Holly Jolly Christmas

Thursday, December 25th--Funny enough, Nate and I were the ones that couldn't sleep last night. Nate was quite giddy over the presents and all of us opening them. I just had a hard time sleeping for various other reasons. By 7:30 am Nate couldn't stand the fact that the children were still unusually asleep--we thought for sure Elise would be up quite early. He and I got up and sat around for a little while and then we woke the kids up at 7:50 am. They ran out and we all looked in our stockings. Lots of fun goodies and toys. Then off to the front room to open presents. Santa left Brady a bike and he was quite happy about that. Elise's main gift from Santa was wrapped so she had to wait to find out what it was--a Nintendo DS. Elise has been begging for one for months now. She got a few games to go with it and Santa also gave us some new Wii games and Guitar Hero. I got Nate some a newly engraved scripture quad and scripture bag. I'm hoping this will encourage him to remember them more often--I even promised to fill the extra bag pocket with treats if he'll remember! ha ha ha I got some books, a pasta cooker and some other little things. The kids got LOTS of clothes and some books. They already have tons of toys so we didn't feel the need to buy much more. It was a wonderful Christmas morning. Nate made us a great breakfast. My MOST favorite gift, this year, is an official white Christmas. I've been wishing for one of these all my life and this is the first. Some Christmas's we've had a snow dusting or a few little flurries but nothing like today. It was absolutely beautiful, snow falling, several inches already on the ground--much like when Ralphie woke up to a winter wonderland on his Christmas morning in "Christmas Story", harps playing and all. I shed a few tears of joy and then took pictures.

After a while it was time to make the drive to Salt Lake to have Christmas dinner at my sister, Alishia's, house. She made turkey with all the trimmin's and I made dessert (Chocolate Lust--ooooh yeah!) and brought rolls too. We exchanged presents and they gave us the most awesome gift! They gave us a crock pot that runs on propane! Maybe that sounds silly to be so excited but I'm a crock pot fan and when we go camping it's nice to do crock pot meals but this only happens when we have electrical hook-ups, which is not very often. So now we can do crock pot meals all the time and it's an excellent item to keep with food storage and emergency essentials. Great find, Shad!

After a delicious dinner I went next door to my grandma's house. Grams is suffering from dementia and I never know from one visit to the next if she'll remember me. Luckily, she's remembered me just about every time. I had a great visit with her and gave her some blankets to snuggle in. This may be her last Christmas, we're not sure yet, but it's important to me to let her know how much I love and cherish her.

By the time my visit was done with Grams it was time to get back home. By now, a blizzard was coming and it made for slow driving. Fortunately, most other drivers were being cautious and respectful. We made it home safe and sound. The kids went to bed shortly after and it was time to just think about how joyful our Christmas, 2008, has been. I always get kind of sad that it's over for another year but we have plenty of goals and plans, for 2009, to focus on and get excited for.

I'm so overwhelmed with emotion at the gratitude I feel at this time of year. It seems I cry at just about everything the least bit touching. The birth of Jesus Christ is the most important event that has ever happened and, while we should reflect on this throughout the entire year, I'm so thankful we have an actual celebration for such a sacred event. I know, all too often, people feel they're, unintentionally, focusing more on the Santa part of Christmas and feel guilty they don't focus more on the "Reason for the Season". But really, it seems like we serve more, are a little more kind, gracious, and charitable during the Christmas season and that is being just like Christ.

Merry Christmas to you all, my dear friends and family!