Christmas Morning!

Waiting on the stairs until everything in the living room is just so.

Christmas Decorations!

This is my attempt at brightening up the front hallway for Christmas.  I think I like it.

I noticed that the bottom part of the tree looks a little bare.  It got 'harvested' while Eve and Connor were still her at the Thanksgiving break.  Love those little fingers.

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Jacob thinks I am getting out of control with the Christmas decorations this year.  I wish my house could stay decorated for Christmas all year round.  Right now I think that.  The day after Christmas I am sick of it all and everything comes down.  Maybe this year will be different.  This year I am missing having kids home.  Jacob is here and we are really missing Mark.  Jared will be coming home for Christmas too.  That will be so very nice.

Christmas Traditions

I love it when Christmas falls on a Sunday.  It seems most appropriate.  My favorite Christmas was the time that we had eight o'clock church and Christmas was on Sunday.  We got up and going, showered and beautiful, marched right past the presents and went to Sacrament meeting.  The program was scriptures and music.  Then we went home to the rest of our Christmas day.  If I could, I would do that every Christmas day.  Anyway, here are some of our traditions, some are silly, some are not.

The first one is that we decorate the tree just as soon after Thanksgiving as possible.  Usually the day after.  I love decorating for Christmas and my living room looks warm and thoughtful when we get out all the decorations.  We have many ornaments that have special meaning.  Jared's blue track ornament, a basketball hoop and ball that reminds me of my dad, we also have a bell with an owl on it to remind us of Mike's sister Judy just to name a few. We have manger scenes and the Star to help us to remember what the season is all about.

On Christmas Eve we make wassail and hot chocolate and read the Real Story of Christmas by Cleon Skousen. My dad read this story every Christmas Eve while I was growing up. This takes about thirty five minutes to read out loud.  This year Jacob put together a slide show of nativity scenes to watch while I read the story. 

Christmas day brings lots of traditions.  We have to sit at the top of the stairs until it is okay to come down all together.  Spike hands out presents one by one while we oh and ah and say thanks.

I think on of my favorite traditions is to have Christmas breakfast.  Get out the china and fancy glasses for this one.  We have almost every kind of breakfast food we can think of, muffins, pancakes, fruity syrups, bacon, sausage, eggs and all sort of juices.  The best part is the company that comes over to share the day with us.  Mom and Bob come, usually Grandma Grant comes but this year we were sort of sickish and we didn't want to share that with her. Although this year was slim, in the past we have had over 20 people sitting at the table. (or at least nearby)

Here is the last tradition that not all the family likes.  I take down the Christmas tree and decorations usually the day after Christmas.  By that time, I am ready for it to be gone and some serious cleaning to be done.  That doesn't sound very fun but for me it is totally necessary.

Christmas!

 Best Christmas Present Ever!  Two grandchildren home for their first Christmas!  Connor is six months old and Eve is almost 12 months.  We did have a great time with them.

 Spike is such a good Grandpa!

 The tradition on Christmas morning is to gather on the stairs until Spike has everything 'just so'.  Waiting, waiting, waiting...ok.

 Mark got a cool docking lamp/speaker thing for his ipod.  Nice.  Jacob got a razor scooter.  Just what he needed!

 Connor is so excited for what Santa brought!  Something loud and musical.  Serves is parents right ;)

 Spike and I got new pans for Christmas and our anniversary.  We will be married for 28 years in a few days.  All I can say is "It's about time".  We still use the pans we got at our wedding reception.  Those are going 'out'.

 Mark got Jacob some cool swords.  Those are very needful since his old swords got broken in the summer.

Ah!  Christmas Breakfast!  Since we had Sacrament meeting at 9:45, breakfast was a little late.  I should call it Christmas breakfast for lunch.  Mom and Bob came over to eat with us.  We used the china and Grandma Gwen's fancy glasses.  We all felt pretty special.

An Early Christmas!

 Two new stocking to add to the family.  How fun!

 Rachael, Eli and Eve had to leave yesterday so they had to open their presents early.  Eve got her first baby doll.  I don't think she knew what to do with it.

 She got books next.  We should have had her open those last because she kept signing "book" with her hands when it was time to open the rest.

I think she loves her new pink ball.  Christmas is wonderful time for families.  We are so glad their family came to visit.  We have had the flu here and didn't get to play all the fun games we had planned on.  Mark is (crossing our fingers) the last one to succumb to the sickness.  Hopefully he will be well by tomorrow.

Backpack Treasure

This morning I went through Jacob's backpack. I know I should have checked it promptly after he got home for the Christmas break but I am a slacker. This is what I found. What a treasure.

"The true meaning of Christmas to me is mostly celebrating the birth of Christ but some of it is not about fancy lights, presents or anything like that. It is partly about giving things like presents or good things. I also think that the true meaning of Christmas is a time to visit family and have a good time with them. It is a time to celebrate, have some fun, and give to brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers. The true meaning of Christmas that was taught to me was the celebration of Christ for my church and I have always like to give." by Jacob

Thanks for the treasure, Jacob. Thanks for listening when we thought you might not be. The real meaning of Christmas is about Christ. We celebrate his birth and we celebrate his life, we celebrate his atonement and are grateful everyday for his continued love and help. We have the tree and the ornaments and the lights to help us remember Him more each day of the Christmas season. I am thankful to parents that made the Season special, that helped us have good and enjoyable traditions. Every year we collect a new ornament that means something to us. We have ornaments of Temples, Stars, carved Santas and even puppies. They help us to remember all that we have and the people that we love. I will miss the Christmas season and I look forward to that special time again next year when we re-focus on Christ more than we do at any other time of year.

Random Christmas Pics!

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope this season brings you joy and love and just a whole lot of fun with you family. We have had a great Christmas and hope that this feeling lasts all year.
Love those smiles!

The aftermath.
Grandma Grant, Spike, Connor, Scott and Christina.

Megan, Mark, Ben and Stephanie.

Sally and Grandma Flash.

My favorite Jared! So glad he is home!

Spike using the Wii. Looks like he is getting the hang of it!

Here we are watching a movie. Apparently I am a dog magnet. They all love me;)

Waiting for the kids.....

So.....here we are on Christmas Eve waiting for Jared and Megan to make it home. We haven't seen them for quite a while. It has been since Lucas' wedding in August. We are missing Rachael & Eli and Lucas & Shanae quite a lot. I love it when EVERYONE is here. We are thinking of them and hoping that they are having a good time this evening.
Our plan is to have Potato soup or Clam Chowder along with the traditional Wassail or Hot Chocolate. I get out my special cups that my sister Gwen gave me a few years ago. We are also making Veggie rolls and having some cheese and crackers. After our 'feast' we will read "The Real Story of Christmas" by Cleon Skousen. That was a tradition that was handed down to me from my Father.
After the children (only Jacob in this category) are all snugged up in their beds, the big kids (the rest of us) will set up the living room for Christmas morning. Then we will get to bed hopefully before midnight. We miss those who are not with us any more and those who just can't make it. Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas Stockings!

I love Christmas!!! We have a tradition in our family to decorate for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. It just feels nice to have an evergreen in my living room. Thank goodness we have a fake tree so that it can stay up for a month. This year I have a new daughter, so we needed another stocking to hang up on the fireplace mantel. I got Shanae's done in record time. (It usually takes me a few years to get everything sewn up). Have a very Merry Christmas everyone! May we think of the birth of our Savior and what his life means to us more often this month.

Christmas Pictures

Christmas Morning

Starting at the top: Jared, Megan, Lucas, Stephanie, Rachael, Eli, Mark, Jacob and Marianne. Wow! We are all waiting until Spike says we can come in and see our Santa presents. We were so lucky and blessed to have such a full house this Christmas! We had ten stockings up above the fireplace. Grandma and Bob came over for breakfast and so did Ben and Tonna. We had waaaay too much food but it was really good.