Christmas Day

We had a nice relaxing Christmas day at home with Deanna and Tom. It has been the first Christmas I can remember that we have not traveled anywhere. Although we missed seeing everyone, we did enjoy our time together. Tom and Deanna were in charge of Christmas dinner and made a wonderful prime rib, new potatoes and peas and raspberry pretzel salad. It was all delicious!

The kids spent the day playing (in between sneezing.. they are all getting colds). I also did a lot of reading to them of the new books they got. This year we got them the set Big Thoughts for Little Thinkers by Answers in Genesis. I highly recommend these to anyone with preschoolers. The book explains big concepts in a language the kids can understand. I love the way the book defines sin. It says "When you try to be happy without God, you do bad things called "sin." " Isn't that so true? They make for great conversations with the kids.

Deanna and I cooked throughout the day and the guys worked out in the garage a little (Mr. J is making the kids bunk beds) and raced their new remote control hummers, after the kids went to bed we enjoyed fancy hot cocoa and a game of Monopoly (where Deanna creamed us all). Overall it was a super great day!
The guys raced the cars around the island in the kitchen, Tuff was one of the obstacles they had to get around.

Tuff finally caught a car

The race was getting close

Mr. J's strategy was to chase his car around the island. It was hilarious The cheerleading squad

Merry Christmas from Miss O

The kids spent time talking to grandparents on the phone...

Tom enjoying the delicious spinach dip (made with Knorr's Vegetable soup, served in a sour dough bowl... the only way to go). Thank Aunt S for getting us hooked!

My mouth is watering just looking at this pic, I think we will have to make it again for New Years.

Deanna posed for this picture because she likes to joke that the only reason we have her over is to do the dishes. That is not true! We also like to eat the delicious food she makes.. hahaha.

Jones Family Christmas Eve

What we did for Christmas Eve

• Delicious dinner at our favorite Vegas Thai restraunt, Pin Kaow (specifically the Lake Mead/Rainbow location) the service and food are excellent! Favorites include Pineapple Fried Rice (Mr. J), Red Curry Chicken (Mrs. J), Appetizer Beef Satay (all), Sticky Rice (girls), Thai iced tea (me). With Deanna and Tom and Mr. J's newest troop and wife.
• Wonderful Christmas eve service at Grace with singing and a great message about why we celebrate Christmas. We got there 10 minutes late so we sat up in the balcony with Deanna and Tom and another family with little ones. The kids had a lot of fun singing and watching from up high. Favorite songs of the night: Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Breath of Heaven/Mary's Song, O Come All Ye Faithful
• Story and New Jammies: Growing up we always had a tradition of reading The Night Before Christmas (regular and cajun style) and then opening up brand new pajamas. Since we don't really do much Santa at our house (even though the kids know all about him and like to sing santa songs) and we don't have a copy of The Night Before Christmas (although I would love to get a copy of the Cajun one)... we read What God Wants for Christmas which is a book that comes with an interactive kid-friendly nativity scene. There are 7 boxes the kids open and a corresponding poem/story that goes with each one. I highly recommend this to any one with preschool age kids! The kids love it. After that, we opened our new jammies and all went to bed. The kids slept so well.. they slept in until 8:30 (which is unheard of in our house)... and so that was probably the best gift we could have received from them.