Surviving Christmas

We survived Christmas without Kevin. It actually felt like we were with him since we spent a lot of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day on the phone together. Kevin got to read us Luke 2 over our speaker phone. He was also on the phone when we opened gifts. We got to do the same when he opened his. Kevin had his first day off since he began working in October. I think having a full day off was better than he thought it would be. Kevin had dinner with friends and Christmas Eve got a new roommate. Well, at least he had his own place for a month. The kids and I had dinner Christmas day with some friends in our ward. Overall, it was a nice day. I think without a lot of hoopla at our own home, we were able to focus more on the birth of our Savior and less on what Santa would bring. Every year I get my kids a new Hallmark ornament. I do this at the 50% off sale after Christmas. I usually add those to the tree. I got Tyler "Cars" and "Finding Nemo" ornaments. I placed them high on the tree. This always worked with the other kids. Tyler just thought I was making it more of a challenge for him and he tried to climb the tree to get to his ornaments....down came the tree!! He did reach our Barney ornament that we've had since Brandon was 2. He walked around with it all day just like Brandon used to.