Merry Christmas!

12/15/11

Dear all of our family & friends,

I am ashamed to admit that the first thing that goes out the window when the Christmas-craze arrives is the family picture/letter.  The other thing to go are neighbor gifts.  The third thing that goes (sometimes the second) is food.

We love to get all of your family pictures & letters.  Although I may not see many of you often, you are regularly in my thoughts.  As for us, I had hoped to get a nice family picture done this year so I didn't get to putting a card together in November.  But the family pic just never happened quite right.  And in all honesty, I knew that I could "post" a family letter with a quick picture if necessary.  I did intend to write up something of the reflections of our year, a few funnies, and a nice inspired message of hope & Christ-centered love at this time of year.

Instead, Merry Christmas is about all I've got. 

(Oh yeah, and read the gospel of John in the New Testament & 3rd Nephi in the Book of Mormon which is the account of the prophecies & signs of Christ's birth being watched for by the people on the American Continent, the faith of the believers, and later Christ's visit to these people after his death & resurrection.) 

As for neighbor gifts, I made raspberry-jalepeno jam in September.  So I thought I had that covered.  Just package it with a small thing of cream cheese & a box of Wheat Thins.  Oh, wait.  Not enough jars of jam.  Should have made a third batch.  Oh well.  Pioneer Party's gift bag of chocolate covered cinnamon bears are easy to come by.  Shoot, still didn't buy enough.  Oh look, ready-made white chocolate covered pretzels.  Add to a bag of mixed nuts & Clementines & what a nice give-away gift.  Oh, boy.  Still not enough.  Guess we have to pull out the mixer, turn on the oven & start the popper.  Parker made chocolate chip cookies & we shared a favorite snack - homemade caramel popcorn.  Wait, still haven't given local family members anything.  Well, we did share at the white-elephant party & we do get to spend time together & share food at other special family gatherings.  

Had I known that doing neighbor gifts would turn out the way it did, I probably wouldn't have done them! 

But maybe I would have...I do enjoy the work of it all.  But I really enjoy the quick visits during this crazy wonderful holiday time that come with the deliveries.  I am so grateful for so many people in my life who lift, support & love my family & I.  

We just want to share a piece of us with you. 

Of course, I don't want to miss out on any of the goodies that you are sharing either!  (Stop, I'm totally kidding!)

And food?  Yep, with all the goodies coming in who needs regular food?  And all the shopping?  Why bother eating?  Its 3:00 & no lunch yet?  Get your own!  You know where the food is.  8:00 and you haven't had dinner yet?  Oh well.  Go eat a yogurt or an apple.  That's not enough?  Have a bowl of cereal.  Its not really that bad, but I would love for Santa to bring me a few instant meals.  In the true spirit of keeping Christmas (!??!), I have promised my family a real dinner of taco salad (even with taco meat, a rarity in our taco salads - & not for lack of beef!) tomorrow.  Hope we get the table cleared off in time to serve it!

Now, it hasn't been all work the past couple of weeks.  We've taken time to play together.  

Kyralyn's dance showcase was fun to see (for now you can see it on youtube - search for Kyralyns dance showcase).  
We watched a couple of Dallin's bball games.  

We've done lots of shopping.  

The boys had cousin sleepovers.  

Paul coordinated a wonderful Awards Ceremony for Cub Scout Pack Meeting, with a great Arrow of Light ceremony and awesome cookies!  

We had a birthday party (so grateful for a church building to send several 12 year olds to play basketball in -thanks for doing this Paul).  

Paul took the kids swimming.  

Parker & Tylan went swimming the next day.  

We had a family night out watching Daddy ref a game with Greg & Tammy (an adventure as we sat in the mouthy section of the crowd - a bit hard on the ears of the ref's family, but even the kids have learned to be in good humor as they hear the comments yelled out.)  

We enjoyed a meal out with Tanya to Chile's.  Delicious.  And we always love your company.  
We watched the Hale Center Theatre's production of A Christmas Carol - from the front row.  We were all enthralled by the amazing ability of these actors & actresses as well as the stage effects.  
We did a lot more shopping.  
We visited Grandma Locher.  
We got a tree put up this year (after a little bump last year - we used a little fake tree - the ward's Giving Tree - as our own Christmas tree).  
Paul & I even escaped twice for an evening out just us together. 

Phew.....

Its been an amazing Christmas holiday.  
 Filled with family, fun & lots of service.  

(And yes I am very grateful for the service opportunities my Relief Society (in the link you can scroll down a bit for a description of this part of our church) calling provides.  I work with amazing women who believe strongly in the purpose of Relief Society & really make my job much smoother!  I also try to involve the kids where appropriate too.  They are very helpful in carrying food dishes, fielding phone calls, visiting with people, loading up giving tree gifts & folding laundry.)

I hope to sit by the tree, soak in the magic of my favorite holiday album (Boston Pops Orchestra's "Holiday Pops") and sip on a cup of hot cocoa with a mint candy cane stirred in.

Maybe in March.   

We love you all & hope you have yourselves a very 

Merry Christmas!