Sending Christmas Loves from us!

Hey ho! Hope your holidays were as memorable as ours have been. I have had fun seeing what everyone did in their homes (through blogs, of course!) and since we no longer make the long trek down to EC for Christmas, I thought I would post a little of our own fun. PS- we missed seeing lots of you! (sniff, sniff)

We made an attempt at visits. In fact, we actually made it to the Mower Christmas party in Eagle Mountain. It was great to get together with everyone, except for the fact that whenever I visit my sister-in-law's home, I come away wanting a new house.

Even Mike and Steph made it from Arizona! Loads of laughs that night! A few tears too. Then we headed down to Fairview and I'm sure from our history you can guess the rest. Our jinx has returned. Lukie and Jeff got sick and that ended the trip. It was a disappointing end for all of us, but especially for the kids. I was almost wishing we had just stayed home, but we were able to get in a really good visit with Jeff's parents, which we were very grateful for. Jeff's dad has recently been diagnosed with some formidable health problems, and I think being together is just what the doctor ordered. Not just for Jeff's dad, but for all of us.

So since the early end of our Utah trip, we had some time to kill before Christmas. Jeff took advantage of the opportunity and got some use out of those season passes to Bogus. The kids were stoked to try it again! Jeff decided Zack was ready to join the ranks this year. He's doing great! I have some cute footage- but it's too long. I'll have to edit it on my camera and post it later. (I love it!) I still hang out at home with the non-skiiers and be nervous until they come home.

Here goes Brookie-

There's Kobe- check out that form!

I didn't have a Lexie one, so I'll have to post one later. Here's Lucas putting dibbs on what pair he wants!

So Christmas came and was sort of a challenge. It is very against my personality to be elaborate in- well, anything I guess. No one notices this flaw when we are at someone elses home for a holiday, but when I alone am in charge of the whole Christmas Eve/ Christmas Day experience, I really have to try hard not to just pop open a can of Campbell's soup for dinner and send the kids to bed early. So I made a conscious effort to plan our time and do some special things; read the nativity, sing songs by Christmas tree lights, open special 'Christmas jammies'...

but the highlight of our Christmas Eve night once again was nothing of my own doing, but from the thoughtfulness of others. Just as we had changed into our jammies and were preparing for dessert, something loud pummelled the door. I thought we had been egged!!! ON CHRISTMAS EVE!!! We jumped up to open the door and there on the doorstep was a beautiful little manger filled with 'straw' (raffia :), homemade soup and bread, and a book. I'm sure you can imagine the kid's excitement- and my emotion! To make it worse, I sat the kids down and we read the story, 'The Last Straw' and it was so tender and touching I bawled through the whole last page. Of course the kids want to know why. Oh brother, what a baby I am. I look forward to the day my kids will understand why I can't read them a story out of the Friend magazine without getting a tissue.

The kids played with the manger all the rest of the night- putting Lukie in it and posing for pictures as Mary and Joseph. (see Lexie's veil?) What a perfect and fun way to help the kids think about that first Christmas night.

So, I knew immediately who the culprit was. No one makes soup and bread like my friend Polly. Oh! And she has a similar manger in her living room! ;) How blessed we are to have such great friends.

I can't wait to get my manger out next year. The idea in the book is to draw names and secretly do service for your 'secret family member' --and every time you do you add a piece of straw to the manger to make the bed softer for baby Jesus. So sweet! Such a good idea! I love you Polly!

Look Misty! I found a whole bunch of your socks at my house! Just kidding- Misty made my family's stockings last Christmas. Then this year she added a table runner to go with!! (yes also homemade!) They are my favorite Christmas decorations!

So Christmas Day came and went. I think for the most part- everyone was excited with their surprises, especially the grandparent gifts which always seem to be big winners. Jeff spoiled me- after we had decided our gift to each other was going to be our vacation we were taking right after Christmas. He's pulled that trick on me before and luckily I'd gotten him a few new shirts for a couple of bucks each at an Old Navy sale. Hopefully he won't compare price tags.

My pictures of Christmas Day were actually pretty sparse. I did manage to pull off the turkey dinner which- while I was making it I kept thinking, "This is WAY too much work for this many people! What am I thinking!" But the kids were so complimentary of everything (quite unexpected) that it made it all worthwhile. The biggest hit was the cubed, multi-colored, jello salad! YUM! Any of my fam remember that one?! The kids are still talking about it!

I know it's late to be saying this, but I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year! We are so blessed to have family and friends who make our lives so full and complete. We love you. Now if you will excuse me, I need to go grab another tissue.