Christmas 2013

As usual, we had a busy and yet wonderful Christmas. One of our family Christmas traditions is caroling as a family and delivering goody plates to our friends and neighbors. This is something that Todd's family always did when he was growing up, and we have kept the tradition alive since we were married. The kids have grown to love it also.

When Camille was younger (the first or second Christmas of Todd's and my marriage) she told me she had a dream that we went killing. I was quite disturbed to hear this, but remained calm and asked her to tell me more about her dream. She said we all wore warm coats and hats, and went killing together singing our favorite Christmas songs. I was so relieved when I realized she was trying to say caroling! She has always had trouble with her R's, and this was just one of those words when heard out of context was very hard to understand. What a sweet girl she is and how very much we love caroling with her. My favorite was her addition to Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer last year when we went caroling to her 2nd grade teacher. After listing all the reindeer, we would wait for her to add "1, 2, 3 hit it!" before we would carry on with the traditional song. She's quite talented and fun!

When I start assembling goody plates and thinking of all the people I want to go visit to wish them a Merry Christmas, my list gets overwhelmingly long. There are just so many wonderful people that we associate with. Family, neighbors, teachers, church friends. We are so blessed to know such wonderful people. I still have several goody plates on my counter that are going to be wasted because we just couldn't deliver them all. So if you didn't get one...pretend you did :)

Here are some pictures of the kids setting up the Christmas tree.

The kids collect ornaments so they will each have their own collection full of memories when they leave the house. Each year Santa brings them one, and we always get a new ornament when we go on vacation (if we can find them). It is so much fun to remember people and places when we put them on the tree and listen to Christmas music.

After setting up the tree we enjoyed some hot cocoa while Camille read us a Christmas book.

Christmas Eve we went to Jon and Tiffany's house as usual, and we enjoyed the final evening of advent and exchanging gifts with the family. I love the spirit that is felt in their home as we remember the true meaning of Christmas and reflect on our Savior's role in our life.

For three weeks preceding Christmas, the family joins together to share a Christmas story, light a candle, and listen to a Christmas song while pondering Christ. Jon lets the kids take turns each week lighting the candles, but since Joseph can never light a candle he gets to blow them out.

I forgot my camera, so Todd used his cell phone to capture some pictures of the gift exchange.

Joseph loved his gifts from Gracie.

Tate scored some of his favorite candy to munch on while he reads the book he buys with his gift card.

Tiffany got me some cute scarves and a gift that made me laugh so hard, all the pictures came out blurry. We keep our spare keys at her house, so she's always getting calls from me when I get locked out. I think the second gift was her not-so-subtle way of letting me know 1. I have a problem, and 2. I need a new home for my spare keys!

Todd got a wonderful e-book from his sister Lisa, and Camille got some fun craft projects and her favorite candy from cousin . Somehow we missed pictures of these gifts, but we are so grateful for the thoughtfulness of our family!

After dessert we rushed home, packed up all the presents, and got in our jammies. Sweet Todd drove his sleeping family to Nana and Papa's house in Shelton so we could enjoy waking up there on Christmas morning. It was wonderful to watch the joy and excitement in the kids. We loved hearing their little feet run down the hallway in the morning before they came upstairs to wake us up. Their little feet were a magical part of Christmas to us, much like the sound of reindeer paws for children. I again forgot my camera, so Todd grabbed these pictures on his cell phone for me.

Stockings were the first order of business this year.

Santa brought us a new gift to set up in our new house! (That we are going to get hopefully in the near future)

After stockings and Santa gifts, we had a nice breakfast together and enjoyed some time lounging around together waiting for Zoey and Erica to join us for opening the rest of the presents. These are some of my favorite moments captured during the waiting period.

I love this picture below. Not only because of my sweet niece, but look at the Papa and Camille feet. It just makes me smile to remember the happiness.

Tate's Christmas list this year was short and sweet. He asked for a case of kippered sardines, a gallon of egg nog, a large box he can fit in, and a Harry Potter Wand. Later he added that he would like a tablet, but we had already gotten him a phone for games.

How grateful I am for the blessings brought to my family by living the gospel of Jesus Christ, and for the wonderful people I have to share this special time with!