe
They left around 7:30 and then the doorbell rang. Max and I ran to the door and found that Mrs. Clause and her elves had left us presents! It was very exciting. We brought them in and opened them to find new pajamas for each of us. It was then time for a bath and bed for the Maxster.
They left around 7:30 and then the doorbell rang. Max and I ran to the door and found that Mrs. Clause and her elves had left us presents! It was very exciting. We brought them in and opened them to find new pajamas for each of us. It was then time for a bath and bed for the Maxster.
Ty had given me the movie "The Nativity Story" for Christmas a little early (a definite favorite - if you haven't seen it, you should!) so we stayed up late and watched it. 
I love Christmas Eve because the day and the festivities are just more Christ-centered. And now that I have a babe of my own - and one on the way - I become really emotional as I think about the whole experience of Christ coming into the world and how Mary and Joseph must have felt. I love to think of their parenting of Him. I love to think of His birth and life and all that He came to accomplish. Truly the greatest man to ever live. I am thankful that He was born and that He fulfilled the mission He came to accomplish. I know that His earthly parents played no small role in that. My heart is so filled with gratitude...The next morning we woke up before Max and took showers and then couldn't wait any longer so we went in and woke Max up. He is so cute! We came into our room and Tyler brought the stockings up. We each went through our stockings (hooray that my stockings held everything and didn't fall apart!) and had fun playing with a few things.
Then it was downstairs for the presents! We wrapped a lot but left out the big things for Max to see as soon as he came in the room. I videotaped it and it was so cute to see his expression. He just stared for a minute at everything and then said, "Guitar!" and hurried to get out of Tyler's arms. The big hits have been the guitar that looks like dad's guitar, the basketball hoop that's short enough for him to "shoop" a basket, and the wagon full of big legos that he's super good at building a "tower" with. At first he stood and kind of turned in circles, looking at everything and laughing, not knowing what to play with first. He kept the basketball under his arm most of the time he was opening his presents from under the tree. It sure makes unwrapping harder when you're only using one hand! :)
Such a fun morning! We got mostly through the presents under the tree before I couldn't go on anymore without eating breakfast. So we took a break and had German pancakes and sausage and orange juice. The rest of the morning/day was so relaxing and laid back. We got Max dressed, but Tyler and I never got out of our PJs!
Then it was downstairs for the presents! We wrapped a lot but left out the big things for Max to see as soon as he came in the room. I videotaped it and it was so cute to see his expression. He just stared for a minute at everything and then said, "Guitar!" and hurried to get out of Tyler's arms. The big hits have been the guitar that looks like dad's guitar, the basketball hoop that's short enough for him to "shoop" a basket, and the wagon full of big legos that he's super good at building a "tower" with. At first he stood and kind of turned in circles, looking at everything and laughing, not knowing what to play with first. He kept the basketball under his arm most of the time he was opening his presents from under the tree. It sure makes unwrapping harder when you're only using one hand! :)Such a fun morning! We got mostly through the presents under the tree before I couldn't go on anymore without eating breakfast. So we took a break and had German pancakes and sausage and orange juice. The rest of the morning/day was so relaxing and laid back. We got Max dressed, but Tyler and I never got out of our PJs! About 10 a.m. we had our little Christmas miracle and it started to snow! I think Heavenly Father really loves me since the only days we've gotten snow this year was the day that we decorated our tree and home and then on Christmas Day. :) Both days when you WANT it to snow! It was beautiful. That evening after Max got up from his nap we bundled up and went out to build a snowman. It was dark, but I was determined. It took basically all of the snow in our yard to accomplish this task and Max didn't really want to touch it, but we succeeded. It was really wet snow and hard to work with and as we were putting on his eyes, he fell over but I made Ty keep going and we did our best to recuperate from the tragic fall. He turned out pretty deformed, but cute. Our first family snowman!
I had a little bit of time in the afternoon where I felt sad that we weren't with family...but we got to talk to everyone for quite a long time and see them on the videophone and web cam. It was really so fun, though, to have our first Christmas together - just us! And as Max and our future kids get older, Christmas will just be more and more exciting. I LOVED watching Max be excited about the things that we really knew/hoped he would love. I love giving gifts. I love Christmas. I love my little family and our extended families! Merry Christmas to all, indeed. Now it's on to New Years...then Adam & Laura's wedding in Utah in 3 weeks, combined with a much-too-short trip to Vegas...then not long after that and Kelly will be born! So much to celebrate.
Our first year of marriage I felt like we still needed a Christmas tree even though we would be gone for the actual holiday...so we went to Wal-Mart and got ourselves an $18 fake Christmas tree and some bulbs and ribbon. Lovely. Last year we were actually gone the ENTIRE month of December so there were no decorations at all in our home. But THIS year we're sticking it out at home and so we've stepped it up on the home decor and I am LOVING it! Tyler thought for a minute that we would still be using that fake little tree we bought for our actual tree. He was, however, sorely mistaken. We were getting a real tree. He just had to be informed. :) 
So a few weeks ago we set out as it was starting to snow and bought ourselves a 6-foot Douglas Fir for $32. We do live in the Evergreen State where many of you folks have your trees imported from. Why would anyone go fake here?! I think that possibly next year - or the year after - when Max is older and will appreciate the experience more, we'll go to one of those places where you cut it down yourself.
When we left our house 45 minutes earlier, it was slightly snowing but nothing had stuck. We live up on this ridge, though, and there was tons of snow when we returned! We have this ridiculously steep driveway that we couldn't even get up. Tyler had to shuttle us up to the house.
What little boy - or little girl, for that matter - doesn't love to be without clothes? My little man is no exception. In the past month or so he has learned that he can remove his clothes all by himself! One morning while eating breakfast I left to do something in the kitchen and came back to see Max's PJ shirt on the floor and one happy dude who pointed to himself and said, "naked boy". He also will pull down his pants as far as he can without too much effort and run around with mostly his diapered/onesied bottom hanging out. Or take them off completely if the pants aren't too difficult to remove. And once he's just in a diaper, that has to come down too, of course! (see pictures above - I didn't realize what he'd done until he was walking away from me) The funniest was just last week (see pictures below)...I went in to get him after he woke up in the morning. He had been talking for a few minutes. As I opened the door, I see his PJ's on the floor. I looked up and Max was standing there laughing and pointing to his bare chest and proclaiming himself to be just what he was - a "naked boy". He was so thrilled with himself and I couldn't stop giggling. I love my little dude - fully clothed and otherwise! :)
Max and Cal had fun playing together....
and bathing together....
all of the cousins got along so well and Max loved each of them so much! Joy was especially sweet with him.
Oh, and on Tuesday we also got to meet our sister-in-law-to-be, Laura Knight, for the first time! Such a sweet, impressive, all-around great person whom we are so excited to have join the family! We can't wait for January 18th!!!
Wednesday was the first full day that everybody was there. Now, there were a total of 19 people staying the whole time under one roof. Good thing there are 3 1/2 bathrooms! It never seemed overly crowded, just so fun to all be together that much. We were all given an assignment that day to make a film with our family to be entered into the Foster Family Film Festival that would take place on Saturday night. Out of a "hat" we all drew our genre, two characters to be featured in the film, and a line that had to be used. It turned out super hilarious! I'll have to see about posting at least ours. We met Simon for the first time as well (2 months). Such a cute little dude! We also got to enjoy Wendi's amazing Butternut Squash Bisque. Oh man, you've never had soup like that! Later on we watched a video Jeff made of our pictures from the reunion this summer. Tyler also got to give our Christmas present to everyone - he has been transferring all of their old 8mm videos onto DVD and putting them to music. There are many left to do, but he got 6 done to show to everyone. They, of course, loved them!
Thursday started off with the First Foster Family Turkey Trot (thanks for the idea, Marleen!) It was like 24 degrees outside, but we bundled up - well, most of us did anyway - and hit the neighborhood. Notice the nicely accessorized Foster men. I love them! Some walked, some ran. Drew, the youngest Foster brother, is on the BYU track team, so Tyler and Jeff did a few laps seeing if they could at least keep up with him. It nearly killed them, but they did it. I ran for the first time in months! Well, I've been exercising, but not out-of-doors running with the cool, fresh air in my lungs since July when I did that 4-mile race. I felt great the whole time, but afterward was reminded that I am 6 months pregnant by lots of little contractions/cramping that persisted off and on throughout the day. Guess that's the last time I'll push myself that hard until Kelly makes her debut. I'll just have to stick with the elliptical. Anyway, I would call it a resounding success!
Megan
After the Turkey Trot it was time to get the grub ready and head out to the Erickson's home for the big dinner. Mickey's sister and her family all live there in Colorado so they get together with them every year. We are growing in numbers and it gets more and more crowded, but it is so fun to see each other! We had TONS of food and fun. Your eyes aren't playing a trick, we are eating in a garage - the cleanest, most organized, heated garage! I could have picked food up off the floor and eaten it without worrying. I didn't, but I could have. It was so nice. Thanks to Jon and Mackenzie for hosting us all!
Friday was 
...and also our day to cook dinner. We made this awesome Chicken Rio salad, much like the one at Cafe Rio. It turned out so, so good! That morning was also the traditional basketball face-off among the brothers. Max and I went to the Church to watch for a bit. My man can play ball! Later that afternoon we had a great family council and got all set with calendars and updated news on everyone. We took family pictures that I haven't seen yet. Then we had our good dinner and afterward a little celebration for my hot husby who is now 
All 7 of the Foster siblings!
Margaret, Megan and Mickey
We got to stay through Sunday and Monday and didn't get back until a little after 12 a.m. this morning. I loved the whole trip and feel so grateful to have had all of that time to spend with everyone under one roof! Not a dull moment. It was the best week; I wish that we could do it all over again....
