Christmas day 2010

 We had a full house for Christmas and it was wonderful.  I'm so grateful that my adult kids enjoy being home for Christmas.  We worked on simplifying the gift giving and didn't seem to miss the extra stuff at all.  I think we will keep rethinking gifts and their proper role in our celebration.

 These three are the most fun when it comes to excitement and energy.  Of course, we lined up on the stairs youngest to oldest before coming down.

Tall One amazes me with his ingenuity and great ideas.  He made these camp chairs for the V.O. family.  They got two big ones and two little ones

 Ike is hoping to repair his bike well.  Bikes are so much fun when they are working.

 This was a favorite toy among young and old alike.  Not everyone tried to eat it.

 Love this new table runner from Natalie.

 Then I was able to surprise Mr. O with a new wedding ring.  His had worn very thin after 26 years of daily wearing.

 I especially enjoyed having these two newlyweds.  They were so fun.  I love watching a new family.  They were only acquaintances last year at this time.  Now they are husband and wife, their own family unit.  They bring joy to each other just being together.  They laugh often, are helpful, and considerate.

 I see respect for one another's feelings and ideas.  I see them figuring out their own traditions and willing to be open to other traditions.  They seem to be purposeful in their decisions, wanting to choose their path.

 It brings me such joy to see my daughter happy, cherished, and working hard at fulfilling her purpose on earth.  She has been an amazing daughter to raise.  I have watched her learn and grow, excel and become frustrated.  I have seen her blossom in beauty and talents, in testimony and love.  She has become so independent and yet respectful, kind, and thoughtful.    She is the capable adult I have always hoped she would be and yet saves me a special place in her heart where I know I am welcome and safe.

She has become the best friend I always hope for with my adult children as we share ideas, hopes, dreams, challenges, family, and life.  I love her and her dear husband, William.  They will go far because they trust in God, cherish one another, and are always moving forward on the path to eternal life.  Thank you for being mine and for being home for Christmas.

We really enjoyed the songs and Christmas program from Misfit.

Our Christmas Eve

 Our Christmas Eve was a bit different this year.  As we have tried to simplify our celebration, increase our focus on Christ, we have added some new traditions.  I wasn't sure how this would go over but was excited to try.  As it got dark we lit candles, put on our Bethlehem clothes and prepared a dinner of simple foods. 

 We served veggies, pita chips, hummus, dates, cheese and crackers.  (It was nice not to be preparing a big meal with lots of clean up)  We ate on the floor without our own dishes. As we finished we reclined on some pillows.  What made it special was the conversations that took place as we thought about Bethlehem, the first Christmas, the time of Christ's life.  We also sang some songs and then tucked the children into bed.  I think this tradtion is a keeper.

Before Christmas

 We enjoyed this great live nativity for our first time.  A small neighboring community puts this together for just two nights.  There was a lot of snow so we met at a church parking lot and they gave us wagon rides to the site.  Once there they  had barrels with fire to warm us, a short movie about the birth of Jesus and then a silent walk through this barn.  It was a beautiful setting with a sweet spirit.

 Our traditional Sunday before Christmas picture by the tree.  I have been doing this nearly every year and the display of framed family pictures is a treasure to enjoy each Christmas.  We see how the family has grown and changed.

 They always look forward to when they can do the silly pictures.  They are getting quite good at it.

 They loved the snow storms and made their own sledding hill in the backyard.

Celebrating Christmas

Some of the things we are doing to celebrate Christmas!

•  Attend performance of the Messiah which Emily played violin in.

•  Making pictures/presents.

•  Story time and singing Christmas carols

•  Visiting temple square

•  advent with cookies and coco.

•  sending out Christmas cards.

• preparing a missionary
• decorating and looking for symbols in those decorations
• Attended Savior of the World
• planning neighbor gifts
• lots of Christmas music
• baking
• thinking of loved ones
• praying, shopping a little, panicking and praying for guidance, peace, and charity.
• performing in A Christmas Carol with the home schoolers.
• hoping for snow

May your Christmas season be filled with love, laughter, family, remembering, honoring, peace, and joy.  May it be filled with Christ.

link to First Presidency Christmas devotional

Hallelujah!

Hallelujah, for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth!

a new sport

Maybe some of you are more aware of sports than I am.  We were recently introduced to the sport of cup stacking.  It is actually quite fun.  Thanks to our connections with the elementary school's PE teacher (Twinkle) We got to be trained in the sport of cup stacking.  We watched the instructional video, brought home the official cups and went to cup stacking.  It was a lot of fun.  

We also got a snow storm last week.  Not nearly as much as we would have liked but determined kids gathered snow from every corner of the yard and created this igloo.  It was sturdy and well built and irresistible for a 9 yo to sleep in.  Of course we recruited the teenage boy who was content to just sleep outside.  They are so much braver than I am.  I slept in my warm house, in my warm bed.  They stayed warm too, they say, and had a great time.  Thanks Tall One for being a good sport.

Advent begins

Yesterday was the first day of advent.  Advent is celebrated the four Sundays before Christmas.  I have had some dear friends share that they have loved this tradition.  I hesitated because we seldom have our dad home on Sunday's, especially during tithing settlement.  This year I am feeling an incredible pull to come to Christ, to center this Christmas celebration on him, to scale back on the frivolous things that we usually focus too much on.  I'm not really sure what this will all look like for my family but it is definitely become a matter of prayer.  I don't want to add in more traditions that add more stress but I do want to put forth the effort on those good things.

The principle of Mary and Martha come to mind.  There are so many good things that bring joy, anticipation, light hearts at Christmas.  I love the old traditions but I want to consider their worth and where they are leading me.  If they are not leading me to Christ then maybe we need to change a few things.  Martha was cumbered about preparing the food, taking care of the home, focusing on the temporal needs of her very special guest. Am I getting cumbered about the food, decorations, gifts, parties, obligations I may feel?  Mary was taking time to enjoy that guest.  She was choosing the better part.  What am I hanging on to that is keeping me from something better?  What priorities am I teaching my children?  We are raising an incredible generation.  They have a great work to do.  Do we have time to get lost in things that don't really matter?  I feel like I am a little lost, floundering.  It may be a process that takes a while for me to learn but I am anxious to move forward and hopeful that I can be led.

I want the magic of Christmas to be the glory of God, recognizing the gift of the Atonement, the gift of His son sent to earth for us, for me.  I want my relationship with Christ to become more personal.  I want to be better at living the things I know.  I want to be better at living 2 Nephi 25:26

 26And we ^atalk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we ^bprophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our ^cchildren may know to what source they may look for a^dremission of their sins.

I stumbled on this link Advent information and Christmas book for the month of December and am looking forward to using it for each Sunday of advent as well as the ideas for each day of December.

I also enjoyed this interview with Elder Bednar on being an apostle, particularly what we can do - be converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ and be consistently true to what we know.

a tree found

 Do you ever have moments or events with family that you just want to remember.  I have been taking a lot of pictures lately and although they are not photo-shopped or even all in focus, I want to remember the people, the feelings, the joy of being together - hence the picture overload.

 It has been years since I joined on the Christmas tree hunt. I have spent my time at home with babies getting decorations out.  This year I got to bundle up and join the fun.  It was a beautiful day for being in the mountains and the snow.

 the hunt is on.

 I think he found something he likes.  Of course it's up high.

 Luckily we brought a monkey tree climber named Tall One.

Birdseye view

 This is all of us with our tree.  We hung the camera in a tree and set the timer.

 Then we played on the frozen lake.

 Waiting in the car for the Light Parade to start.  A cold fun tradition.

 Then we got the house decorated for Christmas.  All that cleaning sure made it more fun to decorate.

I am sure glad that I had this beautiful day with my family.  I may have missed some great black Friday deals but since I don't get the ads I don't know what I missed and so far I haven't felt discontent with what I have.  We are still counting our blessings and enjoying a Thanksgiving Spirit.  I feel so blessed.

• Mountains covered in snow
• smell of fresh pine
• angel trees
• memories attached to ornaments
• warm gloves