Christmas, Part Two

Today was round two of our three rounds of Christmas. We got to spend the evening with my mom and all of my step-family. Since our family is so large, we always do a secret Santa drawing each year. This year we drew my step-sister, Tami, and her husband Josue. My mom and Jeff got Ryan and I, and my step-brother and his wife got Lilly. After a humongous meal of prime rib and funeral potatoes (which I ended up feeding ALL to Lilly. She's definitely a Utah girl), we started with stockings. Usually my mom stuffs stockings with the most random, impractical items. She finds joy in spending weeks trying to hunt down fun, silly toys for everyone. Which is fine, but I always feel badly that she spends so much time and money on stuff that usually gets tossed. Sorry, mom. Oh, and she pads all of the toys with candy. Starting December 26th, I'm no longer allowed to eat anything but protein shakes and chicken broth, to prep for getting my gallbladder out on January 10th, so I asked her not to put any candy in our stockings. So instead of candy, she just ended up putting in more toys.

This year was much better than the past years. I actually got stuff I needed! When it came time to open the big secret Santa gifts, I wondered what my mom and Jeff got us. She hinted to me a few weeks ago that she was getting us "something we needed, not necessarily something we wanted." I tried to guess: counseling? a picture of the temple? a babysitter? haha! I can honestly say, I was not expecting what we got. Leave it to my mom to be the person that buys us our first power tool. Being a single mother for most of our lives, she had to do all of our home repairs. She became quite the handy woman, and has a secret obsession with power tools. I can't tell you how many holidays we ended up getting her gift cards to Lowes or Home Depot. I just chuckled. It was funny for a few reasons. First was that when I walked into her house this evening, the first thing I said was "mom! I need to borrow your drill to hang my new shower curtain rod." I was slightly confused when she ignored me and didn't immediately run to the garage to grab it for me. It made sense when I opened our present to find the same drill that she had, complete with all the drill bits. I'm ALWAYS having to borrow her drill for projects around the house and making the clocks that I sell. 

We got my mom a web cam for Skyping with the grandkids (some live in Texas). We got Tami and Josue an FHE board that says "Lesson, Song, Snack, Prayer, etc, etc" and has clips for assigning names. She was super happy because she said she saw it at Deseret Book and really wanted it. Yay! I guessed right! My step-brother and his wife ended up getting Lilly a really cute outfit. I know I said yesterday that we didn't get Lilly anything for Christmas, so I've decided my present(s) to her is going to be a bunch of new clothes. She's out-grown everything to the point of only having a handful of outfits that fit. Anyway, Christmas number 2 was a blast. I got lots of fun knick-nacks to put around the house and to keep Lilly entertained. Thanks, Mom, err, Santa! 

Meet Ovejita! It means "Little Lamb." It's also the name of one of my favorite puppets on Sesame Street, who just happens to be a lamb. This is a Sentsy stuffed animal. It goes in the crib and makes the nursery smell yummy. I love it! It's SO cute!

More Sesame Street. For when Lilly starts requiring me to carry snacks around. I see this every time I go to Walmart, but could never justify buying it. Good thinkin', mom!

From left to right: two new outfits for Lilly, Pac man and Candy Land Bandaids, two books for Lilly, a monkey USB for Ryan, bath salts for Nanny, an orange peeler, a USB charger for the car, a Star Wars M&M dispenser for Ryan, Breaking Dawn for me (I hated the movies, but it was bugging me that I didn't have the complete set. Apparently it was in a $5 bin at Walmart, so my mom couldn't resist. I think it was more of a joke gift), a pink hot glue gun, and teal spatulas. Yep, WAY better than candy.  

This has to be my favorite thing that she got me. Does this just scream "Natalie" or what?! 

My second favorite thing. A damask USB!! 

Our new toy. I'll always remember the day when my mommy bought me my first power tool *sniff, sniff*

Lilly's first legit baby toy. Something other than a rattle or stuffed animal. She also got a very large, ornate ball that lights up and has lots of doo-dads. It's supposed to help her crawl.