Christmas Cheer

This year we reduced and simplified and tried to focus on the Savior.  It was such a spiritual Christmas season.  We played actual CHRISTmas music, and worked on our gifts for the Savior through the whole month and what a difference it made.  Kaylee decided to help others who needed a friend- so she walked home from school with lots of different lonely kids and found kids at recess that needed a friend.  Malorie decided to be reverent during the sacrament- this was a hard one for her.  She practiced really hard holding still with her arms folded and thinking about Jesus.  Her example affected our whole family's experience with Sacrament- everyone was more reverent.  Carson decided to practice sharing with Lincoln.  He did really well!  He would come running to me and say "I remembered my goal so I gave my toy to Lincoln!"  I've been so impressed with their efforts to give a gift to Christ.  (Kaylee and Malorie decided that Lincoln's gift should be to stop crying... so they added that to our displayed list of gifts for Christ.)  Steve and I worked hard on ours too and had lots of reminders from the kids about what we planned to do.  On Christmas Eve we put our list of 'gifts' in a box under the tree to remind us all day on Christmas.  It was such a fun experience during the month.  It truly felt more Christmas-y as we made Christ a huge part of our festivities.

This years nativity was a puppet show, I think this will be the new way to do it each year!  Kaylee was the head scene creator- there were scene changes for the inn keepers, a field full of sheep, the manger scene, and lots of glittering stars.  Her and Grandma were the stars of the show and did a great job.  (Malorie had been sick so she didn't care to be a part of it this time and the boys were too little to get the concept.)  It was fun to see Kaylee in her element- she loves to create, perform, and teach- she did all three.

This year one of our extended family parties included Angie and the boys.  They fit right in with our odd bunch of relatives and we had a great time with them.  Tyler and Carson were content with finding a quiet corner all to themselves to play.  It was fun to see Angie, Colby, Bradley and Tyler feel part of a family... we do feel like they're an extention of us and this seemed to welcome them in completely. 

Christmas morning was so exciting!  The kids had worked so hard on making their gifts for the Savior happen all month that it was rewarding to watch their excitement for their gifts.  Santa knew that Kaylee was dying for a DS, that Malorie needed more American Girl doll accessories (that her and her doll could wear together and MATCH of course!)  Carson got all four Ninja Turtles- I'm sure Santa had to work hard to get those new still in their packaging and Little Lincoln got plenty of potato head pieces to put together.  Steve was a really good boy this year and got a black Wii to go in his redesigned theather room... the smile wouldn't come off his face.  'I' got a new projector for the theater room, that put a smile on Steve's face too.