I love Christmas Sunday, the music is amazing. Our ward choir is so good. The whole meeting was great. It was hard to not have Jonah with us this year. I was so glad that Caitlyn came with us.
We had a lesson after dinner and watched the nativity and then we did our usual secret siblings night. It worked out well that Jonah calls us on Sunday so we could include him. Sawyer came over and we played Bingo while we were waiting for Jonah to call. I didn't think it would work well to play that with him over the phone.
I got everyone their favorite treats for bingo prizes.
I got Keith a newer version of Catch Phrase. He loves this game and takes it to work to play with his team. The version we have is from the 1990's, so I thought it would be fun to have a more updated version.
I got all the kids a head massager for their other bingo prize.
When Jonah called we played Left Right Center.
Jonah thought he was supposed to make a funny face instead of smile.
We had fun playing and it went on for a while.
Sawyer spun for Jonah. It was pretty funny because she lost all his money, but kept all of hers.
In the end Sawyer won.
After that we watched a video about Christ and then we did the sibling gift exchange. Matt took Jonah his present when they went to visit him.
Hallee gave her gift first. She had Caitlyn. Caitlyn had fun acting surprised because she walked in Hallee's room a while ago and saw her present sitting out.
Hallee got her a book she really wanted and a body scrub. Caitlyn loved it.
I can't believe how much my girls look alike. They are both so beautiful.
Wyatt gave his next. He had Jonah.
I'm so glad Jonah can be involved with us through video calls.
Wyatt got him a flower tie and Jonah loved it.
Jonah had Wyatt and he got him some cologne.
It makes me so happy to see my boys so close!
Caitlyn had Hallee and she was so excited to give it to her.
Hallee couldn't believe it when she opened it and saw a Minky Couture blanket.
She was so excited. She has wanted one for a long time, but they are so expensive so she didn't think she would ever get one.
Caitlyn loved giving that to her. I love seeing my kids so excited to give. Caitlyn is a very generous and thoughtful gift giver.
It was so fun to see their excitement.
Caitlyn had the blanket all washed and ready for Hallee. Hallee loves her Minky!
After the kids opened their presents we gave Sawyer her present. We also had Jonah's present for Sawyer set up for her. She took the phone and went in and opened it with him. He gave her the sweetest present and she loved it. He had Caitlyn pick up a vase and paint SxJ on it and Caitlyn also picked up a board that you can hang flowers on to dry them out. I made a calendar with pictures of Jonah and Sawyer together. He helped me do it on his call last week. He wrote her a sweet note saying that she is going to get flowers like this every month and they will get through 2026 together and then it will almost be time for him to come home. She said she loved it and it made her cry. She is so sweet and we all love her. She wrote us all very sweet notes and told me that she couldn't stop crying when she got home because we made her feel so special and loved.
It's so hard to have Jonah gone for Christmas. I don't feel ready for this stage of life. I miss Christmas when they were little and they got so excited about every little thing. I'm grateful that we could share this day with him and that he can feel involved and know that we miss him. We always message each other on P-Day and he always says the nicest things to me. Being away from home has made him really appreciate us and all of the good times we have had together. It makes me so happy to hear him talk so fondly about his life growing up and how much we all mean to him. We have all grown closer while Jonah has been on his mission and I'm so grateful for that!
