Christmas 2011

This year we started a new tradition that we have heard others do. Throughout the month of December whenever someone in the family does something nice for someone else they get to put a straw in the empty manger. The goal is to make the manger as soft as possible before the night that Jesus is born. Jared and I were touched as we watched our children "love one another and serve one another." It brought the true spirit of Christmas into our home throughout the month.

Christmas Eve started off with our traditional dinner of lamb and mint sauce.

Then we acted out the nativity, starting with Samuel the Lamanite prophesying Christ's birth in the Americas.

Here is Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus:

And the wisemen:

Next we have a testimony meeting where each person gets to share their testimony of Christ and then light a candle. We then talk about how Christ is the light of the world and sing carols together.

Then comes dessert. This year we decided to try Michelle's peppermint chocolate cake recipe. We LOVED it! Jared also made us lemon meringue pie. Yummy!

Finally we open our Christmas pajamas, a tradition that I love from my childhood years.

We loved having Christmas on Sunday this year. We started with opening stockings and Christmas breakfast (monkey bread, eggs and orange juice) and then got ready and went to church.

Jared was set apart in his new calling in the bishopric that day after sacrament meeting and then we went home, changed back into pj's :), had lunch and started opening presents. We went slowly, taking turns and had a great time together the rest of the day.

Reading a new book from the Princes

Jakie gets a puppet

Nathan playing with his take apart truck from Grandma and Grandpa

Brielle gets a necklace holder from the Princes. For cute!

Nathan's most expensive present was his legos, but his biggest one (since Bre's doll house was so big) was this, his fishing pole:

He was one excited boy to get his own stuff to go fishing with dad

Mom gets some Christmas loves:

Jakie havin' fun with his truck from Granny and Grandad

Dad and Nathan build legos together

When Jared was on his mission in Salt Lake he saw a doll house that someone had made for their daughter. Ever since then, he has wanted to make one for his future daughter. This year he finally got to do it. He was downstairs building it every free evening from October until we left town in December. He just made it up as he went (no house plan to go from), finding materials in the most creative places. For example, the shingles are actually shims and the wood flooring is Popsicle sticks. I think he did a pretty dang good job!

The last part of Christmas for us is sibling gifts. Everything that the kids get for someone else is put aside in a basket and Christmas evening (or this year it was actually the next day) the kids get to give their gifts to those they love. This way they end on the note of giving rather than receiving. Here are a few pictures of the joy they felt doing that:

Bre gets mom a darling winter hat

Nathan gives Brielle his favorite train...fast train.

(Jared and I worried that there would be more fighting for this afterwards because they may both take some ownership of it, but it simply hasn't happened. Nathan is emphatic that it is Brielle's. We can't even keep it in his room with the other trains.)

It feels good to give

Jakie with his ambulance from Nathan