A Very Merry Christmas

Christmas 2008 was a great year...we enjoyed our family, loved all the festivities and traditions, and savored the many sweet moments of reflecting the birth of Jesus Christ. Christmas Eve was spent with the Cox Family and the traditional nativity, seeing Santa and gift exchange was done.

Here's Gary trying to get a little shut-eye... even during all the chaos and commotion of 28 grandchildren, 15 adults, flying wrapping paper, nativity production, and christmas songs!

Jalen was again afraid of Santa...maybe next year!

On Christmas Eve before bed, I asked all the kids what they had asked Santa Claus to bring them that night. After their responses, I also talked with them about being happy and grateful for anything that Santa brings because he can't always give us everything we want. Madelyn's reponse was: "Well, it's good I asked for a dollhouse because Santa's elves have lots of wood and they have all the tools they need to build a really big dollhouse!" At this point, I wasn't quite sure if my little visit had done any good!

With anticipation and excitment, Madelyn, Mason and Aiden could hardly wait to leave the living room to check out their presents Christmas morning. However, their patience was tried while Jalen 1. through a fit because he got woken up and he was not ready to get out of bed (despite being Christmas morning) 2. got dressed...under no circumstances was he going upstairs in his new pajamas and 3. find his favorite jeans. He would not wear just any pants. Finally he made it, without smiles, but he did make it!

Santa's elves did make Madelyn a beautiful, big dollhouse!

Mason got the coolest castle ever, including a dragon and prince! Just what he asked for!

Jalen couldn't have been more ecstatic. Santa brouht a tractor with a bucket and one big enough for him to drive!

Here's my parents who so kindly welcomed all of us home to enjoy Christmas together. All of my siblings except one who lives in town, all stayed at my parents Christmas Eve. It was so fun to share Christmas morning together. My mom has an excpetional way of making everyone feel comfortable and welcome. She loves Christmas and has always gone the extra mile in making it such a special and fun holiday. My parents have truly created a home that is genuinely full of love, fun and happiness. There really is "no place like home for the holidays!"

Kristyn, Thomas and Aiden. They all scored big with a pirate ship, Thomas the Train DVD collection, kitchen gadgets and BYU attire.

Jake and Natalie did have a few Christmas gifts to open on Christmas morning. However, before leaving Cedar City and throughout the month of December, they just couldn't help but give each other gifts along the way!

Travis surprised Meagan this year with a Wii. Meagan thought she knew everything wrapped under the tree, but Travis really fooled her and Meagan was thrilled. Meagan calls herself a "Nintendo Junkie" so the Wii couldn't have been a more perfect gift!

Nanna and Grandpa gave all the boys new cowboy boots and guns. Grandma-great gave them western vests. The boy cousins all exchanged bows and arrows...so as you can imagine, this was a wild, gun-shootin, cowboy and Indians, good guy vs. bad guy kind of Christmas!

One of the highlights for me was enjoying the time I got to spend with all of my siblings. I do have to admit that most of this quality time was spent in the late hours and way past my bedtime, but it was so worth it! Last Christmas my brothers were in Iraq and we missed them all the time, but especially during the holidays. So it was such a blessing that we all were able to stay at my parents for several days together...something we haven't experienced for a very long time.

Cards and games are family favorites and we got into a quite competitive round of hearts. On night #2, the boys came up with a game plan, hoping to really challenge the girls. I don't know if the glasses, hats, hoodies and bandanas were more for cheating or just intimidation but whatever the case it didn't work! Bring it on boys! We're ready for round #3!

After watching the kids have so much fun bowling with the Wii, we decided to take it to a real bowling alley. Congrats to Kera and Adam for scoring the highest. For the rest of us, we'll stay with the Wii!

Another highlight from our trip was enjoying all the snow. Madelyn, Mason and Jalen loved sleigh-riding, building snowmen, snow angels and forts. I couldn't keep their snowclothes dry long enough for them to be ready to go out again.

Thank You to all our family for making this a Very Merry Christmas! We love you!!

Holiday Magic

One thing I love about Christmas, is that we celebrate all month long. We participated in many activites and events to feel the Christmas spirit. Madelyn participated with the Canyon Ridge first grade class singing Christmas songs, while Mason and Jalen especially enjoyed dancing in the back. We attended the ward Christmas party and made a trip to the Mesa temple to enjoy the many lights and nativity sets. This year was especially fun because we happened to go on a night with performers singing Christmas songs. I got the cutest movie clip of the kids dancing and singing along, but I cannot get it to upload to my blog:( So you'll have to use your imagination on that one! Another fun tradition the kids enjoy is performing the nativity with the Cox family in Utah. This year Madelyn finally got to be Mary. She was thrilled! Mason was a shephard and unfortunately, Jalen refused to participate! I love all of these activities and especially the sweet moments and feelings it brings that remind me of the true meaning of Christmas, of Jesus Christ.

Inspired by my brilliant Mom, this year we are going to try and do small and simple things every day that bring the true spirit of Christmas into our home. Hopefully the little acts of service and kindness will be fun, contagious and ultimately keep our thoughts centered on Christ this Christmas season. Here are a few examples of what we’ve experienced so far…
Sharing the “Service Star”: One day Madelyn gathered all the laundry from the bedrooms and took it to the laundry room. Then she left the star there for me to see it was now my turn to share the service star. Another day, Madelyn made Mason’s bed, leaving the star on his pillow. Mason then made Jalen’s bed and left the star. Then together all three of them made Alan and my bed and left the star for us. They were so happy and excited to do something nice for each other. It’s amazing how such a small act of kindness brings so much happiness. It really is contagious!
Madelyn chose to share the special “I Love You” candy bar with her teacher, Mrs. Needham because she truly adores and loves her first grade teacher. We appreciate all the hard work and fabulous job Mrs. Needham does.
While driving around admiring the many beautiful Christmas Lights, we decided to take a special treat to a house in our neighborhood whose lights we thought were the best. After all finally agreeing on one, we all got out of the car to deliver the surprise and tell our neighbors how much we appreciate their hard work and enjoy the lights on their home. We did have a funny experience with this one. After knocking, a man came, opened the door and then left the door half open but went back upstairs. We thought maybe he was just going up to put on a shirt so we waited. But no one came back down. We waited a little longer and of course the kids were talking and asking what is he doing and what should we do with the popcorn. I knew that whoever had opened the door could hear us. Finally I decided we should just close the door and leave because obviously he wasn’t coming back down. Just as we were loading up in the car, the man opened the door. He apologized and was quite embarrassed because he had thought that we were his wife and kids coming home and that his wife had forgotten her keys so she was knocking on the door for him to let them in! So he simply opened the door for them, not realizing we weren’t his family! We explained to him what we were doing and he was so appreciative. More importantly, the kids were thrilled and thought this was so much fun.

Poor Jalen

Sunday night I sent Alan with the kids to finish delivering some Christmas presents. After only a few minutes, Madelyn and Mason came running home crying and upset, letting me know that Jalen got bit by our neighbors dog. I didn't get to0 excited, because the kids can be a little dramatic. Then Alan came walking in holding Jalen and very calmly said, "Yes, Jalen got bit and he's going to need a couple stitches." I still wasn't too alarmed until Jalen looked up at me and I saw two gaping holes from the bottom of his upper lip to his nose. It was more than just a little cut! He looked like he had a cleft lip and it barely missed going all the way through. That's when I panicked. I just couldn't believe this had happened. With very crapy health insurance and not knowing where we could even take Jalen and get somewhat coverage, I was upset. Not only was it Sunday, the fact that we were trying to do a good deed by taking a gift to our neighbors, but also we had just come home from tithing settlements! Sometimes don't you feel like despite trying to do everything right, things can still go very wrong? Four hours, 10 stitches later and a dose of humility, changed my perspective. After getting Jalen home and in bed, all night I thought of the many other things that could happen that would be so much worse. Jalen was going to be fine. At least it was a small dog and the cut wasn't any worse; at least we have good doctors and antibiotics that can fix the problem; it's a blessing the dog was immunized and our neighbors are so concerned about Jalen too. I guess I've learned that we are just never in the clear...life is going to continually throw challenges and all we can do is make the best of them. Most important is that Jalen really is just fine. And as for the dog, well Jalen thinks he needs soap in his mouth!

Thanksgiving Traditions

I seem to always run behind in posting updates and events for our family, but late is better than never, right?! Here are some of our traditions and highlights from Thanksgiving.

One of Alan's favorite traditions is the pie at Thanksgiving dinner. His mom makes at least 30 or more pies. Not only is there enough for 3 or 4 pieces the night of Thanksgiving, but also, it is a tradition to eat pie for breakfast the day after. Grandma Joyce makes 3 or 4 of every kind: apple, pumpkin, banana cream, chocolate cream, lemon, pecan, mince meat, and cherry. Joyce is a great cook and always makes sure that no one goes hungry at her house!

Below are some pictures of where the pies are stored before the feast...yes even on top of her car!

Here is a table set up in the garage with pie only.

Here are some shells ready for filling when needed on top of a fridge.

Thanks Grandma Joyce for the fun tradition and of course, yummy yummy pie!


Here are all the cute grandkids at Thanksgiving dinner.

Another fun tradition is watching the light parade down main streen of Manti the night after Thanksgiving. We all bundle up and watch for the highlight: Santa Claus riding on a fire truck. Of course, it's the favorite for all the little ones.

Madelyn loves having her fun cousins to do girlie things with.




Alan was so excited to take Mason on a 4-wheeler ride and find some snow in the mountains. He really misses the outdoor activities that we don't get to do much living in Arizona. So any chance he gets while visiting Utah, he takes...even if that means subzero temperatures!

Praiseworthy

I recently went to parent teacher conference for Madelyn. She absolutely loves school and is doing so well. Madelyn's teacher had nothing but good to say about her. One very nice compliment she gave was that Madelyn is so nice to everyone, always willing to help, share, or make others feel good. For example, one day a little boy dropped a can of pencils that spilled all over the floor. As the other children started to laugh and make fun of the boy, Madelyn quickly bent down to help him pick it up. Mrs. Needham went on to say that Madelyn is very well liked and respected by her classmates, and more importantly, she doesn't even realize it. She is always so humble and kind to everyone. I was so pleased to hear this. As a mom, I often wonder if the efforts I make to teach my children is really working. Sometimes what I see at home, makes me feel discouraged but after such a Praiseworthy compliment about Madelyn, I gained some hope. It reminds me of a saying that I heard not too long ago that goes something like this, "How your children act outside the home, is a reflection on what is happening inside the home." Hopefully there are lessons of respect, love, honesty, integrity, and happiness being learned in our home, despite the chaos and busyness of everyday life!