Joy to the World

I love Christmas time: I love the lights and the music and the parties and the decorations and the treats and the family activities.

We had a wonderful Christmas: mellow and relaxes - just our little clan. We enjoyed a stress-free Christmas Eve day (a quick trip to Walmart for a handful of things that morning and then we just hung around for the rest of the day). We had turkey and mashed potatoes and gravy and peas for dinner, with Sparkling Apple Cider. We haven't established a firm Christmas Eve food tradition yet (we heard about a couple of people who do homemade pizza on Christmas Eve, which peaked our interest a little.... maybe we'll try that next year). We talked about what Christmas really means as we sat around the dinner table. That evening we had a Family Home Evening where we read the scripture from our Christmas chain (our chain this year included a scripture or a story from the Friend or a song each night, which has been a nice way to incorporate the true meaning throughout the entire month). We prayed and then watched "Muppet Christmas Carol." The kids got treats ready for Santa and then headed to bed. We got going the next morning at around 7 AM. One of the best parts of Christmas is being a parent and seeing the look on your kids' faces on Christmas morning - really, it's magical. We opened presents: the last presents were the new quads we got (one was in the garage and the other was wrapped up in the front room). Austy spent most of the morning hanging out in a big box of packing peanuts - pure entertainment! Sean watched as the kids took turns riding the little quad later that day. The kids played and played with their new loot. Tom and Carolyn and Rachael and Great Grammy Dick came over that afternoon for dinner: ham, scalloped potatoes, rolls, roasted vegetables, orange salad and pie for dessert. It was a perfect kind of day. Some of the gifts included: Sean: Dewalt 18v cordless drill, harmonica, puzzle table, Life is Good hat; Tera: one piece pjs, cozy purple blanket, garlic press, phone cover; Caelan: snow boots, stationary, scarf, personal mini frying pan and spatula; Ben: Legos, Erector set, Mario Brother figurines, Spider Man toys; Megan: Coloring books and Eye Spy (style) books, ponies, scarf, makeup set, whistle; Nathan: Remote control car, Cars 2 cars, Lincoln logs with train table, Batman mask; Austin: Big stuffed monkey, ball, slippers, book; Everyone: quads and helmets, tickets to Cliffs Amusement Park