The Jensen Family's Little Viking Tales: Christmas!

Today is January 25th. I'm one month behind, but getting caught up! This was our first year to be in Las Vegas on Christmas. Other than the year I was in the Canary Islands on my mission, I have always been in Salt Lake, so it was kind of strange for me. But it was good to be with Sean and the kids, and it was nice not to have to haul all the Christmas stuff up to Mom's. We always pack so much stuff anyway, so not having to take ALL the gifts was good.

We made sandblasted glass ornaments for several people in our ward, and we were still delivering ornaments and treats on Christmas Eve day. It took us a lot longer than planned, but people really seemed to enjoy them, so I'm glad we did it. On Christmas Eve, we were invited to Gabe and Laurie Gledhill's house. The kids had fun playing, and it was fun to visit with all the people there. The gift exchange was fun, but a few of us thought it was a white elephant or gag gift exchange (so we took some silly hot dog cutter), and many others contributed good stuff like games or gift cards. We lucked out and ended up with a game of Apples to Apples. Next year, clarify if it's good stuff or silly stuff, please! The food was good and it was a fun evening. We came home and got the kids ready for bed so Santa could come. It took them a while to go to sleep, but they finally did and then Sean and I got everything ready for the morning. I didn't think we really had that much to do, but we were up a lot later than we would have liked! Oh well, the kids were happy the next morning.

Brooke's first Christmas Eve.

My diaper babies on Christmas Eve. Come on, Gabe, ditch the diapers, please!

Ready for bed on Christmas Eve!

The boys slept in for a while on Christmas. They don't understand the early morning wake up routine yet, thank goodness! We said a family prayer and then went in to see what Santa brought for us. They were excited about the things they got, but out of scooters, cap guns, a guitar, electronic drum set, clothes, shoes, and slinkies (or springies, as they call them), they were most excited about the shoes and Slinkies! Too funny. After the gifts, Sean made aebelskivers for brunch. Yum! We pretty much just lounged around and played for the rest of the day, but that night ventured out to see the fountains and decor at Bellagio. It was soooooooo crowded, but beautiful!