Christmas Traditions

It is early Christmas Morning and I can't sleep. Santa is in the living room leaving gifts of love with his immeasurable service.

We had all our children (except for Garrett and Hayley - and they called from Washington State), over to our home last night for Christmas Eve, one of our families oldest Christmas Traditions. I just want to say "thank you" to my children for coming over to our house and giving of your time and sharing our Christmas tradition with De Anne and I. We want you to know how important this tradition is to us, and thank you for allowing us to keep this 35 year tradition going in our home. For De Anne it is a 57 year old tradition. It is one that we really want to keep because it means so much to us.

We had the traditional cheese soup for dinner and a few goodies afterwards.

Then came the traditional skit of the first Christmas Eve. The grand kids all did a great job with all of their parts. Most of them played multiple parts. It really helps to remind us of the true meaning of Christmas.

I listened to the First Presidency's Christmas message and was touched by their understanding and testimonies. If you didn't see it, and even if you did, I am going to repeat part of President Eyring's message with this blog. I was pleased that President Eyring told of the Christmas pageant he started with his family. The first year it was just he and his wife. He played the role of Joseph and she was Mary. The next year they added a baby Jesus. As their family grew, they decided to add the part of Samuel the Lamanite, standing boldly, as he prophesied of the birth of Christ. Latter, they added an angry crowd, armed with balls of tin foil to throw at Samuel as he stood above them and prophesied. As the angry crowd became older and stronger . . . and their aim more accurate. . .President Eyring had to give a stern reminder that Samuel could not be hit, because he was protected by God. Still it took great courage for someone to play the part of Samuel! As time went on their group is growing smaller, as their family moved away and they started their own Christmas play.

I know that might someday happen to us as well, but for now, I want you to know how much it means to us to have you all together for this great event. Especially, as we start our new life in our new, smaller surroundings!

We also did the presents. My family is awesome. There were some great gifts given. What amazed and impressed me most was the excitement of those giving the gifts, watched with anticipation, the reactions of those receiving their gifts. The giver was often more excited than the receiver. That grings great joy to our heats. DeAnne and I received some great gifts last night, and we thank you again for them. DeAnne also thanked everyone for their gift of time and energy for all the help our children gave us with our move to our new home. We could never have survived your help. Thank You!

The pajama's, nightgowns and robes, handmade by Nana, is always a highlight for us. DeAnne spends many hours getting them all ready and it is so rewarding to see the excitement of the grand kids as they open that present and then put their pajama's on and pose for pictures.

How thankful we are to all of our children, for bringing your young families and coming to our home, to share your families and their joy with us on this special night. We are so pleased that we are able to feel the spirit of Christmas and keep this simple tradition alive.

Have a Merry Christmas!

Where is it?

Our most used phrase.

I’m sure anyone who has moved can relate to mine and DeAnne’s most used phrase these days, which is, “Have you seen the. . . Coming in as a close second is, “Do you know where we put the. . .

Let me share some examples. This is my top 10.

1. Sunday morning I couldn’t find my black shoes for church. I almost had to choose between my brown casual shoes or slippers. Status = found them just in time on Sunday Morning.
2. Has anyone seen the box with the primary stuff to give to the next Primary President? Status = found the day of the move.
3. Have you seen the box with the H.P. stuff to give to the next H.P. Group leader? Status = found Monday night. (It wasn’t supposed to have made the move.)
4. Have you seen a box cutter? We have a gazillion of them somewhere. Where are they when you need them? I think they have a hideout where they get together and laugh at us. That or they have been playing a mean game of hide-and –seek! Status = 3 have been found.
5. Have you seen the canister with the cat food? Status = Still hunting for it and cat is getting thinner! Where is her bloodhound nose? Maybe we do need a dog. I can’t believe I even thought that!
6. Do you know where I put my memory stick? Yes, I remember putting in a “special place” so it wouldn’t get damaged or lost. Now, if I could just remember where that “special place” was . . . Status = found it Tuesday morning.
7. Do you know where we put the unpaid bills? (That’s not good!) Status = found Monday night.
8. Have you seen my cordless drill? Status = still looking, but I haven’t dared look in the storage shed.
9. Have you seen the box with the medicines? We really needed the pain pills Saturday night, but didn’t find them until Sunday night. Status = we found the “Medies” box three time and lost it twice. Now we are feeling good. . .
10. Do you know what happened to my memory? Status = I have been loosing that for at least 10 years!

Giving Thanks

DeAnne and I want to tell everyone who helped us with our move how thankful we are for all of your help. We were so tired by Saturday night, we could hardly move and I could see how tired all of you were also. We would have never survived without all of your help!

And thanks for letting us take a break at the movies with all of you. (This reminds me, we still need to pay Emity and Darren for our movie tickets.)

Thanks to Jared and Liz for storing so many of our things at their house and for having Thanksgiving dinner at their house. Thanks for everyone who brought all the yummy things for Thanksgiving dinner. Thanks for letting us rest and enjoy the company of our entire family for Thanksgiving.

Thanks for your help in getting boxes, getting things boxed-up, (hours and hours of boxing), for the use of the moving van and your trucks this week and the week before. Thanks for helping us move things in and out. Thanks to Darren for putting the new pantry together. We are not sure who to thank for purchasing the new pantry, so we thank you all. We certainly needed the extra shelves.

We also want to thank Shelby for all her hard work with getting the water bottles emptied for us.

Thank you all for lifting all the heavy things and saving my back. Thanks for helping us clean our old house.

Thanks to Garrett for the great job he did in cleaning the Condo, giving us a great deal on the rent and for sacrificing his living space and giving it to us. I hope we haven’t taken over his living space completely. We probably have, please forgive us, but thanks for being so gracious and patient with us!

Thanks to those who helped us all four days of the holiday weekend plus many hours during the weeks before.

We are so grateful for the many hours that Jared and Madeline spent getting the gas and water line setup for the washer and dryer, working late into the night until it was ready to use. Jared and Liz did many things to help us when we were not even at home.

Thanks for getting the goodies for our moving crew on Friday morning. Thanks to Garrett and Hayley for the great food from Café Rio on Saturday night.

Thanks to Hayley for tending the grand children and keeping them happy and safe. It kept them out from under our feet and from getting run over by the movers.

I need to especially thank the two pregnant girls for all their hard work. We sincerely hope you didn’t over do it. Take some time to rest now!

We could go on and on about how many other things our children did for us, but there is not time right now. Just know how grateful we are for all you did for us. Some of you were able to give us more of your time than others, and your sacrifices for us did not go unnoticed. Please believe me when we say, “We are so grateful to every hour and everything all of you helped us with.” We will never be able to repay you!

I hope we were able to grow together as a family by working hard together. May we find greater peace, (not so much work) at Christmas time!

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!