Christmas in Idaho

Christmas in Idaho with my family was wonderful! We were able to stay for a week while the whole family (minus Ben on a mission) was there. We did lots of traditional things that we do every year: played lots of games, ate way too much delicious food, went swimming at Uncle Mike's pool, played in the snow, went Christmas caroling at the Hoagland's, had our Christmas Eve program, and had an ugly sweater contest. Even though we do them yearly, we still look forward to them. I guess that is the beauty of traditions.

During the Christmas Eve program, Dad read Luke 2. I always enjoy hearing him read the scriptures and bear his testimony. He then read a letter from my Uncle Virgil that outlined how we can honor my Grandpa C. this year on what would have been his 100th birthday. The entire extended C. family has committed to do a week of temple work next year during his birthday week to commemorate and celebrate the great man that he was and the legacy that he left us. I am excited to join with my family in taking part in this awesome event. It doesn't happen until October 2017, but we are going to work throughout the year gathering names and preparing them to take to the temple. What a great event! 

Afterward, the kids got to perform a talent. Hyrum sang a song from "Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood" and Christian and Andrew played the piano. Daniel created a movie of some of the fun things that happened this year. We loved reliving the good memories of 2016. Then we laughed our heads off when he showed us the "extended version" that had pictures of Ben photoshopped into our family adventures. Daniel is super clever, and the video was hilarious! We can't wait until Ben is home (January 12!) and we can all be together again for real. When everyone was done with their parts, we had frappe (ice cream, sherbet, and sprite), a family favorite.

The ugly sweater contest this year was top-notch. We all laughed so much at the hideous sweaters and super creative ideas that everyone came up with. I ran out of time at the end to finish all of our family's sweaters, so Jonathon and I had to reuse some of ours from a previous year. I forgot how absolutely horrible mine really was, so it was worthy competition. I made some new ones for the kids that turned out pretty fun too. I got SECOND place in the adult category and Christian got FIRST place in the kid's division with his great Yoda sweater.

Daniel wore fake glasses, a geeky part in his hair, and a "too small" sweater. We about died laughing when he came out.

Joe wore a hideous gold bow sweater and put gold glitter in his beard. He looked surprisingly chic... for having a glitter beard that is. Haha!

 Hannah and Jake did matching ugly ponchos... super creative!

One of the days we were there, we all went to a movie and left the kiddos at home with Joe and Kym who volunteered to babysit. We saw "Rogue One" the new Star Wars Movie. We quite enjoyed it, though it probably won't be a classic like the originals. We saw it the same day that Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia) died, so it was very strange to see her on the screen again at the end of the movie.

While we were at the movies, the kids played Wii and Pokemon. The cousins sure have fun together. One night they were trying to do the "cool dude" pose on the couch. All of the boys got in on the action. They were too cute... lots of attitude and lots of exposed bellies!

Another day, we went to the church and the kids got to hit a piñata from Grandma. They liked hitting it, but they really liked the candy. After the piñata, we played dodgeball. The men were quite into it and were very competitive. They had a good time, and the kids got to run around and use up some of their excess energy.

Christmas Day was wonderful. I actually love when Christmas falls on a Sunday because it gives us a chance to worship and remember why we really celebrate Christmas. We had church at 9 AM, so to make it to church on time, we decided to have the kids only open their stockings and Santa presents. We waited until after church to open all the rest of the gifts. It worked out much better than expected. The kids got to open a few new presents and enjoy those for a while, and then they got to open more later. It made it much calmer, and we were all able to enjoy watching each other open presents afterward. Church was only one hour, and it was filled by a musical presentation. Claire was the pianist and Daniel did a solo. I was impressed by both of them. It was a really lovely Sacrament Meeting. It was also so fun to attend the ward that I grew up in. I knew so many people and felt very loved. My parents have since been moved to different ward boundaries, but the Melba ward still feels like going home for me. 

We felt very blessed to be able to have a plentiful Christmas. We are not excessive, and I try to limit the presents to 4 or 5 per person (something you want, something you need, something to wear, something to read), but I realize that there are plenty of people who don't have as much. I hope my kids realize that they are blessed to have a dad that works hard and earns enough money to make their lives comfortable. Christmas isn't all about presents, but they are definitely part of the magic of childhood, and I think these kids had a pretty magical Christmas.

We were all really spoiled by our family! Grandparents and cousins were so kind to our kids, and Jonathon and I felt super loved by Hannah and Jake. Each year we draw names, and this year they had us. Jonathon got a huge box of his favorite candy, Almond Roca. He was in heaven. Hannah gave me the perfect present. It even made me cry. She gave me an amazing picture that she painted with watercolors. It is a painting of our old barn from the farmyard where we grew up. She painted it from one of my favorite pictures of all time. She is so very talented! It is beautiful and such a personal, memorable gift. I will treasure it always!

My parents were so generous to us again this year. They gave each of their kids meat from a steer they recently butchered. 80 lbs of steak, hamburger, roasts etc. will last us most of the year. We are so grateful for their kindness. We feel totally spoiled to have delicious grass-fed beef that tastes head and shoulders above what you can buy at the store.

We are so grateful for our family, for our friends, and especially for our Savior. Christmas was such a special time because we were able to focus on all of these things that make our lives so happy. Merry Christmas!