Christmas

Luckily for us we had no last minute shopping to do on Christmas Eve--well almost no shopping. On Monday morning we cleaned up our house and then headed up to Rexburg where we did have to stop at Mom's Kandy Kitchen for a couple of purchases. There was a long line.

After our stop we headed up to Tetonia where we were planning on sledding with Terry's brother Tom--who runs BYU-I's outdoor recreation center. The weather was snowy and the roads were awful and I kept telling Terry we should turn around. But he didn't think they were bad enough for that so we continued on. We made it without problems and we sledded with Tom and Kerry and their family for a few hours. I stayed in the lodge with Isaac. Kerry was also there along with one of her friends and their babies. I have some pictures of Sam and Ainsley and their rosy cheeks. They didn't last on the sledding hill for too long.




After sledding we sped back to Sugar (not really speeding because the roads were bad) and made it just in time for the Gee family caroling. My extended family always gets on a trailer with hay and carols on Christmas Eve every year. It is getting very crowded because we are multiplying and replenishing. Again I stayed at my mom's house with Isaac while Terry took the kids. They all had fun.

After caroling we went over to Uncle Jeralds for some soup and goodies and a little program. It was mayhem because there are so many little kids. We did the nativity story and had a Mary, Joseph, donkey, shepherds, wise men, and about 20 angels. It was pretty funny. I left my camera at Uncle Jeralds so unfortunately I didn't get any Christmas day photos.

Christmas morning started at about 4:00 AM when Ellie came in and asked which presents were hers. She had already gone and looked everything over that Santa brought. We told her to go back to bed until 6:00. But the next thing we knew Abby was up too, looking things over. We still didn't let them officially get up until 6:00.

It was a fun morning and I was so happy my kids were happy and didn't complain at all about what they got or didn't get.

We spent the day watching some videos they got (High School Musical 2--anyone else have kids who are crazed fans?--and Ratatoullie) Then we again headed up to Sugar City where we got together with my family and my Grandma and Grandpa Shirley and Uncle Lyle and his family, who were visiting from Massachusettes, and had dessert (not so appealing after a day of sweets). It is always fun to get together with my family. Suzette livened things up by making a video of everyone singing "Oklahoma" so she could send it to my mom and dad on their mission. I haven't seen the final product, but I have heard it is hilarious.

Overall Christmas was fun, but I have to admit it was not a very spiritual time for me. It just seemed there was so much going on with Isaac being born and birthdays and just trying to survive, that I didn't take much time to sit and think about the reason for the season.

One thing I do want to say is that this new neighborhood we live in is a fun place at Christmas time. Almost every house decorates with lights and it looks so festive. One night I counted about 15 buses driving through the neighborhood to look at the lights. There must be some special tour people go on to look at Christmas lights. We put up some lights, but it wasn't anything spectacular.

This Christmas I also discovered a new favorite song. It is "The Spirit of the Season" from Polar Express. I think it will become a classic. Anway. That sums up our Christmas.