Christmas 2010

Just a quick run down on our Christmas 2010. We were so grateful to the Bean family for inviting us over to share Christmas Eve dinner and games together! I am so sad to have not gotten even one picture. (I have not been so good at that lately.) But it was memorable... decked out with Christmas china and chargers, delicious ham and pretzel salad (a must) and homemade buttermilk and banana cream pies! Ending with some games and the Luke 2 nativity and Christmas hymns. It was a wonderful Christmas Eve.

We arrived home to the begging of opening the traditional gifts of the pjs. They were SO excited about getting to bed... just getting to bed, not necessarily going to sleep. But I managed to get them to take a picture. Not sure about why Millie has silly putty hanging across her nose and Davis looking so serious...

For some reason, the kids seem to think it is a tradition to sleep all together in Davis' room. Millie opted for our bedroom floor and of course, Eli was just as happy to be in his own crib. However, it is tradition to line up in the hallway youngest to oldest before entering the family room with the tree and goodies. So here they are chompin' at the bit to start the show!

Eli was super happy about his dump truck and front loader. And don't tell him differently because he knows!

Natalie's dreams came true with the lap harp that was always on the top of any list -

And Millie's dream (for a year now) was a ukulele - she's pretty happy about it too!

We thought that Eli would get a lot of use of what Dennis and I remember as 'Sock and Bop It'. Remember? It's already got a hole in it. It did last a few days though.

Now I just need to brag a bit about THE best husband in the world. Usually we either know what we are getting each other (like his new float tube - how could I ever really know what to get when it comes to fly-fishing gear?) But Dennis really surprised me this year with this gift. When I began this blog, it has been my intention to print it in hardcover form from year to year. Thus, a tangilbe documentation of our family life. For months, I have been putting it off because it takes a lot of time (I know because I have started doing it a couple of different times). Unbeknownst to me, Dennis completely came up with this idea on his very own and began the transfer a couple of months ago. And it did indeed take A LOT of time... I was teary as I opened it and realized what it was. I think he wins BEST HUSBAND OF THE YEAR! Of course, he wins that all year long, every year.

Thank you sweetie! Now can this be your job from now on? I mean, since you know how to do it and all... and so well!

As Christmas approached, I asked the kids the ususal question, "What do you want for Christmas?" When only one or two things came out of their mouths and then an obvious struggle to think of other things they could possibly want (mostly due to a recently aired commercial), we took that to mean that they really didn't need much (which we knew already). So we decided to focus our efforts this coming year on planned family outings. After explaining our plan, we surprised them with the 12 months of Christmas - we had 12 envelopes on the tree that had the month and what was planned for that particular month. For January, we are all going to a BYU Basketball game. The following months include sledding at Soldier Hollow, out to breakfast, a trip to the Church History Museum by way of TRAX, bowling, hiking the 'Y', fun at Seven Peaks, an outing to the canyon, Clarke Planetarium, corn maze and pumpkin patch, a trip to Color Me Mine, and a delicious dinner and Temple Square Lights. So there you go... It should be fun to have something specific to look forward to each month to do together. I'm hoping that this will become our new tradition.

It was a beautiful Christmas season as we spent time together remembering how richly blessed we truly are. It is our family and our relationships that matter most.

So from our happy home to yours, we hope you had a Merry Christmas and wish you hope and love in the coming year.