Christmas Day

I didn't take very many pictures of Christmas day.  I was sort of in a mood.  I also wanted to be a little more in the moment rather than take pictures.  So this is what I got.

The kids woke up around 6.  The girls were, of course, up first (they always are).  We all went downstairs and we went through our stockings first.  There was some candy, and orange, the girls got some hair bows and the boys got a trinket (Noah an oil dipper and Brock accessories for his Foosball table).

Then we opened presents.  

Megan got this doll from Grandma Hanna - she wants to learn to do hair so when she is a mom she will know what to do.  :) 

She also got these cool earmuffs from Brock.  We had the kids really put some thought into what they bought their sibling (they drew names).  I was with Brock and he put quite a bit of time and thought into what to get Megan - we walked around Target and looked at all sorts of things for about a half hour.  He also so got her nail polish.  She also got a mermaid tail from Aunt Katie and some 18 inch doll clothes. 

Noah got this oil dripper and a weighted blanket.

He also got this Freddy's blanket and pillow case from Madison and a robe from Aunt Katie (and bath bombs.  The also got a few science things.  He loves little trinkets to watch and fiddle with.  From Grandma Hanna he got Minecraft Story addition.

Madison got an invention kit to build simple machines with.  I didn't take a picture with all her stuff - but she got a spy kit from grandma Hanna and an 18 inch doll bunk bead from aunt Angie.

Brock got accessories for his table.  Brock had been saving for months to buy a Foosball table.  He had about 20 dollars (he needed a lot more).  Then one day our neighbors that were moving asked if we wanted theirs (it is a 5 in 1) - but it had no accessories.  So for Christmas he got air hockey and Foosball stuff.  

From Grandma Hanna he got a new football (with plays on it), from Aunt Ashley he got a watch, he also got some football receiver gloves and an armband to hold football plays, and the game of Risk.

Since Jason had been out of the job for the last 5 months many members of our family, friends, and ward had left us money, gifts, and gift cards through out the month (some of them we knew who they were, and some were anonymous).  After our Christmas we had the kids open these gifts.  We wanted them to know that these were gifts given to us out of service and love and that we have many people who care about them, love them, and look out for them.  Most of the things were Legos!  We spent the rest of Christmas putting together Legos.

I made our usual brunch.

We went to our good friends house - the Birchs. It is a long story but Veronica and I decided to take a picture together - but it's NOT a selfie and it is NOT posted on Facebook!

Madison also got a "real" invention kit.  Jason and her have spent the last 2 months building a radio, a battery, and engine, and ... some other cool stuff.

She has loved it.  This is a Morris code thingy.

More Legos built

It was a great Christmas.

Christmas Eve

Living away from family puts a little more pressure on me if I want my children to have holiday traditions that are different than just any normal day.  Most holidays are easy because the holiday itself is special - but Christmas eve is hard.  In my family growing up Christmas eve was full of more traditions than Christmas and I want that to be the same for my kids.  But when there isn't anything in particular to "do" - I have to get creative. 

Christmas Eve morning packages started arriving from Utah.  The kids are always so excited to get presents fro their grandparents and aunts and uncles and put them under the tree.

We worked on a 1000 piece puzzle all Christmas week long.  It was hard - a little too hard.  They were all "in it" for the first day or 2... then it was just Brock and Jason who worked on it... then it was just Jason.  But everyone loved having it, loved the idea of it. and were excited when it was finished!

We made, cut out, and frosted Christmas sugar cookies.  cutting out sugar cookies with 4 young kids is hard and a lot of crazy work - I try hard to be prepared for success!  But it definitely takes 2 of us. (when they were younger it took more than 2 and we couldn't do it unless we invited other adults to help)

Then we frosted.

Last we we started a tradition of having a sea food buffet for Christmas Eve dinner. 

I made shrimp scampi from scratch this year.  It was pretty good if I say so myself.

And then there is this...  my heart of hearts!  My extended family dances around the Christmas tree ever Christmas eve.  And not just my extended family, but we have done it for generations and many other families off our family tree still do it.  Almost all people who marry into our family hate it and only marginally humor us as we dance around the tree - and usually opt to take pictures rather than dance - my husband definitely fell into this category.  When we moved to Denver I honestly think on his "pro" list was "never have to dance around the Christmas tree".  Well this year I came to him and told him how much it would mean to me if we started/continued the tradition of dancing around the Christmas tree with our own children.  People... this is true love.

It made my heart sore!

And then I asked Brock to take a picture of Jason and I in front of the tree.  Here is what we got.

And then we ended our night with the Muppets Christmas Carol.  It may have been a perfect Christmas Eve.

Family History

I have been working on family history a lot.  I have a strong testimony of the protection the comes to me and my family when I am actively engaging in doing family history work.  My home truly feels more like the temple when I find time everyday to work on it.  I know that there are angelic visitors in my home helping me in the process - when angels are in my home it helps keep the adversary our.  Here are some random pictures I have collected.

This is my "birth" paternal grandmother.  My father's mother didn't raise him - she left the family when he was just a few months old.  She was never really involved in his life - but started coming around once a year or so when I was about 5.  She died when I was 13.  Currently we are not linked in our family tree's *(we are not sealed) - but my dad sent me this picture of her so I could update her file in her family tree (she was sealed to her 4th or 5th husband). Her name is Carol Anderson.

These are some pictures of headstones I took at the Provo Cemetery when we were in Utah.  They are from Jason's side (if the Herbert didn't give it away)

The river on Lucile's headstone has great significance in the family.  This is the river that ran behind the family home.  She painted a picture of it - it hangs in my in-laws kitchen.

This is the actual photograph that the painting was done from.

As I have been preparing names for temple work the kids became interested.  Madison and Megan cut out the cards for me - and I decided to hang them on the wall so my kids would know what work Jason and did at the temple.  They can see as I find spouses and children and when baptisms or sealings get done.  It is very exciting.  I think I will keep this tradition - I look forward to a day when my kids or grand kids can come over to my wall and pick a name they want to take to the temple that day.

This was the first batch of names I took one early morning to the temple to do baptisms.

From all the family history work Jason and I decided we wanted to make a really nice family history wall.  It will take us a while - but for now I have started just sticking things up randomly.  My aunt gave us this picture for Christmas - it is very important to our family - it is of early church missionaries teaching some of the first Danish converts in Denmark.  My great grandfather had a very large gallery lit painting in his living room that my great grandmother sold to the church after he passed.  It has hung in the Church history Museum.  Elder Rasband says he has one hanging in his office... it might be ours.