Merry White Christmas

What a beautiful Christmas! It snowed all day long. We ended up spending Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at Grandma LaMont's house due to the storm. Santa ended up finding us, though. We spent Christmas Eve feasting on Clam Chowder and playing games. Christmas Eve was hard for TJ. He had a really hard time sleeping. He woke up at 2:30am and shook me, "Mom- what time is it?". I told him he couldn't go out until after 6. I gave him my cell phone so he could check the time when he needed to. I swear it beeped every 5 minutes. We both were a little sleep deprived. TJ's sleep deprivation was nixed by his excitement of the day. His favorite gift was a combo gift from Troy, Grandma and Aunt Sue. He loved his Millenium Falcon. It is HUGE. I'm not sure where we will keep it in our home, yet. TJ is at the stage where he is doubting the whole Santa idea (so sad). In the middle of the night, there was a big THUD on Grandma's roof. It woke me up with a jolt, and everyone else, too. The boys told us the next day that they heard Santa's sleigh landing on the roof. I'm not sure what else it could have been. Douglas had a simple request that Santa bring him a harmonica. He got a green harmonica with a little book of songs to train and teach him how to play. He is getting pretty good at it. He also got some Star Wars action figures, and a Bronco football. I got the boys some Bronco hats, and my mom got them some Bronco Sweatshirts, so they can really look like some true fans.

Kira got a Jump-Up chair and lots of clothes (she has grown out of all her others). Daddy got her a Princess Leia Doll. She liked the box it came in better than the actual doll, but maybe she'll appreciate it when she gets older. She did find it easy to pick up by the buns (hair buns, that is).

So here is Douglas across the street from Grandma's house. The snow was awesome! Douglas was mad because he couldn't really walk in it without falling over.

Kira and TJ outside getting ready to go home from Grandma's house. Kira doesn't seem to mind the snow, but she really likes to wail when we try to put her snowsuit on. I'll have to get a picture of her in it. I think it's cute. I'm so glad we were able to have such a great Christmas together as a family, and that we got to have a WHITE Christmas. It just isn't the same without all that white stuff.

To help keep the true meaning of Christmas, we talked about what all the symbols of Christmas really meant. We had a family night lesson and discussed how Heavenly Father's gift to us was our Savior. We can give gifts to him by serving others. I had each family member (excluding Kira) pick a name out of a hat to do secret services for. This was 2 weeks before Christmas. Whenever we did a service for someone, we could put some hay in the cradle for Baby Jesus. I got this idea from my parents who did it a few times. I also told the boys to be tricky and do extra services for other people so we wouldn't know which person they had. The kids did awesome. Douglas was my little helper every day after school, and TJ kept leaving me little notes, and Troy ran some errands for me, so I was baffled. On Christmas, we told each other which name we picked, and were pleased how full the cradle was. Douglas and I had each other, and TJ and Troy had each other.

We also loved the new advent Calendar that Grandma Olson helped make for us. Each day in December, we put up a piece of the Nativity on the calender and talked about the Christmas story. I loved how such a simple thing allowed us to reflect on the Savior's birth each day. The boys enjoyed putting up the pieces, and were excited to add the final piece (Baby Jesus) on the 24th. We also loved Primary the Sunday before Christmas. All the primary kids got to act out the Nativity with costumes and everything. Douglas was a shepherd, and TJ was a Wise Man. It was fun to be a part of it. I love singing all the Primary Christmas songs, too. It was a good day to be in primary, and made me not miss Relief Society so much. Next year, I'll be teaching the 11-12 year olds.

Of course, I missed my side of the family during this Christmas season. Amber (my sister) and Nick (her hubby) did came up to visit on Saturday. We had a great time playing games and went out to eat at Angie's (a diner-type local restaraunt). It's one of our favorite places to eat at. We especially love their giant scones. Amber and Nick seemed to agree that it was a good place to go. We were glad to have them around for awhile. Thanks for coming to visit us, Sis!

I hope y'all had a very, Merry Christmas. I love this time of year!