"Christ"mas Tree

This year we read an article in the Friend about a different kind of Christmas tree. Each day (we tried to remember) we would write down on a paper ornament something about our Savior. The kids wrote things like: He heals my owies, he was born on Christmas, he loves me, he was baptized. On Christmas day we read through all the ornaments. It was a nice reminder about the day we were celebrating.

Play Again playhouse

Last month Brian's sister asked us if we would be interested in their old outdoor wooden playhouse. They hadn't set it up since they moved from Washington because their new home already had a sort of playhouse in the backyard. She said it was pretty old and worn out, but we said we would love to have it. It has a drive-up window, puppet show stage, basketball hoop and window planters.

We stored it in our neighbor's garage. She is a very nice, bed-bound widow with an empty garage and she was happy to let us use her space. It was a perfect set-up. We would sneak over during nap time and put Paige in charge of calling the cell phone if something was wrong. She knew we were working on a surprise and that we weren't very far away. [One thing I love about Paige is that she is very good about surprises or secrets. She does not ever want to spoil it.]

We painted the roof, and sanded and stained and weather-proofed it all. I am very pleased with how it all turned out. It was a great Christmas present, and all it cost was a bit of time and some cans. Thank you to the Penrods for thinking of sharing it with us.

BEFORE

AFTER :)

On Christmas day in the morning

Christmas Highlights

It was different having Christmas on a Sunday.
I was pretty worried that the kids wouldn't cooperate, but they did really well.
We woke everyone up and got ready for 9am church. We had just enough time to eat the sugared cereal Santa left out on the table and to look through the stockings set out on the couch.

After returning home from church and eating the traditional omelets and orange juice, the kids put back on their Christmas pajamas to open Christmas presents.
Brian's sister, Elaine, came over to celebrate with us.

These are our "paJANAs", because Grandma Jana made them for all 60+ grandkids.

Everyone loved the ride-on toys that Santa left for the kids' big present (the real, anonymous Santa Claus). They raced and drove all around the house and around and around and around the kitchen table. They were a huge hit!

We also hosted Christmas dinner for Brian's siblings. We didn't know it until late Christmas Eve, but it turned out pretty well. We even found a place for all 20 of us in our small house. We had White Sauce Lasagna, garlic bread, cinnamon jell-o, and salad, with eggnog and ice cream for dessert. Yum!

It was a very delightful and merry Christmas!

2011 Christmas Card

These are a few of our favorite things in 2011:

Paige (1^st Grade – 7)

"My favorite thing was when we got to go to Arizona and go on a zipline. My other favorite thing was that I got to see my cousins at the family reunion. It was so fun! I couldn’t even stop playing with them."

Ashby (Preschool - 4½)

"My favorite thing was when I scored 6 goals in soccer."

Levi (2½)

"Ride on tractor in Montana."

Cody (3 mo.)

Sucking on his fists and smiling and laughing at his brothers and sister.

Tara

"My favorite thing about 2011 was carrying and delivering a healthy baby boy to add to our family. I love watching my children learn so many new things every day. I also loved celebrating 10 years of marriage to Brian. I am so lucky to have him!"

Brian

"Favorites of the year: Celebrating 10 years w/Tara; Welcoming Cody into our family; Helping Paige learn to ride a bike; Cheering for my kids in their soccer games; Lots of mountain bike racing; Family trip to my dad's old stomping grounds in Montana + a quick trip through Yellowstone; A fun reunion in AZ; All four brothers in Provo for a bike trip."

We hope you have had a wonderful 2011 as well. Merry Christmas to you all!

Putting Christ in Christmas

In an effort to not spend too much money this Christmas we embarked on a big and fun project of creating illustrated Books of Mormon to give to friends and cousins. It is something a friend gave our family when we moved from our house in Orem and we have always thought it was the neatest thing.

First, we took our boxes of old Ensign and Friend magazines. (Which I had only been saving for a project such as this, but had never gotten around to doing it.) We flipped through at least 100 magazines looking for good pictures to use in the scriptures. They had to be a good size, and hopefully correspond with something in the Book of Mormon. There were, of course, many pictures of Christ, but occasionally we'd find something really unique, like Alma the Younger, or Lehi's Dream.


After cutting and cutting, I sorted through all the clippings and arranged them into categories. We ended up with 27 groupings. Then I went through and printed out a paper of corresponding scriptures to go with each category. The hard part was finding scriptures that would space out the pictures nicely throughout the book, instead of clumpings in a certain chapter.


Then we took glue sticks and pasted in the pictures throughout the scriptures. We also marked the scripture that went along with the picture. Now we had an illustrated Book of Mormon with more than 30 pictures to look at.



We've found these to be really useful to bring to church to look at pictures and talk about what is going on. It is always exciting during family scripture study to turn the page and see a new picture as well.

Although it was a lot of work, I really enjoyed making these presents. It was a big learning experience for me to get deeper in the scriptures and make connections between stories and important gospel principles. It really helped strengthen my testimony and turned out to be an easy way to think about Christ during the Christmas season.

Interesting fact: This is the most used picture of Christ in the Ensign,
in various stages of cropping.

Oh - and now I can't open a church magazine without automatically flipping through it and seeing if there are any good pictures to cut out. I hardly even bother with the articles. Guess I'll have to get over that.

I believe in Santa

You hear the stories of Christmas miracles and the eyes of children lighting up. You read about the sacrifice and the generosity that accompanies the season and it is all so magical.

Over the years we have been the privileged and grateful recipients of such Christmas miracles. Santa has visited us a number of times, especially when we have needed him most.

Looking back, a few miracles really stand out:

A box of ornaments at our doorstep so we could decorate our tree
Money anonymously appearing in our empty bank account
Large check from my parents after they sold their house
Enormous gift basket of food, snacks, trinkets and even a large frozen turkey
Toys left in Brian's car while he was at work

Isn't it amazing!

My great desire is that I will always remember these Christmas miracles and someday, without hesitation, be able to save another family's Christmas, like others have saved ours.

So, say what you want about Santa Claus, but he has visited my house too many times for me not to believe.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Caroling

Our family likes to go Christmas caroling to our neighbors as we deliver presents. The kids are good at "Jolly Old St. Nicholas", "Jingle Bells", and "Rudolph" but someday they'll figure out the words to the more traditional carols. Christmas caroling is one of those times Brian misses living in California and I miss living in Arizona. Brrrrr.... 20 degree caroling sure is cold. We're lucky to get half a song in at a house. Its not much, but its the thought that counts.

'tis the Season

'Tis the season for babysitters.

We have had/will have need for a babysitter 6 times this months. Too many parties or special events are scheduled in which children are asked to stay home.

While it is always nice to have a little break (especially if it means I don't have to cook dinner!), December is absolutely the worst time to try to pay a babysitter - it would add up to over $100!
I am grateful for good friends and neighbors that have helped soften that blow by trading babysitting and favors. Its nice to know I can count on people to take good care of my children while I am away.

Naughty List

"I hate you!"
"You're stupid!"
"I'm gonna punch you in the face!"
"No!"
"I don't want to!"
"You're not my mom anymore!"
(actually he says, "I'm not your mom anymore!" - but he means the other way around. It always makes me laugh when he confuses it.)

These are phrases I hear on a daily basis from our lovely four-year-old, Ashby. For the past several months he has just had the worst, hateful attitude about everything. Every now and then we get to see the old, loving Ashby, but most of the time he is standing in time-out. I hate having to get mad at him all day long. Its exhausting and just makes me so sad.

The other day Ashby got a message from Santa which informed him that he was on the dreaded naughty list. I wondered if it would even make a dent in his attitude.

Yesterday and today however, we have had a very pleasant little boy on our hands. Every now and then he will act out, but its very minimal. I love my pleasant Ashby! He is a sweetheart and I can't help but wonder why he would ever want to be the mean Ashby. I sure hope he gets used to this new attitude and it will last long past Christmas.

(I guess I should knock on wood).