Christmas 2013

Christmas 2013 was just wonderful. The focus was on spending time together as a family, both ours alone and Chan's extended family. We had planned to go to Oklahoma City to be with my entire family, but unfortunately we couldn't make it work. But it was fun to get to talk with all of them who were there! Here's some of our Christmas highlights:

Santa Bombing: This year our Santa bomb was difficult! There was no outside plug at our chosen home, so I had to involve an outside party (the sister of the Mom) to take my extension cord over and plug in into to an outlet in their garage and hide it coming out so we could use it! But it was well worth it because this family LOVED it! Their kids especially! I heard later from the Mom how much it brought Santa to life for their oldest child. She is only about 9 and she was practically in tears over how Santa really is REAL! It was fun!

Ward Christmas Party: This year our Ward party was different. They did a pot luck style event and kept the decorations small and beautiful. My favorite part however was the program. It was just a hand full of people and it was focused on Christ and the spirit of Christmas. Brianne was asked to sing a song for it so she chose to sing Silent Night. She did a wonderful job! It was a lovely evening!

Working at Christmas: I was floored at how many people gave me small gifts at work from teachers to students. It was not necessary but so thoughtful! And this year I made a small gift for Brianne to give her friends- it was a plastic twisty straw that had a tag attached that said, "Hope your Holiday Break doesn't suck! Merry Christmas!" It was funny and her friends loved it! No teacher gifts this year which was WONDERFUL! However, I did make some Reese's fudge for the teachers I worked for.

Family Dinner: This year Chan's parents invited all their kids and spouses to a dinner at the club. It was wonderful to have some time with just the adults! It was a lovely dinner and we enjoyed visiting and making plans for the Christmas break.

Christmas program: For our sacrament meeting before Christmas our ward Chorister planned the entire program. She had our former Bishop Gillette be a narrator of the Christmas story, the Primary kids sang a song, there was a trio of men that sang, the congregation sang a couple songs, I sang in a trio with two friends and Brianne and I sang with the ward Choir. The songs we sang were AMAZING! Brianne and I both loved them! Our choir director is very talented musically and she pushed us as a choir and it paid off! The funnest part is that in the choir Brianne sings alto and I sing soprano so when we practice at home our harmonies sound great! I really want to do a duet with her sometime! We loved one of the songs so much that we sang it a capella for Chan's family. It was fun!

Christmas cookies: This year Kathy invited us all over to make Christmas cookies! She bought all the ingredients to make 3 kinds, hopscotch cookies (ones his Grandma Gilbert is known for), sugar cookies and ice cream cone "trees". It ended up being me and our kids, Annie & her kids, Brooke & her kids as well as Grandma & Grandpa Gilbert and Tom & Kathy. It was so fun and great to see all the kids playing together and being creative! I will admit that I even enjoyed decorating some sugar cookies! Brooke made a special paintable frosting and it was a blast! But the best part is ALWAYS eating them! :)

Christmas Eve: This year it was at Annie & Gerardo's home.  At the family dinner Annie brought up that she had wanted to go in a different direction for dinner. In Chan's family Christmas Eve's were filled with prime rib dinners on silver trays and we ate on china! Well Annie's idea- taco bar! Woo Hoo! I was ALL about making it simple! As lovely as the china and fancy food was I much prefer an easy meal that everyone loves! It was a great night! We watched Brianne singing at the Ward Party that I had on video, had fun chatting with each other, I was introduced to Christmas Light 3D glasses that make every Christmas light turn into a reindeer or Santa! Way cool! And of course each kid opened one present. This year Will & Brianne were the only ones to get PJ's- Carter just doesn't wear them anymore. So for his EVE gift I ordered a patch for his Letterman jacket. It is the state of Utah that says 5A Region III Honorable Mention. He was super excited and I am too! Can't wait till it comes in and we can sew it on! It's going to look great! Brianne got cookie monster PJ bottoms and Will got Captain America! They loved them :)

Christmas Day: This year Christmas was a bit more exciting for my family. I was tired of the kids going through all the gifts under the tree, finding theirs, shaking them, trying to guess what they are etc! So this year I assigned a reindeer name to each of my kids and only put those names on the gifts! They ended up LOVING it! It made it much more exciting when the day finally arrived and they could finally find out which gifts were theirs! I would highly recommend it! Especially with older kids! They all got a few gifts from Chan and I and then they opened their gifts from my parents as well. They had a GREAT Christmas! They also made my Christmas very special this year! They spoiled me and got me some very thoughtful gifts! The kids even helped Chan with ideas. It was very sweet! After opening our gifts here we went up to Chan's parents and spent the rest of the day there. We ate the traditional breakfast Sausage Fondue Casserole and enjoyed spending the day there with the family. This year Chan's sisters decided to do family activities as the gifts. So Annie declared that they were going to pay for everyone to go bowling after the New Year. Brooke said that they were going to pay for the whole family to attend Zoo Lights. I LOVED this idea, so we followed suit and said that we would be paying for new family photos. The last photo of ALL of us doesn't have Annie's baby, so it was needed! So fun and a great idea!

Zoo Lights: The Monday after Christmas we all suited up in our warm clothes at headed up to Hogle Zoo for zoo lights. The entire zoo has Christmas lights spread around that have Christmas themes, but mostly animal related lights. There's everything from crocodile lights to poinsettias! And it's fun to see some of the animals out and about! The cats seem to really like the colder weather! After strolling through and seeing all the lights we jumped in our cars and went to a buffet for dinner. It was a very fun night and I love seeing my kids interact with the little ones! It's really cute!

New Years Eve: We spent at Chan's parents home. There was still plenty of food but we added some new stuff to the leftovers and settled in for a night of karaoke, pool, movies, food, games and visiting! Chan even brought over his lap top and played a game for a bit! It was a fun night- Brianne brought a friend and the two of them were killing it at karaoke! Carter left a bit early because he wanted to hang with friends, but Will and Dakota enjoyed playing the new XBox One together. It was a fun night and we actually stayed up and celebrated the new year! It was fun!

"My Last": I kept hearing this phrase over and over throughout the holidays from Carter. He kept pointing out that this would be "his last... Christmas, new years etc etc before leaving for 2 years. His mission is becoming a reality and hearing him say these things only makes it more and more real! I am so proud of him for making this decision, but I have to admit that it's hard to hear! It's hard for me to imagine a holiday without him around, but it will be a reality sooner than later! It was awesome how many family members were asking him about his plans and even more awesome to see his face light up as he told them. We couldn't be more proud. He was also accepted into Utah State, Weber State, Southern Utah University, Dixie University and Montana State. He still wants to apply to Oregon (he's a HUGE ducks fan) so we better get on that. He's still trying to decide where to go but it's wonderful to have so many options! But either way... it's his "last" Christmas living at home... **sigh**

Now that the new year has arrived we are jumping back into school and work, but also doing a couple projects at home! We got a little money for Christmas so Chan and I ordered a new sectional couch for our family room! So we needed to move the couches we have now. This led to getting rid of all we had in the basement to make room for them, only to find out they wouldn't fit! SO, we sold the ones we have now to a friend and are going to have to go purchase something for the basement now. PHEW! In the mean time I have repainted the basement, cleaned it well, bought a new TV center for the kids & Chan put it together! So we are getting there! I hadn't planned on doing such major stuff during my break, but I have to admit I am really enjoying making these changes. It's been a VERY long time since we did anything new in the basement! It's fun!

Happy New Year to you ALL!