Our Life: Happy Holidays!

It has been such a fun and relaxing break. I'm quite sad to think I only have a week left before school starts again. This post will possibly be picture overload but there were so many good pictures, and since this will be made into a book someday, I really don't care.

Our break didn't really start until Christmas Eve because Ray wasn't able to get off work until then. I really wanted to see my family, but I have a little separation problem and would have miss Ray too much to leave without him. So Mady and I stayed at home doing miscellaneous things to keep ourselves occupied while the hubby worked. FINALLY, on Christmas Eve we drove up to my family's house in snowed out Ephraim. It got 2ft of snow! If not more. And look what happened to my Aunt's house who lives next door.

Anyways, in order to celebrate Christmas with both of our families, we have devised a plan that works out pretty well. Since my family does most of their activities and celebrating on Christmas Eve we spend the day and the night with them. And because my family still has little kids that wake up at 3 in the morning, we spend Christmas morning with them as well. All the present opening and stocking gifts are done at approximately 7-8 in the morning, which gives us just enough time to pack the car with the goods and dash up to Lindon just as everyone is waking up to open presents with them. I hope to keep this tradition until we have enough kids to start doing Christmas at our house.

This year was such a special year for me. I was reminded of the feeling that should be felt around Christmas time and feeling the spirit of our Savior as we celebrate His birth. In the past, I always hated how long our traditions took and how every year was always the same. I never sat back and saw how much my Mom did to help us remember the true meaning of Christmas and how special our traditions really are. I am so thankful to her for all that she does during the holiday season to remind us of our Lord's birth.

Our evening starts out with a Christmas feast. Apparently we always have had turkey and mashed potatoes for our dinner, I always thought we had ham. (For my family, we will have ham) After our feast, we clean up for the talent show. Each one of us performs a talent of our choice to share with each other. We started with the youngest, which were Tiffany and Breanne singing "I'm getting nothing for Christmas"

Michael (trumpet) and Aaron (clarinet) were next playing "Carol of the Bells".

Ray and Nathan followed playing "Silent Night".

They then accompanied my sister, Kimberly, and I singing "O Holy Night".

I then made Ray and Kimberly sing with me one of my favorite Christmas songs, "Breath of Heaven". Which we butchered because Ray didn't want to sing a "girl's song" - which was a completely reasonable excuse for messing up the lyrics. He made us laugh pretty hard and in the end we just gave up and didn't finish.

Kimberly and Nathan saved the show by singing that one song off of the Polar Express movie. They did a really good job - even though Nate sang off tune some of the time. Haha

This year we had a very cute Swedish couple join us; they were going to school at Snow College and had no family to celebrate with. Their names were Pierre and Gabriella.

Pierre was majoring in music and for his talent he shared with us a song of his own making.
To complete the talent show, my mom, my aunt Annette and my uncle Jerry sang "Walking in a Winter Wonderland".

After the talent show, everyone gathers around for my mom to read our newest Christmas book. Each year we get a book and read one each day until Christmas.

After reading, everyone scrambles to get into their costumes to act out the Nativity scene. Everyone who wants to can participate (we don't necessarily have just 3 wise men and a couple shepherds. And don't forget the donkey, the inn keepers, King Herod...ok maybe not that far but you get the idea). This year, we had our 3 wise men - Justin, Aaron, Michael.

Our Angel - Tiffany

Our two baby Jesus - Breanne and Mady (who preferred not to be dressed up)

We had our Mary and Joseph - Nathan and Kimberly

And our Shepherds - Ray and I

Overall - I thought this year was a good one. And look at how good we look.

I mean it beats being a donkey....right?

After the Nativity, we celebrate Jesus's birthday. We each blow out a candle on His cake and then give Him our gift for the year.

Each of us have an envelope of the gifts we have given Him through the years so that we know if we truly have given them to Him or not - kind of like a new years resolution.

These are mine that I have kept through out the years. I think this is my favorite tradition, because we reflect on the true meaning of Christmas and what we can do for our Savior.

Once all of that is done, we get to open one present - usually pjs. But now that my Grandma is past, we open presents from my Aunt Annette

and my Uncle Jerry

So everyone grabbed their gift and a seat on the couch and one by one each of us opened our gifts.

Even Mady helped.

Because me and Ray got a nice big TV for our Christmas to each other, we decided to give the Sweden couple our old one. Annette gave them some movies and a DVD player to go along with it. My mom had been to their apartment earlier that week and saw that they had hardly anything, since they couldn't take much on the airplane from Sweden. They were very surprised that they even had a gift, a very large gift. When they opened their presents, I wanted to cry. Their reaction was one out of gratitude and love. I wish I could have caught it on video, they were so happy. Gabriella started screaming for joy and was shaking her husband, who sat dumbfounded at such a large gift. The feeling the overcame me was such a wonderful feeling - knowing that I had done something that seemed so simple such as getting rid of a small, heavy, old TV, could have had this impact on me - making this couple feel so loved in a foreign country, away from family. We later found out that what they did for "fun" was to walk to Walmart and back. Which is about a 1/2 mile walk from their apt. They didn't have a car. They didn't have much money to spend on anything. They were so happy to receive a TV of their own. They couldn't wait to go home. I loved being reminded of the giving and not the receiving.

We only stayed up a little bit later talking, cleaning, and watching some show. Can I just say how grateful I am that my Aunt Annette lives next door? Otherwise, Ray, Mady, and I would be waking up at 3 in the morning by the other kids. At a quarter to six, Ray and I woke Mady up and went over to our house through the basement door. We are not allowed upstairs until 6:00 to see what Santa got us. Our stockings are laid out down there though. So we were able to see what we got, which was mostly candy. Mady got some good stuff though.

Almost 6 and everyone is here!

When 6:00 arrives, everyone gathers around the door to upstairs, waiting for Mom and Dad to come open it. My siblings usually pound on the door so my parents are sure to hear it. To make sure everyone is there. My parents have each of us answer here.

As soon as the door opens, everyone runs upstairs to see what Santa brought them. This year, Santa came early for me and Ray. Ray got a nice computer chair

And I got a dining table!

So since Santa already came to us, he decided that we just needed a little something to open up on Christmas day. So we got a first aid kit (which we have been desperately in need of - we don't even have band aids!) Mady got a cute little piano.

This is us with our stockings and Santa presents. Sorry for the bad picture, our camera ran out of batteries and so we had to use my phone. Someday we'll get a nice camera that doesn't use up the batteries when its off or after two pictures.

This is everyone seeing what they got from Santa. Kimberly, Aaron, and Michael got mp3 players. Nathan got his netbook.

Justin got a really nice shotgun, which Ray was jealous of. Someday honey....

Tiffany and Breanne got things for their dolls

And Jerry surprised my parents with a TV.

As soon as Santa is looked at and opened, all the kids race downstairs to open the other presents from the family.

Then when that is all said and done, Ray and I hurry and pack up our Christmas and head to the Martel's house. This year we did pretty good and got there by 9:00. Boy, was Mady ornery with the lack of sleep. It was such a relief to go from screaming, yelling Wayman house, to the quite, open space, Martel house.

This is their Christmas Tree that they get from their backyard every year. Not bad for a home grown tree.

Mady was basking in all the attention she was receiving from the Martel's. Especially Grandma.

We received many great gifts this year. Including a camcorder

A mp3 player - I love how its pink

We also received from the parents a bucket of legos to start our own collection (the Martel's are obsessed with legos. Its their favorite toy. I'll show you a HUGE lego tower...but that's another post).