Christmas in Grantsville

We've had a very laid back not busy Christmas season. I felt very holiday oriented when I had the chance to sing a song in sacrament meeting. I chose a song from the Children's Songbook and asked the Primary pianist to accompany me. The song is entitled "The Nativity Song" and I love that it tells the story of what we celebrate. We had a Christmas party with our ward with some nice music, jokes, stories and a quickly put together nativity by the Primary children. Ryan got to be a shepherd. Sadly, I didn't take a picture of him. He was very excited. There was a Christmas tree at the party with two different things to choose. You could place an ornament with your name on the tree and take an ornament off with someone else's name with the intention of giving them some sort of service or gift or something. The second was a candy cane with a description of a child's age and what the child would like or need for Christmas. We decided to participate in both.
After the party, we drove to Springville to spend the night and day with Grandma while Oliver participated in the Provo Christmas Bird Count. Not only did we get to see Grandma, we also saw Beth and Natalie.
The last day of classes was one whole week before Christmas day. We've been just enjoying our time as a family together with no responsibilities. Sleeping in, staying up late, playing games, not getting dressed. You know, those fun things. Ryan helped me choose a gift for a 3 year old boy. we wrapped it and took it over to the Relief Society President who was collecting the gifts.
I had ordered some Christmas books with the intent of having a new Christmas book each night for the month of December, but they didn't get in until the last day of school. So we've had a bit of a marathon of book reading in the last week. It's been fun to see Ryan's excitement of having a new book to read or even his acknowledgment that he's seen that book before at his preschool.
We were given a bounty of gifts from Oliver's parents because they would be spending Christmas in Florida and we haven't had a large amount of money this holiday season, so I thought it was plenty. "Santa" decided to make a run to find a few more treasures the Saturday before Christmas. That same night, we made covered pretzels in order to fulfill tradition. Have you ever wondered if something that you love is as good to others as it is to you? Well, my covered pretzels are one of those things. But I love them, so they will continue to be made and I will continue to give them away if I can.

On Sunday night, Ryan and I went to deliver some covered pretzels to a few families. This was seriously one of my favorite things to do this year. The joy of having someone invite you into their home and spend time talking with you about a variety of things is amazing. Its in fact ten times better than just dropping it by, saying Merry Christmas and leaving. One of the women I visit teach invited us in and she had her grandchildren over with whom Ryan quickly befriended. We stayed for more than half an hour. The next house was the family whose ornament we'd taken off the tree. A family we don't know very well and yet we were able to again sit and chat for quite a while. Ryan explored their home and quickly made friends again. Thank you Bevans and Paynes. You are truly wonderful families.
Christmas Eve morning, we got an unexpected visitor. The Phelps family gave us a beautiful gift. A framed print of Jesus Christ holding a child. I'm in awe of their kindness and thoughtfulness.
Christmas Eve night we gathered into the van and drove around town to see the Christmas lights. We found at least three different houses with their lights choreographed to music which you could listen to by finding the posted radio station. It was pretty cool and Ryan didn't want us to leave them as quickly as others. When we got home we were able to talk about the story of Jesus' birth and his childhood via the New Testament scripture stories for children. It was interesting to see Ryan's reaction to the fact that Herod wanted all of the children in Bethlehem to be killed. "Oh no! Jesus!"
Unfortunately, the rest of Christmas Eve night wasn't as peaceful. Ryan had trouble going to sleep & Evan REALLY had trouble going to sleep (2:30am is not a great bedtime). But they slept in until 8 and 9 and Daddy got to sleep in until 10.

"Mommy, you need to look in your stocking because  I got everything I always wanted in mine!"

Presents were brought out to the living room from under the tree that has been adorning Mommy and Daddy's bedroom.

Stockings were gone through, presents were excitedly opened and then contacting our loved ones began. Phone calls, text messages and video chats were a highlight of our Christmas day.

We were blessed by a handful of thoughtful gifts and have enjoyed seeing Evan play with a toy from Grandma Betty all day long.

Look at that grin!!

Our Christmas has been a bit on the lean side due to the biggest Christmas present we got ourselves: we're building a house! And we've already got basement walls!

Taken Friday, December 14th 

Taken Sunday, December 23rd

I can't end this without mentioning our food traditions. Sunday we had omelets, Christmas Eve morning I made Pop's Puffed Oven Pancake, Christmas morning we had orange rolls and a new tradition: Christmas steak for dinner.

We tried to make Christmas sugar cookies a week ago, but I have decided its too much effort. Oliver enjoys them without the icing which is good since we ran out of powdered sugar and never bought more.
And through this long rambly post I hope to let the reader know that we are as always, ever grateful for not only what the Lord has given us in our daily lives, but the gift of Jesus Christ born so long ago who would give purpose to our lives and hope to our souls. What a wonderful gift and what a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the ability to return to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and to have the chance to be with our families forever. Merry Christmas to all.

Inspiration

I've been having little moments of enjoyment that bring me happiness or thoughtfulness. I've been struggling to find motivation to do a lot in my life right now, but these little things are helping to move me forward one little inch at a time.

Some are just plain funny. Like this website that was extremely entertaining that a friend told me about. www.theuselessweb.com

I had to tell myself to stop pushing the button.

Another one is Studio C, a humorous show on BYUTV that is clean yet funny.  Along with that is Bored Shorts TV on youtube. They do all the Kid History and Kid Snippets. I would love to try and do this with my kids. I really love how something will make Oliver laugh which then makes it ten times funnier to me.
This is one example of the random humor that makes us laugh.

Beyond that are some of the movies I've seen lately. Since it's December I've been watching cheesy Christmas movies. You know, the ones that are just a chick flick but based around Christmas time which gives them the ability to be Christmas movies. Well, while watching these on Netflix, I've also found a few gems. A Christmas Angel and  The Heart of Christmas. Be warned, The Heart of Christmas is about a little boy with leukemia and if you aren't ready to cry throughout the whole movie, don't watch it.
On Saturday, we attended a Christmas party for the families in Utah with an Angelman child. It was a nice laid back few hours, but what makes it inspiring is that everything was donated for the party. Not just the food and the volunteers there who maintained it, or the woman who was taking pictures, but also a gift given not just to each child with Angelman Syndrome, but also to each sibling. There was a Santa Claus there and it was just so amazing to me the kindness offered by strangers as well as the genuine smiles and understanding given by fellow parents. And to see 10 to 15 different Angels with their beautiful smiles is always an inspiring thing. Evan was having so much fun just walking around and looking at everyone. It was fantastic.

Last but not least(for this moment in time), is The Forgotten Carols by Michael McLean. we have the video of the play and I finally pulled it out last night to watch. Its amazing how music and lyrics can be put together in such an amazing way. I felt so touched over multiple songs and am so grateful for the messages given there. It inspired me to pull out my collection of beautiful Christmas cards and hang them on our garland. I also pulled out our Fontanini nativity set(the least breakable set we own) and let the boys play with it. It turned in to a beautiful evening.

Reading

We try to read a book at bedtime around our house. Ryan gets to choose and either Daddy or Mommy will read it. In the last week, for the first time, Evan has shown interest in the books over multiple nights. He has sat and looked and even turned pages without tearing the book. It seems like a miracle. It makes me so happy. I've even shed a tear or two while watching my three boys sit together and look at a book together. It's amazing to see some of these changes that are so small yet so dramatic at the same time.

No Shave November

This is one months' worth of no shaving. Remember how he was clean shaven for Halloween?