Christmas 2017

I love Christmas morning.  I get just as excited as the kids.  I never sleep well the night before.  I have been shopping and planning for months and I couldn't wait to give the kids all of the presents that I had picked out for them. 

We usually come into the room oldest to youngest, but Wyatt woke up early and peeked at what Santa had given him so he got to come in last!  Stinker!  I love their excited faces as the run into the front room.

Jonah asked Santa for a trumpet.  He was thrilled to see he got it.

He found out that it is tough to play!  He wants to take band next year so now he will be all set. This is a student trumpet that should last him for a few years before he will have to get something nicer.

Caitlyn asked Santa for a Ukulele, that was literally the only thing she could think of that she wanted for Christmas!

Hallee has been saying she wanted a keyboard (I might have planted the idea in her mind) for months now and Wyatt was thrilled with his smart watch.  Hallee has been playing with her keyboard nonstop.  Wyatt loves his watch and has been playing with that a lot.

The kids love looking through their stockings.  I love how they get so excited about every little thing.

We surprised the kids with a trip to Las Vegas in February. We are going to stay in Tahiti Village over President's Day weekend.  We printed up pictures of the hotel and the kids got really excited!  They will be even more excited when we get there and find out the other surprise we have for them!

Caitlyn was a tough one to shop for because she had no idea what she wanted.

I was able to find plenty of things I knew she would love.

Wyatt thought his new fart gun was hilarious!

Hallee was excited about her new guitar.  I'm not sure why the guitar made Caitlyn pull this face, but it sure was cute.  I love the excited faces on Christmas morning.

Hallee loved all of her presents and told me she wanted all of them even though she didn't ask for them! She got some art supplies, work books, diving set, books and her own princess basketball!

Jonah didn't give me a lot of ideas either, but he is pretty easy to shop for.  He will like anything that has to do with sports.  He loved his new ball and his new duffel bag that can hold all of his sports equipment.

Jonah was also excited with his new Karate Kid movies.

I got all of the boys matching hats that I found for under $1 on clearance!

Wyatt loved everything.  He wanted a bug set, a calendar and a map.  He got all of those and a school play set.  He loves to play school with Hallee.  He has all of the equipment for his class room now!

He loves his new magnet experiment set. 

Caitlyn got a lot of clothes and shoes.  I found awesome deals at a boutique warehouse sale, she was thrilled with all of them.

Jonah was a goof ball.  He went crazy and over reacted about every present.  He was so excited he couldn't contain himself.

The kids loved all of their presents and we loved watching them open them.

I always get a little sad when Christmas morning is over.  It is so much fun and I never want it to end.

Keith and I surprised each other with a few gifts.  He was surprised and very excited about the echo dot I got him.

He surprised me with a back pillow and lap desk that I am enjoying right now as I blog.  We are very blessed and it was a wonderful Christmas.

Jonah mastered his new stilts by the end of the day. 

We decided to stay home this Christmas.  Last year was so crazy with all of the rushing around and I just couldn't do it again this year.  We loved staying home and relaxing all day and not feeling rushed.  The kids played with their toys.  Jonah and I shoveled snow, we played games, watched basketball games and just had fun enjoying the day together.  I made eggs benedict for dinner instead of breakfast so we could spend the whole morning playing with their new toys.  I did miss seeing family and having the cousins tell each other what they got, but it was really nice not to spend a long time in the car and not to worry about rushing.  I love Christmas!

Christmas Eve

We had our traditional Christmas Eve at grandma Ham's this year.  We met a little earlier and did the activities first and dinner last.  This year felt so much more relaxed and enjoyable, I think starting earlier helped and it really helped to only go to one house on Christmas Eve.

We started out watching the nativity. 

After that we acted out the nativity.  Caitlyn and Wyatt were Mary and Joseph.

Hallee wanted to be the angel.

I loved seeing Damon crawl in with Dante.  I love this picture.

Grandpa read the story from the bible while these cute kids acted it out.

Next was grab box. 

The kids look forward to their new book each year.

We didn't feel rushed so we let the kids all read for a minute.  I love that they couldn't wait to open their books and start reading!

Jonah finished his new Diary of a Wimpy Kid book while we were at grandma's.  When Jonah is reading a book he likes, he can't put it down.

I doesn't seem that long ago that Caitlyn was wearing that cute, little angel dress.  The kids are growing up so fast!

My kids all love grandpa!

The adults look forward to their gift cards every year. We had so much fun talking and laughing together.  I love these people. 

After that we went upstairs for Christmas Bingo.

Jonah loved helping Damon with Bingo.  We all loved watching Damon.  He was so excited about everything.  He was so fun to watch.

Christmas Bingo is when I miss Jen the most.  We have a few things that we laugh at every year like "I nuts" and "O Christmas Tree" and I always think of Jen making jokes about them.  Jen always seemed to make her best jokes around the dining room table. I miss that.

Hallee and Tessa were thrilled with their Bingo prizes.  It was even more exciting that they got the same ones!

Caitlyn and Amarie wanted to buy grandma and grandpa presents this year so they went in together and went shopping while they were together last week.  Grandma and grandpa loved them.  They are such sweet girls!

We opened our family presents from Matt and Lori.  They were so generous! We miss them every year at Christmas! 

After that the kids played while we got dinner ready.  After dinner we sat around talking for a long time while the kids were off playing.  It was great to visit and laugh with each other. 

Before we left we gave grandma and grandpa their presents and they gave us our presents.  The kids all loved their presents.  They always get spoiled and they love it!  It was a great Christmas Eve!

A few thoughts about Christmas

We have had a wonderful Christmas season this year.  We have done a lot of fun activities that were a good balance of fun and focusing on the real reason for the season.  It is so easy to lose sight of what is important.  We are bombarded with so many distractions, not even the crumby stuff out there, things that are good but can take over your life.  I spend way too much time staring aimlessly at my phone.  I get caught up in comparison because of social media.  I struggle with depression and low self esteem so it easy to spend my time knocking other people down in hopes of making myself feel better.  It is hard not to covet what other people have or wish I had endless money to spend.  All of these distractions can take over if we aren't careful.  I love the Christmas season because it helps put things back in perspective.  It is a time when the whole world seems to unite and want to help people who need it, this is the Spirit of Christ.  I know I am happier when I put other people before myself, but it is sure hard to do sometimes.  I love that Christ was born and lived in such humble circumstances. There are so many things available to us that we could have an endless list of things we want, but when you step back and think about what is really important all of those things fall away.  I am so grateful that I have always had a relationship with my Savior. I have always felt like He understood me when no one else could.  I'm so grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ, because of Him I find hope when things feel hopeless, I find peace when the world is in turmoil and I feel love that makes me want to do better and be ready to meet my Savior again!  I can't wait to thank Him and have Him hug me and let all of the troubles of this life melt away.   I love my Savior and I love celebrating his birth. 

The Sunday before Christmas is my favorite Sunday of the year.  It was great that it fell on Christmas Eve this year.  We had a wonderful Sacrament meeting.  The music was beautiful and the talks really touched me. 

I have felt burdened and heavy lately.  There are just so many sad things in this world, it is hard not to get depressed about it.  It breaks my heart to hear about so many people who have such a crumby life.  Sometimes I wonder why some things are necessary, like mental illness.  As I was sitting in church I felt some peace about it.  I had the thought that it will all be worth it and everything that is unfair about life will be made right through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. 

 Paul spent the whole day last week helping a student who couldn't go home because of bad choices he had made.  Paul is an amazing, caring man.  I'm so impressed with how far he will go to help his students.  Alex (the student) is 18, but still a senior in high school.  Tiff also gave up a day with her husband so he could help Alex so that Alex's parents could take care of the other kids and give them the love and support that they needed.  It sounds like Alex needs tough love at this point.  Paul finally found him a hotel in Provo and his bishop paid for him to stay there for a few nights. When Tiff told me what Alex told Paul I immediately knew that we needed to help him.  Alex told Paul that he prayed to Heavenly Father (which he hadn't done for a long time) and knew what he did was wrong and asked if He was there to please help him know if there was any one in the world that still loved him.  He told Paul that he knew Paul was the answer to that prayer.  I told Tiff that we wanted to take him some things and they liked the idea so Paul bought toiletries and other things he needed and we got him a gift card and some money.  We also got him a picture of  Christ with a teenage boy and a book from Deseret Book about making good choices in difficult circumstances.  I knew that Heavenly Father wanted us to do this and help Alex feel His love.  As I prayed that night I felt Heavenly Father's love for Alex.  There are a few times that I can remember when I have felt Heavenly Father's love for someone else and it is awesome. 

 Paul and Keith took everything over to Alex on Saturday.  Two of his sisters (who no longer live at home) were there.  We were going to do more, but Keith felt like he would be okay after talking to him and seeing his sisters there.  Keith and Paul said that he got emotional when he saw the picture of Christ and read the back of it.  I am grateful for this experience and wanted to record it because it is so easy to forget these experiences where you feel the Spirit really strong.  I'm so grateful that we were able to have this experience.  I have been wanting to do something for someone for Christmas and it just never came together, I'm so glad it did a few days before Christmas.

Christmas with the Loosli's

We celebrated Christmas with the Loosli's on December 23rd this year.  It was so great to have it on a different night and not have to rush back and forth on Christmas Eve. 

The holidays are really different since Pat got dementia.  Last year we went to Chuck E Cheese and it worked out well.  This year it was a little more rough, but the kids still had fun. 

Hallee liked riding the rides.

Jacob and Jonah always have a great time together, they are very similar and love to talk sports.

Caitlyn had fun with Brinlee and Jaimy.  

I spent most of the time following the kids around so Keith could visit.  Pat seemed to enjoy herself.  They had to move her to a facility in Bountiful while they make some repairs to the building she was staying in.  The transition has been rough for her.  Hopefully it won't be too hard on her when they have to move her back.  We are grateful that she is getting taken care of because Garth's health seems to be declining.  I really don't want to get old!