Christmas Joy

 Christmas is here, Glory to the newborn King!

Our month has been busy.  I enjoy all the traditions and activities that come along during Christmas time, but I'm also looking forward to the slower, quieter days that follow with the New Year.

I don't want to forget -

Taking the girls to school for their annual Breakfast with Santa.

Abigail didn't want her picture with Santa this year but after her 3rd grade teacher offered up 5 paw prints to do it, she was game.

We got our Christmas tree a little earlier than usual.  The man told us these trees last up to 8 weeks, J came home and said well we only need it to last 3 of the 8.  And so far it's held up well, not too dead yet. 

Beverly sent the girls a computer advent.  Each day they unlock another part of the Christmas town.  They've had fun doing the new days activity.  I love the snowman they created to represent themselves.

I bought a bunch of felt heart ornaments last year after Christmas and this year made them into a banner to hang over the fireplace.  I think next year I want to make a paper banner that says "joy to the world" or " the Lord has come" or something.  My stocking might hide it so maybe I'll divide it and put half the saying on each side of the fireplace on a bookshelf.

I also want to remember how and where Ash sets up her own nativity scene.  This year she's kept it right in front of the fireplace.

The first graders and Kindergartners put on a Christmas program, they did How the Grinch Stole Christmas.  Ash had a speaking part she said, "and the Grinch with his Grinch feet, ice-cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling."

It was a very cute program!  

Abigail is in the school choir this year.  The choir also was a part and sang a couple song in the beginning.  Christmas Feud was Abigail's favorite song.  You can actually still catch her singing it around the house.

We had a little snow.  Thankfully it came on a Saturday and the girls played in it all day long.  We're really hoping we get a white Christmas this year!

One of my favorite Sundays of the year is the Children's Christmas Program at church.  I love listening to our children sing praises to our King.  And the story they tell is so important, how a baby came to bring light to the world.

A favorite tradition of mine is getting together with my sweet friends (friends that God put in my life so many years ago) for our annual cookie decorating party.  I am so thankful for these beautiful, Christian women and I love that our children are growing up as friends too.

The talk around the house has been about Beyblades.  After Luke introduced the girls to them that's all they've thought about.  The girls were so thrilled to get beyblades from the boys.  I always get a little chocked up thinking about the special relationship these 5 have.  They consider each other family.  And I do too.

School days were busy.  Especially that last week.  The girls came home with many cute projects. Abigail had a gingerbread decorating afternoon with all the 4th graders.  Ash had a pajama day - filled with watching Polar Express, eating popcorn balls, and doing a book exchange.  Abigail was given an award at the assembly for respecting others.  Her class had a pancake breakfast and watched Home Alone.

One evening we drove over to see some Christmas lights we had heard about.  It was the best lights we've ever seen.  Christmas lights to music is very cool.

We celebrated Christmas with my sister yesterday.  The time with her and her family was nice and I was so happy to see them!  But it's sad to think that after spending 33 Christmases with my sister this year we wont be together. Maybe that's why I've been so teary today.  I cried as Jason said goodbye and told him I didn't know why I was crying but as I write it out now I know.  

I understand how it has come to be this way but it still is hard and makes me sad.

I don't want to leave on a sad note because I do see joy all around me - like the joy of watching my 2 girls together. 

Merry Christmas!

Christmas 2011

{Christmas morning}

{Christmas with the Family}

{Minute to Win it}

The True Meaning of Christmas

Abigail's letter to Santa:

Do you believe in Jesus?

If you don't let me tell you!

His birthday is Christmas.

The three wise men saw an angel.  The angel said to follow the north star and you will find a baby in cloths in a manger.

Then later the wise men found Jesus.  The wise men gave him a present so he got 3 presents.

Jesus grew up and some people didn't like him.  People hurt him.  People put him on the cross.  People put him in a cave.  

His mother was so sad.

Three days later it was Easter he rose from the dead.  We celebrate Easter for Jesus rose from the dead. 

He is the best gift of all.

I believe!

To: Santa

From: Abigail

Singing for Jesus

The girls were part of the Children's Christmas Program at church again this year.

It is one of my favorite Sundays of the year.

I love listening to all the kids sing praise and worship to our King.

Abigail had a speaking part she memorized Matt 1:20-21

But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.  She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.

Merry Christmas!

Arose Such a Clatter

Each year the girls go and buy a little gift for Jake.

Abigail got him a new tug of war rope.

Ash bought him a raw hide bone.

We came home, wrapped them, and placed them under the tree.

Now our outdoor dog has moved inside (which I knew would happen) and sleeps on his bed downstairs every night.  I'm not sure when the last time was he slept outside, spoiled?  Yes!  Anyways, the other night I woke to a strange sound.  It was coming from downstairs.  I turned on the light, walked down the stairs and caught Jake red handed.

On his bed with him were tiny little pieces of wrapping paper and a bone with just the ribbon left around it.  Can you believe that he had sniffed out his Christmas present from under the tree.  All I had to say was Jake and he knew he'd been busted and that he was in trouble.  But really how could I be mad at him.  I just love that dog.  

So it's always been the girls I've worried about each Christmas, hoping they don't figure out their Christmas gifts but I guess we need to start disguising Jake's presents a little bit better too.

Handmade Christmas

You know what I love?  All the things the girls are making for Christmas.

Every time I walk by one I can't help but smile.

1. Ash's colored Christmas frog and and herself made out of cardboard 2. Abigail made the elf and Ash made the Santa 3. Right after Thanksgiving Abigail made her own countdown chain, she wrote love on every link

1. Ash's gingerbread house (she was sick the last day of school and missed her Christmas party but her sweet kindergarten teacher sent everything home so she could still make one) 2. Ash's cute pine cone grass 3. Ash has made and wrapped presents for us all and put them under the tree.

This is Abigail's present she made for us at school.  I already love the bag so I know I'll love what's inside!

It sure is sweet to have so many handmade things around.  I'm so glad I took a picture of them all.  It really is the little things that bring me so much joy.

Thanks girls for all the love that you add to our home.  

A Weekend to Remember

We had a very full weekend.

Friday night we went down to the Meridian Christmas Tree lighting ceremony and listened to Sissy sing.

Saturday we took the girls to see Santa at their school and walked through the bazaar.

Next stop was to Rustic Gardens where we picked out a beautiful Christmas tree.

I made 2 batches of sweet party chex mix, while chatting with Melissa. (Thanks for hanging out with me!)

The girls and I decorated the house for Christmas, finally.

We also walked around the loop looking at the neighbors' Christmas lights while wearing some cool 3D glasses that make the lights look like Santa or Snowman.  The girls loved it!

Then we all fell asleep downstairs, snuggled in our blankets, while watching, Invasion of the Christmas Lights on TLC.

Sunday we went to church.

That afternoon we went and saw the Muppets.  I loved watching them as a kid. 

Once we got home it was time to decorate the tree.  The girls loved going through their ornaments.

It was a great way to end a great weekend.

Our Christmas Story

The girls slept all night.  Ash was the 1st one up at 6am.  She came in asking what she always asks, "can we go downstairs?".  We told her we'd have to wait for Abigail to wake up.  Ash wanted to wake her but before we could get to her door, Abigail came jumping out of her room.  She said she was nervous to wake up, not wanting to accidentally and run into Santa if she woke up too soon.  What a girl.  

It's time.  Let's go see what Santa brought!

Santa didn't forget Jake.  Plus, Abigail hung a sign by Jake's stocking telling Santa that it was a dog stocking. It worked, Jake had some tasty treats in his stocking.   Jake was happy to finally get a hold of his gifts from under the tree.  I would catch him over at the tree sniffing for his present.  When Abigail went out to gifts for the family (with her own money) she also bought one for Jake.  He loves tennis balls, but not for playing fetch, it's just another chew toy to him. 

It was so fun to watch the girls rip through their present.

Then it was J and my turn.  I asked Abigail to snap some pictures of me opening gifts.  When I looked at them they were all headless shots of me.  I laughed.  But this one (do you see my leg?) I was happy she got,  it shows the sweet tag Abigail wrote.

Another wonderful Christmas.  

I am so very thankful for my little family.

Round two was soon to follow.

My sister, parents and grandparents came over for breakfast and stayed through lunch.

Ashlynn was surprised when she came back into the living room and saw more presents under the tree.

It was so nice to have my grandparents spend the day with us.  Grandma told my mom that it'd been awhile since they'd watched kids open gifts on Christmas.

My favorite part of the day was watching everyone play Abigail's new game, Hedbanz.

Merry Christmas!

Twas the Week Before Christmas

We had a very fun filled week before Christmas.

Monday we did a little gift exchange with the boys and Melissa surprised us with a video she made from all the countless photos we have of the kids playing together.  I love it!

Tuesday I ran a few errands.  Christmas is at our house this year and I needed a few things from the grocery store before the big day.

Wednesday we had our annual cookie decorating party with friends, 24 friends to be exact.

And then my dear friend Kelle stopped by.  I sure do miss seeing her everyday, it was fun to catch up.

We also watched Despicable Me.

Thursday was our cookie baking day.  The girls and I had fun hanging out in the kitchen and snacking on all our goodies, that night we also went out and  looked at Christmas lights.

Friday we took the girls to see Tangled, then J needed to run to Kohl's (in order to save Christmas/get Amanda stocking stuffers) and on our way home we delivered a plate of cookies to my sister and mom.

And then it was finally Christmas ... what a very Merry day we had.  

I'll be back to post on that, soon.

1994 Christmas Letter

I stopped by my mom's house yesterday after church and she handed me a copy of the Christmas letter she wrote back in 1994, she had been cleaning some things out and found it. I'm so glad she did and even though we're all thinking about summer and not Christmas I just had to share.

Dear Friends:

Well, the tree is in the house and trimmed. I remember how excited the kids used to be about trimming the tree - now, it takes us a little longer (like 2-3 evenings). This year, in an intense wave of nostalgia I bought a train set to put under/around the tree. (the idea just seemed so wonderful to me!) Nowhere on the box did it refer to track dimensions; just '18 pc track' -- that's not much, huh? And, of course, you can't put the track together until after the tree is decorated - you don't want to be stepping on it! THE TRAIN TAKES UP A QUARTER OF THE LIVING ROOM! We had to rearrange the furniture to accommodate the train track! Now I need to wrap a few boxes to fill in all the open spaces! It is fun, tho. It whistles just like a real one! And, I am sure Sydney, and our nieces and nephews, and the neighborhood kids will have a ball with it - we are!

I hope this finds each of you healthy and happy. We are all in good health. It is true, when you have your health you have everything. Our lives have been touched by old and new friends battling cancer this year. Clearly, this life is temporary; our days are numbered before there is even one.

I don't really have any news to report. We are at the same jobs (which is news in itself, I guess); same address; same ol' things. This is Gilbert's third year of putting fur collars (and cuffs) on coats. The corporation he works with has expanded its business this year, which has resulted in more work for him. Also, we went to Las Vegas in April to an International Outerwear Show (we had a great time) and made some new business contacts. As a result, he has been asked to bid a 2000-5000 piece collar job and 5oo piece headband job. He is also working as a fur buyer for a fur brokerage. Needless to say, there are not enough hours in the day or days in the week for him. Some mornings he gets up at 3:00 to work in his shop before going to his day job. With the snows we have had the past few weeks, he has had to start work at 4:30 some mornings to blade or sand roads. He does have a woman working for him closing the collars and cuffs, etc. She is a great help to him. She is also learning and accepting other responsibilities which every little bit helps to take some of the pressure off.

Amanda is a junior in High school this year and has recently entered the work force. She is working at Discovery Zone, a 'funcenter' for children and their parents (not a daycare --adults have to stay with the children). She works in all of the different areas (dining, redemption, the Zone, etc and she does children's birthday parties). I think she is adjusting to her new schedule. (the paycheck helps). She generally works Friday, Saturday, and Sunday; and occasionally takes someone else's shift. So her extracurricular school and church activities are relatively unaffected. Her dating life, however, is pfffffff. I can't wait for the kids to come at Christmastime, she can get us in for free. The equipment is made for adults too; something like that show on tv -- the gladiators.

She has also been given the privilege and responsibility of operating and maintaining her own automobile. It is actually both the girls' car; but Andrea doesn't drive quite yet. However, she wants a her own truck when she gets a license. It has been snowing pretty regularly since before Thanksgiving, which has been Amanda's first driving experience with snow and icy conditions. So far - so good!

Andrea is a sophomore this year. She recently entered a poem in a $500 contest and just received notice this week that her poem has been approved/accepted for the next stage of the contest. We're excited about that. Personally, it escapes me -- I never could write a poem. Andrea worked this summer at the Les Bois race track and is looking forward to doing it again. This year she will be 16, so she can get her license to ride warm-up horses.

I am taking the week between Christmas and New Year's off. We will be going up the Middle Fork of the Boise River for New Years Eve. Our friends, Ron and Suzy, have a cabin up there. We went last year and had a wonderful time riding snowmobiles and soaking in the hot springs at night. What a great way to begin the New Year!

Our best to you!
Gilbert, Lynn and family