Christmas Festivities

Doesn't it seem like Christmas always comes and goes so quickly? I knew it would happen as soon as October rolled around, and sure enough, I can't believe we are at the turn of 2009! The Christmas gifts have all been opened and played with, the garbage is teetering with discarded wrapping paper, and I have started slowly packing up some Christmas decorations so to restore some order in our home. The next big challenge is figuring out where to put new toys and activities! It's always a good time to sort out what can be donated, tossed, or packed away! And in all honesty, that makes an even bigger mess in your home, so I am just ready to toss anything that doesn't have a tupperware home yet!

Regardless of messes, strep throat/bronchitis/laryngitis (or just a cold-I still can't tell), and last minute gifts, we had a great Christmas weekend! We spent Christmas Eve playing together; we all made a sign for Santa, set out the traditional Santa-reindeer snack, and watched "The King Is Born". I spent about an hour ransacking the house for a lost stocking gift, only finding it after both Jared and I said silent prayers about it. That's what I call a Christmas miracle!

Christmas morning was just so much fun! There's not too many things better than watching the joy on your kids' faces as they open their treasures. Jared surprised me with actual gifts, which we were not really planning to do for each other ...I was very grateful for such a considerate husband! Karianna's favorite gift was a new barbie; she was very serious about her gift opening and gave pretty decent reactions. :)



JD's favorite gifts were trains and 1$ stocking stuffer of little plastic horses....should have stuck with that for all his gifts!!!




Jordan's favorite gifts were the bows, though his new activity table was a close second.


The next few days were spent travelling to and from Mesa to visit with both Jared's and my family; we always feel so blessed that our families live within minutes of each other so we can double dip during holidays! My mom gave us a beatiful Christus statue, and we absolutely love it! We have no idea where we are going to put it right now, at least no where worthy of its presence! It was wonderful to see both families and spend so much time together.

Karianna with her cute "cousin friends", Elizabeth and Makayla.

We also took one last trip to the temple to see the Christmas lights; when we stopped by the Christus in the visitors center, Karianna said, "We have a Christus at our house too! Now we don't have to come to the temple to see it!" We stuck around at the temple until it hit 38 degrees, at which point my toes demanded that we take our leave (I need shoes other than flip flops.).

We sure hope everyone had a great Christmas! We loved visiting with our families and ending the year on such a good note. As part of our family tradition, we set aside a special giftbox for the Savior. Each member of our family considers one gift that he or she can give the Savior in the upcoming year-having more patience, treating each other with kindness, showing compassion for our neighbors, or becoming more self-sufficient. Even if you don't pull out all the bells and whistles for such a tradition, we hope everyone can remember the Savior during this time of the year and remember it is His gift of love and mercy that strengthens us and provides us the opportunity to return to Him someday!