Merry Christmas...........

We love Christmas! Of course, at our house, it practically lasts an entire month - what with starting with Sinterklaas (Dutch Santa Claus Day) and all. Then you add in the fact that the kids also spend time during the holidays with their dad. You would think that people would be on gift overload here, but that doesn't seem to be the case - at least not as far as the kids are concerned.

Here are a few of the highlights.....

Wendy and her flat iron! Now maybe she can actually straighten her hair here at home instead of needing to go to Camille's to do her hair! Oh, seriously, what am I thinking - she'll still go to Camille's!

Tyler loves anything spicy! When Mrs. Claus came across this set of hot sauces, she knew it would be a hit!

Tommy loves the outdoors - hunting, fishing, playing, etc. UglyStik is the brand of fishing rod - it's not what we actually hit him with (tempting? yes, but we don't)!

Ryan is the sweets lover in the family. Any chance possible, he is wanting to bake a dessert (which is usually brownies - and heaven forbid if there isn't a brownie mix in the pantry). His facial expression shows his excitement! And guess what? We did NOT have a brownie mix in the pantry! Oh, the horrors!

Not that Monique needs help when it comes to beauty, but she did want a new curling iron. She was a little frustrated the first couple of days using this new contraption - she claims she needs help with coordination. She must have mastered it, as she was able to get ready for work today and looked beautiful when I came home from work this evening!

I was spoiled this year and got a Kindle! I believe that the serious expression on my face is me contemplating which book to download first!

I love spending the day with the family. It was great to be able to speak with Steve that day, too.

Most of all, I love reflecting on the true meaning of Christmas and the gift that has been given to all of us by our Savior. One of my favorite CHRISTMAS THINGS is the story about the boy practicing to be the gruff innkeeper and turning Joseph and Mary away from the inn. As they are walking away, he cries out, "Wait! Joseph, come back! You can have my room." If only we could all be as giving and selfless as Christ wants us to be. I think we need to have more of Christmas throughout the year to help us remember. I really don't see anything wrong with singing Silent Night in April!

Sinterklaas................

As one of the very important members of our family was raised in the Netherlands, one of our Christmas Traditions is to celebrate Sinterklaas. This is usually celebrated on Dec. 5th, but with everything going on at our house this weekend, we postponed it until tonight (Dec. 7th). (I'm sure Sinterklaas, himself, didn't mind - he probably need the rest, what with the jet lag and everything, coming over from Europe). We draw names to exchange gifts. The favorite and challenging part, is to disguise the gifts. The kids do a great job with this, and we look forward every year to see what they come up with. I was taught that the gifts should be disguised along the same idea as what the gift is, but that doesn't necessarily happen. This is what we came up with this year............

This was Ryan's gift for me. This is a man in a bathtub! (Notice the hairy chest - something the kids still have a hard time getting used to). Inside was deodorant and body wash - I hope he's not trying to subtly tell me something. It was a HUGE surprise, as I was with him when he bought it the other evening.

Tommy drew Tyler's name, and instead of disguising the gift, he had Tyler do a treasure hunt! He played Hot/Cold for a couple of minutes, and then informed Tyler, "Oh, wait! It's not in this room!" He then brought the gift out from his room (new white t-shirts).

Wendy's gift for Ryan was hidden inside the pillow! Ryan was very excited to be able to rip into the pillow to see what was hidden inside.............

A very happy Snuggie recipient!

Tyler drew Monique this year. The box was wrapped (excessively) in toilet paper, with an innumerable amount rubber bands securing the paper to the package. Once the unveiling was done, there was a very nice crystal candy dish inside. (Quite the change from the usual body lotion that she usually receives)!

Monique had Tommy's name this year (and she does have a slight advantage over the rest of us). She created a bunny out of new t-shirts (this was part of the gift) and inside was a mini SD memory card for him to use with his cell phone. (I had to point out that the shirts were new when he commented that he got laundry! Silly, silly boy!). The bunny is the white one, not the gray creature with the disgusted look on his face.

That leaves me with having Wendy's name! Yes - this is a purse made out of a brown paper bag. The gift was a new wallet (an item that was needed to hold the newly acquired drivers license (an event that is still too traumatic to talk about)). But to help hide the gift inside of the purse, I borrowed some things from Wendy's room that would typically be found in a real purse, i.e. a brush, gum, makeup, a half eaten pop tart, lip gloss, etc.. Inside the wallet was a mini SD memory card for her cell phone.

I must inform you that this year things were pretty mild. We didn't have gift cards stuffed inside squid. There were no earrings hiding in the litter box. We didn't have any balloons filled with shaving cream that needed to popped in order to find a gift card inside one of the balloons. Nor did we have cold mushy oatmeal to dig around in, or gift cards frozen in blue kool-aid with red swedish fish! I guess there is always next year....

Blessings That Come From Service..........

This past year, I have spent an insanely amount of time helping out in Primary. For a ward as large as ours (800 + members), we have a shortage of people that can play the piano! I have helped out by playing the piano in either of our two primaries (yes we have two primaries in our ward) off and on for about five months. I was getting accustomed to actually attending Sunday School and Priesthood Quorum again, when Sunday, somebody hunted me down to see if I could help in Primary A. When I walked in, the chorister was quite relieved. She mentioned that she really appreciated my help and decided I needed to be the recipient of more blessings. See below...........

We all thought that these little reindeer cookies were quite cute. Maybe we have been out of Idaho and Utah too long, but we had never seen something like this before.

Oh the blessings we receive from service!