Uncle Greg

We just love it when my brother Greg comes to visit. We were lucky to keep him a little longer after Christmas. The kids love to play with their Uncle and I know he loves to play with them too. We all ventured up to Seattle one day to go to the Japanese grocery store. Greg and I still have our favorite snacks and drinks from our childhood in Tokyo. We spent the most time of all the siblings together in Japan. It was a blast talking about the silly things we used to do growing up. One of the things I love the most about my brother is his gentle demeanor and laid back nature. All the rest of his red-headed siblings (me especially) are kind of stubborn and a little high strung at times. I believe he is a breath of fresh air to our family. He is so patient and understanding and I know no matter what he will always love me. I will always love him too! Even though we are in completely different parts of our lives right now it is comforting to know that we still have an amazing connection. He understands me in a way that others don't. I am lucky to have him as my brother. I can't wait for our next visit together!!

Christmas Eve & Christmas Day

Christmas Eve...
Christmas came and went all too fast this year. Christmas Eve was a day filled with much anticipation and feasting. We always do our nice dinners on Christmas Eve so Christmas Day can be enjoyed by all (meaning I don't have to slave away cooking on Christmas Day). Everyone sat patiently for our traditional "Christmas Dinner" photo and then we feasted on ham, potateos, rolls, and vegetables. It was a delicious dinner and I have to give most of the credit to my mom who cooked the better part of it.

The kids were really excited after dinner to open one gift. Either they forget that the one gift they open is always pajamas or maybe they were hoping that we would let them open something else because after opening up their pajamas they said, "Just pajamas...can't we open just one more??" Oh the temptation to just open all the gifts--but no--we wait until morning. Grandpa Al sent the kids a gift to be opened on Christmas Eve. It was the book, "The Night Before Christmas," read by Grandpa himself. The kids enjoyed being able to hear his voice since he couldn't be here for Christmas. It was a really thoughtful gift and came at the perfect time.

After listening to our new Christmas book a couple of times each of the kids picked out a costume from our nativity costume bag. This was the first year the kids dressed up as we read in Luke about the birth of Jesus. I am so glad that I purchased all of the nativity costumes from my cousin last year. The kids were so excited to role play. Andrew was the Shepherd and Joseph. Peter was a wiseman. Emma was so excited to played the role of the Angel. Next year maybe Abby will be able stay up to join us and be Mary.

It wasn't too long before their little bellies called for cookies. The kids helped Mike make the cookies and then they each got to decorate a handful of cookies. Every year each of the kids get to decorate a cookie and put it on our Santa Christmas plate along with some carrots for the reindeer. We are always careful to put the plate on the side of the fireplace so that Santa doesn't step on it when he comes down the chimney!! The excitement was high for sure. I wasn't sure if they would all be able to fall asleep right away but sure enough they were out rather quickly after being told that Santa would not come until they were all asleep. Last year the boys decided to be sneaky on Chrismtas morning so they got their flashlights and headed downstairs to see their presents. I must have sensed their naughtiness because I immediately woke up and raced downstairs to prevent further peaking. Luckily their flashlights weren't working well and so they didn't really see anything. This year just to be safe I put up the gate and then gave them a stern lecture about not peeking and told them that if they went downstairs they would not get to play with what Santa brought them. No one dared to be sneaky this year.

Christmas Morning...
Everyone actually slept in until after 7:00 am which was so nice for the adults who stayed up way too late. Abby was the only unhappy camper. I think she was a little confused why we were all so excited to go downstairs. She was not happy when I gave her to Andrew for a picture. The big kids were so helpful in singing the Alligator song so she would stop crying. The kids were so patient so I hurried downstairs to turn on the lights before giving them the cue to come on down. The flew like there was no tomorrow. The boys immiediately ran to their Santa gifts while Emma went straight to her stocking to eat her candy and gum---she takes after her mom I guess!! Abby wasn't quite sure what was going on but went along with the fun anyhow. She did enjoy her new shopping cart and pushed that around for awhile before playing with Emma's new dollhouse. They were all so excited by their gifts but I think everyone was in awe of Peter's new pet dinosaur Rexy. He was quite the center of attention for most of the morning. Emma finally noticed her doll house after eating some of her Hello Kitty gum and played happily with it for most of the morning. Andrew was happy to sit on the couch and listen to his new ipod. We were grateful for Santa's generousity...BUT Santa made one little error this year. When unwrapping Emma's dollhouse he realized he had brought her the dollhouse with the African American family instead of the Caucasian family...OOOPS!!! Silly Santa sometimes makes mistakes. It wasn't anything that couldn't be remedied with a quick stop on Amazon.com to purchase the caucasian mom, dad and twins. It did make for a good laugh though!!!

There wasn't much delay between the excitement of the Santa gifts and the opening of all the rest of the presents under the tree. It was like three bulldozers came in and ripped the place apart. There were presents flying left and right, paper being ripped like the toys were going to disappear if they didn't open them fast enough. I was busy making mental note who each present was from and so it wasn't until the end that I finally got to open some of my presents. My big present from Mike this year was a picture of the Resurrected Christ taken by the great photographer Mark Mabry. I am so excited to have a beautiful picture of the Savior to put in our home. Mike's big gift from me this year was an electric guitar. It has been a long time coming and now he can finally jam away. I guess this means I have to learn how to play his acoustic or maybe I will have to pick up the electric and learn so we can play together. There were so many other things we received for which we are grateful for. We really enjoyed being able to have my parents and brother here during Christmas to share in the joy. My favorite part of this Christmas Day was watching the excitement on our children's faces as they enjoyed each of their gifts and the love of family!! Staying in our pajamas ALL DAY LONG was also ranked up there with my favorite part of the day. My least favorite part, however, was cleaning up the mess. I think it took us two days to get everything all cleaned up and the toys put upstairs. I can't really complain as I look at my children and see their happy faces!!! Christmas is the BEST!!

December Festivites

The month of December was a whirlwind of activities and busy moments. I was actually prepared with most of the Christmas shopping by the end of the first week. I didn't anticipate that the first two and a half weeks of the month would be filled with both professional and church related deadlines. In between the craziness we were able to finally find a great artificial tree and decorate it (1 Costco, 1 Lowe's, and 3 Home Depot's later) build and decorate a family gingerbread house, listen to Christmas music, hear Andrew and Peter play their Christmas songs on the piano, take the missionary tour of our church building for FHE, and make our traditional lemon poppyseed bread!

Our New Tree...
After watching Mike suffer every year with being allergic to a real Christmas tree and after getting so annoyed with having to water the darn thing we opted to get a fake tree this year. I thought we were being so prepared by getting our tree only two days after Thanksgiving. I mean, it wasn't even December yet. We found the perfect tree at the first Home Depot but they were, of course, sold out. So we went over to Costco and they didn't have any trees left. After two Lowe's we tried the last Home Depot in the area and I wasn't holding my breath as I literally ran into the store. I was shocked to see that there was ONE box left and I immiediately grabbed it and pushed it along the floor because in my rush I didn't grab a cart. As soon as I grabbed it another lady was asking me where a particular tree was located. I quickly realized that she was talking about the tree I had in my hands...the very last one. Deep inside I had to chuckle that I got the very last tree. My family must have thought I was nuts as I chanted in the car, "I got the very last tree....I can't believe it!!!" The kids were so excited when we got home to decorate the tree so they got all the ornaments out and laid them out in one long row. We actually waited until the next day after church to decorate our tree and enjoy cinnamon rolls. We let Abby put a few ornaments on the tree before putting her to bed. At first she was a little confused as to what she was suppossed to do with the ornaments. Andrew was sweet to help her out. Each of the big kids wanted a chance to put the star on the tree. Mike lifted each of them up but in the end Mike was the only one able to get the star to stay on the tree. Our tree was filled with a mix mash of ornaments collected over the years with my contribution of red ribbon. To us our tree is beautiful because each ornament means something to us--it is our tree of many memories and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Our Gingerbread House...
I had hoped to make our gingerbread house from scratch this year but bagged that idea and went to Costco and picked up a kit instead. It turned out to be a really great thing to have the house, candy, and frosting all ready. The big kids helped to assemble the house and after Mike and I put the frosting on the house they happily put the candy on the house. Andrew was really particular with how he wanted the front roof to look. Emma would try and sneak her candies on his side and I believe she got away with a few but Andrew caught her in the act and was quick to tell her to decorate the back of the house. What fun is it to decorate the back when you can annoy your older brother?? In the end the house looked yummy and after eating too much frosting and candy I told them to wait until it dried to pick the candy off. It only took a couple of days before that house started looking bald again but I had to wait until after Christmas to throw it away so the kids wouldn't be disappointed.

Christmas Music...
I love listening to Christmas music during the entire month of December. I am kind of a sucker for Amy Grant's Chrismtas music. Everyday the kids would get home from school I would put it on downstairs and Peter was always sure to let me know he didn't like that music. I compromised and let them listen to their Disney Christmas CD which they love. There was nothing greater, though, then listening to the boys play Christmas songs on the piano. They were so excited to practice so they could have a little concert for Grandma and Grandpa when they arrived for Christmas.

Christmas FHE...
For Family Home Evening the monday before Christmas we listened to the Missionaries give us their investigator tour of our church building. It was great to watch the kids listen to the missionaries and answer their many questions. I think we were all impressed by how much they knew and how profound their answers were. Andrew's random comments were most impressive. It was obvious to me after listening to him that he is really sensitive to the spirit. That will be a huge benefit to him throughout his life. This experience also made me realize how important it is to keep having consistent Family Home Evening with our children and for them to see and talk to the missionaries in our area. We were all challenged to think of someone to share the message of the gospel with. I know that I could be better at sharing the gospel with friends and neighbors. Sometimes our children are our best examples. Andrew has come home a couple of times and shared with me conversations he has had with some of his friends that don't believe in Jesus. It's amazing that he is not afraid to share what he believes.

I am grateful that we were able to reflect on the gift of our Savior this month as we thought about the importance of giving to others and shared in some fun family moments.