HOWEVER,
...although this Christmas seemed a little different, I'll highlight the many things we did that made it special and made it ours.
**Matching our outfits on Christmas Sunday. Clark even had a matching red tie but it didn't get pictured. Leah was over the moon about it. SOOO excited to match. I'll have to purchase some sparkly silver leggings for next year to match her.
**Reading 'Elf on a Shelf', naming our Elf Clarence, and enjoying each morning as the kids' faces lit up when they finally located him. He hung from lights, laid in the wreath, and visited each child's room which subsequently became that child's special day (that child got to pray, be the first to get in the car, decide what we were doing, decide what to eat, help cook, etc...). Clarence played with Heman, guarded the presents, and added a little Christmas magic to our holiday.
**Watching 'It's a Wonderful Life.' We vowed to only watch 20 minutes of the movie because we were exhausted that night but ended up watching the whole 2 1/2 hours and shedding many tears. What an awesome movie. It can never be redone....it is a true classic. I also learned that's where our Elf's name came from (Clark named him).
**Pulling out activity ideas from the advent calendar each day. Activities included, but not limited to, a Christmas tea party, watching Frosty, making paper snowmen, having a paper snowball fight, eating candy canes, reading Christmas books, making rice krispie treats, choosing toys to give away to other children, taking Christmas gifts to the post office, having a 'sleepover' in the living room, driving to see Christmas lights, and coloring Christmas pages. Like I mentioned, I fizzled out on the activities as Christmas got near but it was fun to have the advent tree out this year for the first time especially because my mom helped me make it and so I'm reminded of her when I look at it.
**Letting the kids sleep with Christmas lights in their room. That was really magical for them and certainly was a nice bargaining tool when we wanted them to go to bed!
**Celebrating Clark's birthday. His birthday just confirms that Christmas is indeed near and our excitement starts to grow. This year we presented him with presents dedicated to his car. Treats, gum, new rims, gatorade, floss, back heat pads, and a few other things to meet his every need as he drives to and from work everyday, sometimes spending way more time than anticipated in there. He also got a rice krispie treat in the shape of a 'D' for Dad although I think deep down he really wanted the 'C' so I'll stick with that next year.
**Planning and preparing a Christmas work party for the newer BYU employees at the firm. We had a lot of fun things planned and a big crowd coming. THEN the ice storm came. Or as others have called it 'icepocalypse' or 'icemageddon.' We've lived here over four years and haven't experienced anything like it. Freezing rain and below zero temps for days so everything was covered in ice and nothing was melting. School, work, AND church were cancelled (which is unheard of) because driving was too dangerous. We rescheduled our party for the following day and moved it to the middle of the afternoon so the roads would at least be slushy and visible. Everyone agreed to the new time but as the party got closer, person after person cancelled and said they didn't want to drive. Unfortunately we had already prepped and cooked all our food so we couldn't really move it to the next weekend. As a result, we improvised and invited two couples over that we'd prefer to spend time with anyway and were willing to brave the roads. We had a GREAT time because no one had anywhere to be and we just enjoyed each other's company. And even though we weren't going to be having our ugly sweater contest, Clark and I wore ours anyway and took a picture in our photo area. The sweaters can't be beat....especially Clark's.
**Driving to see the Christmas lights with the kids and our friend Marisol. This neighborhood we go see each year is awesome. It has carriage rides and offers limo services to see the lights. It's pretty fun. We had a good time but still had one more house to see on our way home. It was just a small detour but it was worth it. What kid wouldn't want to see Santa in a hot air balloon?? The kids jumped out of the car and ran around the yard in their slippers enjoying all the decorations and the music playing (it's a yard you walk through an entrance to see the decor). Then the owner of the home came out and spoke with us for a bit and later invited us in to see what the inside of his house looked like!! It was as if from a magazine. Every nook and cranny filled with decor, it smelled amazing, and he explained how he has 17 Christmas trees. It was unreal. He sent us away with cake for the kids and we drove away in awe. I love when people are just totally, incredibly kind to those they don't even know. It warms my heart.
**Seeing our kids bring life to our nativity set. We have a couple nativity sets and they loved to play and pretend with them although Zachary kept wanting the wisemen to fight. It's hard for him to understand that not all stories have bad guys. :) Clark often found pieces of one set in his work shoes and one day I found the figures of the Nativity gathered around some spare change. the baby Jesus was totally on the outside of the circle and Mary was no where to be found. Maybe we're not quite relaying the proper message of Christmas to the kids. :) We read and talked about the nativity so many times in December I think the kids were glad to have Christmas come and go so they didn't have to recite those scriptures again.
**Teaching the kids the song 'Christmas Bells are Ringing' for the first time and listening to them sing it all month. It's amazing how fast they learn songs and no matter what Zachary says and even though he refuses to sing most of the time, he always knows the words perfectly. I know this because he sings when he plays by himself and I go and listen outside his door. I took the kids into Primary this last week to check it out and luckily the chorister chose to have everyone sing 'Christmas Bells.' The kids were excited they knew the song although I'm not sure they were thrilled about the prospect of primary (no toys or snacks).
**Planning, prepping, coordinating, and organizing from the ground up the program for our Ward Christmas party. Unfortunately the party got rescheduled because of the ice storm and became a luncheon instead of a dinner but the turnout was still great and the program went off without a hitch (considering there were no practices). I wanted to avoid any run throughs because I didn't want to hassle with people's schedules so I tried to make the program very clear and the order of the parts/performances very easy to understand. We did a slide show of Christmas pictures, some which included ward members, that were projected during each performance. In between performances, there was a script and story being told of a family sitting a talking about the meaning of Christmas. I was so fortunate to have a member of our ward who is a lighting and sound expert and agreed to help me. I could not have done it without him. I was definitely bummed when the party got rescheduled because I just wanted it to be done. When it did finally come, I was relieved all the stress and worry were overwith. I have a feeling it won't be my last program I plan... I might need to hold on to that script.
**Driving down to the Dallas temple with the kids for the first time. We looked at the nativity set on the temple grounds and hurried to take pictures because it was freezing cold that day. The kids were excited to see the temple and the Angel Moroni up close.
**Making Clark's favorite chocolate pudding pie for Christmas Eve. Since I wasn't making the pumpkin roll, I consulted Clark's mom about how to make the pie. She graciously agreed to divulge her secret and Leah assisted me in making our first one. As always, Leah was so proud afterward but wouldn't even come near it when it was time for tasting and eating. No chocolate/sugar/sweets for that girl. She gags it up. So weird.
**Reading our favorite Christmas book. We purchased 'A Christmas Dress for Ellen' (a book retold my President Monson) several years ago because it is one of the most touching stories we've ever heard. Clark and I cannot get through it without crying. It's going to become one of those books that our kids dread each year because Mom and Dad just cry through it. We love it though. Makes you really think about the meaning of Christmas.
**Leaving the hustle and bustle of the city to go spend Christmas in Southern Oklahoma. The five of us drove three hours north to a beautiful log cabin hidden in the trees. The cabin was awesome! It had everything we needed including robes, a hot tub, a jungle gym and playhouse for the kids, DirectTV, and king sized beds. We brought our own Christmas tree to set up and decorate although there was already a tree set up at the cabin. The kids received new ornaments this year (Superman, Batman, and Cinderella) and both superheroes broke after being dropped on the wooden floor. Thank goodness for Superglue! I loved the staircase and just wanted to sing Christmas songs from it every time I went up or down. We played Dominoes, pool, Chutes and Ladders, Connect 4, and completed a puzzle. Seriously, the cabin had everything. In the mornings we played in the hot tub and the kids LOVED it. We went for walks, make more rice krispies, and watched a ton of Christmas movies. Hallmark channel anyone? Clark and I watched two movies on Christmas Eve and started a third but had to call it quits because we knew our Christmas morning would be early. The kids barely made it through one story on Christmas Eve before collapsing into bed......at 5:30pm. However, that made for a very peaceful evening complete with homemade Cafe Rio, sparkling cider, and chocolate pudding pie. Add some Hallmark movies in and it's pretty much a perfect Christmas Eve.
**Watching Polar Express for the first time with the kids. Then watching it SIX more times....in a week! Ha! They just loved it so much and I knew we wouldn't watch it after Christmas so I threw all judgement and caution out the window and happily agreed to let them watch it if they asked. Of course it was usually broken up into three or four separate segments and we always fast forwarded through a big section in the middle that's kind of dark and scary. I tell you, that sure is a magical movie though. We even went out one afternoon to the dollar store and bought our own bells. The kids loved ringing them and IClark and I claimed we couldn't hear them which made the bells all the more special. Although Christmas is over, they are all still sleeping with their bells.
**Presenting the kids with fun, new toys on Christmas. The only presents we brought to the cabin were some Citiblocks. The blocks are great but do require some imagination and patience. The kids were interested for a short time then wanted to do something else. Clark sure has enjoyed them though! The kids will appreciate them soon enough. Along with presents from friends and grandparents opened later in the day, we felt very blessed and fortunate...and tired. We had woken up at 5am, cooked german pancakes, played with toys, played in the hot tub, packed, drove three hours, unpacked, skyped with lots of family members, opened gifts, and still had to put the kids to bed. They got cereal for dinner and we couldn't get them in bed fast enough. It was a WONDERFUL day.
Even though it seems as if we were busy with many fun and exciting things, it really was just a normal month with the normal fighting, time outs, and bedtime struggles. It really didn't feel busy at all. In fact, it felt like it moved incredibly slow because I was just anxious to get away to our Christmas cabin. But there is just something about Christmas. And even though our kids kind of understand Santa and all that stuff, they do understand who Jesus is. They understand showing love and giving. They understand good feelings, spending time with family, and learning to be patient. We don't have the best decorations or movies and we are not always the best gift-givers, but we love Christmas because it makes our home feel different and really focuses our discussions, scripture reading, prayers, and hearts on what is most important. Now the challenge is to keep that focus all year round. A good new-years resolution I suppose. ;)
Our family pictures are included in this post. These were taken by our friends on a very cold and windy morning. I'm forever grateful they came and did these for us.
2013 sure was a good one.
So awesome! You are such great parents! I wish we were closer to be able to love on those cute kids! Eleanor and Savannah would really like Leah!!!! Have a great New Year!
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