December 27, 2009

December 27, 2009

Dear Family and Friends,

Merry Christmas! I love Christmas, it really is my favorite time of year. I hope I am doing all I can to make it special and meaningful to my children too. Monday we had a festive day. M had a free day, no work because of all the snow. We used the day to play in the snow more, building snow tunnels, and sledding. The boys went night sledding right before dinner. We did get out and run a few errands. We also made two batches of our cheese ball, and then delivered it to some friends. That was our Family Home Evening. We delivered things to our Home Teaching, and Visiting Teaching families. B-man would hand us a bag, and then one or all of us would trudge up to the door to drop it off.

Tuesday was another bonus day for B-man. No school for him, but M did go back to work. B-man has taken full advantage of the snow. He would play in it all day if I would let him. I try to let him play a lot but there is a limit to how long I can be outside, and a limit to how much he can be outside without me.

Wednesday was another quiet day. We really tried to avoid the stores, but usually we found we were missing some ingredient and would need to run to the store anyway. We live by an outlet mall, and so the traffic around our house getting to the normal stores has been pretty horrendous all week. At night M and I have been watching episodes of season three of 24. We hope to be done soon so I can go to bed at a normal time!

Thursday was Christmas Eve. During the day things were pretty quiet. M worked a half day. We specifically didn't go do anything so that the evening would be as calm as possible and we wouldn't feel rushed to get B-man and J into bed. We had tacos (with homemade shells, and guacamole) for dinner. Then after dinner we read the Christmas story. B-man didn't want to dress up. But I guess I don't blame him since he is the only one. We also read a bit from the Book of Mormon and its prophecies/signs of Christ's birth. We then opened a few gifts, (jammies, and an ornament) and then got the boys in bed. M put an empty dresser blocking the top of the stairs so that B-man couldn't wake up and go downstairs without us knowing.

Friday morning we all got up around 7:00 a.m. We didn't go downstairs until about 7:45 a.m. We all had to be dressed, hair and teeth brushed, and beds made. We waited for J to wake up, but finally gave up and woke him up ourselves. B-man was thrilled that Santa came. He brought him a bunch of Legos, and "guys." (The Legos action figures...) B-man first emptied his stocking and then focused on the Legos. We all investigated our prizes, and then had a breakfast of red pancakes and a smoothie. B-man was so focused on his Legos that we spent the rest of the morning playing with them. He and M had a little Legos production line going. They built about four or five things, and by the last one B-man did it by himself with only verbal help from M. While the boys were playing I relaxed, made soup, and took a cat nap. Finally around 2:00 (after hearing us talk about how he hadn't asked to open presents) he decided to take a break and open some presents. We opened up a bunch, and then had to stop and go to dinner. We had dinner with some friends. There were three families there, and together we five of the seven children were two or under. We were able to eat dinner relatively peacefully, and then when we tried to play Spoons the kids all went crazy. We abandoned the games, ate dessert, and then headed home. When we got home we had a few last presents to open. It was a great day. I love being able to stretch out the gift giving all day so that it lasts longer.

Saturday morning we woke up to lots of rain. It melted a lot of the snow which is great, but it did cause a few problems around the area. I did a little shopping in the morning and then we went to the church and met some friends there. We let the kids run around and play. The men taught the kids dodge ball, and the adults played a few rounds of "Lightening" before heading home for a very late lunch. That afternoon B-man got to watch "Star Wars Episode 4, A New Hope." It was a gift from one of my brothers. He was so excited. He is pretty sensitive about movies, so there were a few times we just fast forwarded. Or we would stop and explain what was going on so that he didn't get scared. He loved the movie, and we talked about Hans Solo, and Luke Skywalker the rest of the night. He kept forgetting Chewbacca's name, so he would just say "You know the brown guy with all the hair..." We had dinner right after finishing the movie. Then read a few books and he went to bed.

Today has been business as usual. M had meetings this morning. He also went to visit with one of his home teaching families, and took B-man with him on the visit. Since we didn't have church last week because of the snow, we did last week's Sacrament Meeting and young women's lesson this week. It was a great day with lots of wonderful music, and the chance to reflect on the birth of the Savior. After church we came home and had a replay of our Christmas Eve dinner. We then read books before getting the boys in bed.

We love you all! Merry Christmas!

R, M, B-man, and J