Christmas 2014

I have never felt so sad for Christmas to be over as I do this year.  It was a wonderful month of family time, fun traditions, and a special feeling of peace in our home.  Both Allen and I tried to concentrate more on our Savior and His birth and life during the month--Allen had a great idea to read all the Book of Mormon prophecies about Christ's birth during our family scripture study.  It made a real difference in our home.

Our family!  Brenda totally made this adorable and perfect
Christmas wreath for me.  I love it.

I am so grateful for this special time of year when more people in the world focus on Jesus Christ.  I want to do better at making His life and teachings the focus of my own life--and our family life!--during the other eleven months of the year.  I am pretty sure it will help to assuage my post-partridge (in-a-pear-tree) depression :).

My dad was so nice to come to our house on Christmas Eve-Eve to deliver gifts from the Idaho Falls crowd, and to take gifts from us back to said crowd.  He brought Emmit along, so that he and Brig could stay up late watching movies and playing Monopoly.

Oh nothing, just the look of sheer joy when
fresh huckleberry muffins are served!

Brig says Emmit beat him TWICE, a feat no one in this house
has accomplished, because Brig is usually Mr. Monopoly himself

The main reason I am sad that the season has ended is that we had a pretty great Christmas morning with our kids.  They woke up earlier than they ever have, at 6 AM (which is late, by Coon Christmas Standard Time--I grew up in a family where 4:30 AM was a common occurrence), and they were all so sweet and grateful and happy.  We had a fairly simple Christmas this year, too, with a limited budget and mostly "used" gifts from Ebay and the D.I.  Looking back on our fifteen years together, it's pretty easy to see that the simplest Christmases are always the most memorable and peace-filled.  There's a direct correlation here.  I think the times when we are the most "strapped" for cash are the times when we re-realize what our true riches are, and how abundantly we are blessed with what matters most.  Perversely, they also seem to be the years when we think more of others and less of ourselves.  

Still, I don't want to paint a picture of us huddled around a coal stove with threadbare clothing and only potatoes to eat--we are actually rich by the standards of any country in the world, including our own.  Many gifts may have been second-hand, but everything was new to us!  We got "new" pajamas on Christmas Eve, a "new" Nintendo Wii on Christmas morning (we made sure to get one that is compatible with Gamecube games, since we are rich in the currency of Gamecube), the boys got "new" snowboarding boots to go with the snowboards and bindings that we have scored at the D.I. over the past year, I got "new" comic strip collections from Allen, which is exactly what I asked for.  Plus, we received tons of thoughtful and fun gifts from family and friends alike.

Our neighbor DeAnn was part of all our celebrations, and I love how much she enjoys getting everything wrapped and set up the night before Christmas.  After we read The Night Before Christmas and the Christmas story from the scriptures, she and I stayed up late putting the final touches on the living room, while Allen stayed up late putting the final touches on his gift for Calvin: a wooden tow truck that he completely designed and constructed himself.

On Christmas Eve, it started to snow!  This
is the truck before Allen added a spare tire,
trailer hitch, smoke stacks, and bumpers.

Poor Calvin was completely EXHAUSTED on Christmas Eve.  The kind of tired where you are beyond falling asleep.  He was literally screaming, "This is NOT Santa's cookies!  This is CALVIN'S COOKIES!" about the plate of goodies Mollie left out.

"NOT Santa's cookies!"

After multiple attempts to get him to bed, he finally crashed into a sugary coma while watching "Home Alone."  Bright and early the next morning, he was dead asleep when the other three kids were wide awake and ready to charge downstairs.  Allen and I both knew that waking him up might have the potential to ruin the morning--but we didn't want to have Christmas without him!  Allen was gently rubbing Calvin's back and speaking softly, so the other kids and I said a prayer that Calvin would wake up happy and have a good morning with us.  That prayer was answered!  I have seldom seen Calvin be so sweet and grateful and tantrum-free as he was on Christmas morning, and he went absolutely wild for the tow truck Allen made.

My favorite photo, every year.

This is our fourth year having DeAnn come across the street for Christmas morning, and we have a good system--I call her when the kids wake up, and she gets settled in the living room before we let them come downstairs.  Finally we were ready to head down!  Santa had moved the couch against the front door so that there was more room for the unwrapping frenzy.  And a cozy fire was crackling . . . on the TV.

Santa was here!  Our tree looks a bit Dr. Seussy.

Truman kissing his snowboarding boots

Helping Calvin with his skateboard from Sharla

Calvin "rode" his skateboard all morning

Mollie was so excited to see a Nutcracker
with her name on it!

DeAnn gave Mollie her next favorite gift,
a purse that you can color yourself!

DeAnn also gave Brigham three awesome erector sets

The finished tow truck was a huge hit,
it also doubles as a car transporter.

BEAUTIFUL copy of The Giver quartet (I have read two
of the four) from my dear friend, Carol.

Pictures of my favorite gift tags from
Allen and the one to both of us from Mollie

We were reminded this year of what a great community we live in.  We had so many Christmas greetings from neighbors and ward members and friends--we were positively SPOILED with plates of goodies.  On Christmas Eve, I discovered two huge remote control cars on the front porch--we have no idea who they were from and they look brand-new!  Allen ordered a charger for the rechargeable batteries, so my kids are anxiously awaiting the chance to race those babies after the charger arrives.

One really special gift to our family was from a woman named Lupe.  Allen used to work with her at Heritage Safe, and when she saw him in the grocery store earlier this month, she asked him if he could try to fix her laptop, with translation from Spanish to English by her 9-year-old son.  Allen said he'd try, and he spent a while cleaning her hard drive and getting rid of viruses.  Both Lupe and her husband work at Heritage, but their hours have been cut in half since company ownership changed hands.  Allen returned the laptop, and when she asked how much she owed him, he wished her a Merry Christmas, telling her there was no charge.  We were so surprised when Lupe showed up on our door on Christmas Eve, with a bag of hot, homemade tamales, and wished us a Merry Christmas.  What Allen did for her was no big deal at all, but what she did for us, in the middle of what must surely be a difficult time for their family, was truly a Christian act of kindness.  Her example of service in the midst of trials will stay with me always--it was humbling to accept her kind gift.

Another thoughtful surprise came on Christmas morning, when our great neighbor, Mike, was suddenly snowblowing our driveway, waving and smiling and wishing us a Merry Christmas.  A white Christmas is always my favorite kind, but a snow-free driveway trumps all.

Calvin entranced by the snowblower

While Mike was busy cleaning uor driveway, I was busy BUILDING LEGOS FOR HOURS because Cori gave me my favorite gift of Christmas--FIVE Lego sets all for myself.  She got them for me after I complained about how I never get to help my kids build their Legos anymore, because they want to do it themselves.  I understand how they feel, because I let Mollie and Brigham help me build these sets a little begrudgingly.

Are you kiiiiiiiiiiidding meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee???

Cori and I got to see each other briefly back in
November--she is my fave!

Brig helped me make the "set" once everything was constructed

Knowing my love of Lego, Truman got me this AWESOME shirt

Despite the fact that I still get toys and comic books for Christmas, I guess I am a real grown-up, because you better believe I took a three-hour nap from 11 to 2 . . . on Christmas DAY.

Yep.  Old.

In my defense, I was up until midnight the night before, and I did make a stack of fifty crepes for Christmas breakfast after all the gifts had been unwrapped.  Mmmmmm . . . crepes.

When I woke up from my delicious nap, I worked on city-building for a while before getting ready for our Christmas fondue dinner.  We had invited the elders and had a great time enjoying cheese and chocolate and all the yummy foods you can dip into them.  DeAnn came back, too, refreshed after her own long winter's nap.

Calvin sneaking chocolate: his reason for living

Duano and Wilkinson, so excited to borrow some PG movies,
which their mission president allows them to watch New Year's
Eve.  I laughed at how excited they both were to watch Daddy
Day Care.  They are exceptional missionaries--we loved having them!

FONDUE!  The skewers are half the fun!

I am grateful that Calvin's love of chocolate is
balanced, weirdly, by a love of broccoli.

Kiddos with their favorites
Truman: snowboarding boots and a "lift ticket" for our stake ski night
Brigham: The wii!  First thing he did was make "mii's" for each family member
Mollie: owl hat, nutcracker, and purse-you-can-color-yourself
Calvin: TOW TRUCK with removable wheels and locking tow cable
and hinged hood and extra features made by the world's best Daddy!

Ahhh, what a great day.  Christmas at home with Allen and our kids is truly one of the best feelings on earth.  I wish I could keep them young and home and wanting nothing more than trucks and nutcrackers for gifts . . . it's my favorite time to spend with them, and I intend to savor every minute of every Christmas season for lots of years to come!