There are so many memories to record that I have to start with Christmas Eve. We spent most of the day running last minute errands, picking up last minute gifts, and cooking -getting ready for our Christmas Eve dinner. (I did not want to be cooking on Christmas day) That evening Tami, (Ken's sister) and her husband Darren came over to help us celebrate the holidays. It's always better with family, isn't it?
We ate LOTS of yummy food. About 5 lbs. worth for me. OUCH! I have some workin'out to do.
Here is Me, Ken and Tami. By the looks of Tami you would never know that she would be on her death-bed within the hour. By the end of the night, Tami, had the chills, fever and was puking every few minutes. Poor thing...it was really sad. She is better now, but she missed a trip to Cedar City to spend Christmas with her brother.
Speaking of that brother...he emailed all of us a Christmas story that we read together as a family. It was a wonderful story, and Tim, though I doubt you ever read this blog...just in case, you should know that you made your little brother get all choked up. It really was a sweet story.
Now listen to how sweet my two darling oldest girls are...Sydney and Kaylie planned a surprise for their younger siblings. They asked me to take them to Dollar Tree earlier in the week so they could buy gifts for their brothers and sisters. But instead of just handing them out they decided to give the gifts anonymously by "door bell ditching" ourselves. After finishing Uncle Tim's story they quietly snuck out of the house, dropped two huge stockings full of gifts on the front porch, rang the door bell and ran. When the kids ran to get the door they quietly snuck back in the back door.
This was so fun to watch because not only were Sydney and Kaylie beaming from the excitement of it all but also because the younger kids were just in heaven. They each loved of the gifts that were picked out just for them. Only Tyler knows who the real gift givers were, the other kids just had fun guessing who it could be. I am so proud of Sydney and Kaylie for being willing to unselfishly spend their own money to bring smiles to the faces of their siblings.
As a tradition each year we get a new nativity scene and new ornaments to be opened on Christmas Eve. This year Ken picked out our new nativity. I really love it. As of yet it is our biggest set, it sits nicely on top of the piano.
This year I did the ornaments a little different. Instead of buying each family member their own ornament we bought just two this year, in memory of Zachary. One is a small Christmas mug with Zachary's name on it. The other is this "Angels Embrace" Willow Tree ornament, representing a little boy in the arms of an angel.
After getting the kids to bed and waiting for them to fall asleep Ken and I got all the goodies out under the tree. Check out that tiny tree...I did everything really simple this year. And I love it! I did this so Aftyn couldn't crawl over and pull a big tree down on top of herself....but really, really...I just loved going small this year. That may not look small...but consider that is 8 kids worth, and we had a few unexpected, but much appreciated surprises of our own this year from our elf friends.
Thus ended a really enjoyable Christmas Eve, only to be followed by an even better Christmas Day.
To be Continued....
No comments:
Post a Comment