Merry Christmas

Christmas Eve had come. We were so excited that the Sorensen gang (Grandpa, Grandma, Corbin, Kyra, Preston and Jesse) were going to come down to spend Christmas with us. They were going to leave on the afternoon of the 23rd, but the roads were so icy all over the state of NM, so they didn't want to chance driving through the night with roads like that. They left super early Christmas Eve. And then the fun began: they ran out of gas, then the battery died while they were waiting for Grandpa to get back with the gas, then they felt a vibration so they had to stop to get a new tire, then something blew in the engine which eventually led to them getting a rental car (a little 5-seater Prius for the 6 of them and ALL their stuff). They finally made it at about 11:45 Christmas Eve night. Meanwhile we were at home getting regular updates on their progress. When we found out they were going to have to rent a little car I knew I was going to have to go out and shovel the driveway down to our house as well as a little parking place for them in front of the house. The van had been stuck in the same place for almost a week (we got some serious snow earlier that week), so we tried to move it...and it got stuck. We finally got it going again and it got stuck in another spot. We resorted to buying chains so that it could get some traction on the ice and snow. While we went to get the chains we decided to check out a hill that friends had told us about - a great one for sledding....and it was. We spent an hour sledding down the hill (fun). Then we got home and tried to get the snow chains on, which became a bigger project than we anticipated since the van would not move at all. When our fingers were frozen (and Sean's toes) we decided to let it sit for the night and next day and we went in to do our Christmas Eve festivities. I had decided earlier that day to save the nice dinner for the next day when the family was all here. So that night we had appetizers for dinner: 7-layer dip, little smokies in barbeque sauce and deviled eggs (not the fanciest meal ever, but it was fun). We ate it all together in the living room and then had our Family fireside reading scriptures and stories and singing songs and ended in the bearing of testimonies. The kids got treats put out for Santa and they all dressed in the matching PJs and then we put in "Muppet Christmas Carol." We sent them off to bed when it was over and they were all asleep within a half an hour. The excitement of the Sorensens arriving woke most of them up, so it was a pretty late night for the adults, but it was great. Christmas morning came and the kids waited anxiously for the music to start and then they hurried into the living room to see what they had gotten. The big gift was a spring that Santa left in each of the kids' stockings, which went to a trampoline that was in a box covered in the back of the room. I'm sure Santa wished he could have put it up, but it just didn't quite get done in time....he he he. We ate breakfast casserole and then got ready for church (we were saving the gift opening for after church). I led the choir, which sounded WONDERFUL (there were lots of voices and the spirit was there and strong), plus all my family got to sing with us. Kyra and I sang with two other women in a rendition of "O HOly Night." I was so happy Kyra made it so that I didn't have to sing the high notes. We came home and shortly after had a phone call from Caleb, the missionary, which was wonderful (especially since my dad can get a conference call going with the whole family). Then we opened presents. We ate a tasty dinner that night: ham, funeral potatoes, sweet potato casserole, raspberry jello, Gullivers corn and sparkling apple cider. It was a wonderful day filled with music and worship and family and good food and fun.