Christmas is one of those holidays that takes months of preparation, or a lot of stress... We try to begin decorating at the beginning of December. Sometimes I'm better at this than at other times, but I like to call it a decorating party and make it an occasion. Hopefully it is a day that my children can look back on and remember fondly. 
I love my Christmas tree. It reminds me of the person who gave it to me, and since that person doesn't come by often anymore, it helps me to keep her in my Christmas festivities. This is the year that we started having problems with the lights on the tree. We spent hours going through each bulb, checking it, and then moving onto the next one. We thought we were successful too, until about 3 days after decorating the tree the lights began to fail again. I guess you could say that Christmas tree lights are like relationships, if you want it to last (to shine) you've got to work hard at it. Sometimes, things seem to be going good and your efforts might slide, just like with a pre-lit Christmas tree we were able to avoid the work of stringing lights upon the boughs, but eventually, if you want it to last, you're going to have to put in a double effort to make it work.
To repair our tree, we purchased some new LED mini lights and essentially redecorated the whole thing, cutting off the light strings that no longer worked. It will take a little more effort now to decorate this tree, but the lights will be much simpler to maintain AND they are whiter than ever! I love this tree!!!
This year we have a toy room. With three children having left home, some of our rooms are getting re-purposed. Since the kids like to go up there and play, we decided to set up the mini Christmas tree in the attic to add a measure of Christmas festivities on that level of our home as well. I put them wholly in charge of that project and they seemed to really enjoy it.
I love Christmas time. I love the many reminders of the birth of my Savior. It adds an additional level of remembrance and peace to my heart and gives me a time to ponder more deeply on the many blessings that I enjoy. I feel so blessed. I have a wonderful family, a home, all the things that I need and then some, plus I have the gospel of Christ to light my path, especially when darkness threatens to settle upon my heart. There is such a feeling of happiness when you let the light of the Savior fill your life. I consider it a blessing and a privilege to study and learn of Him.
Another part of Christmas that I like, is the snow... the nice snow. I truly don't care much for blizzards and snowy roads, but the nice snow is the stuff that covers my lawns and flower beds with the promise of moisture in the spring. It is the snow that my children can go outside and play in. This year Melodee and Breanna worked together to build a snow fort. The weather was perfect for it, and they managed to build the walls up almost as high as their heads!!! They were pretty proud of their accomplishments too. I LOVE their smiles as they worked together ☺
In addition to the snow fort, they also made a snowman in the image of Olaf from the movie Frozen. I loved looking out my kitchen window to see Olaf standing in my lawn. It made me want to sing!
There is something serene and almost serendipitous of watching my children enjoy the snow. It is ironic, isn't it, that the snow represents cold and even hardship, but it can be used to build not only great things, but it also brings enjoyment and peace, and covers the earth so beautifully white that it glistens! Not many of us would view our hardships in that same light, yet, when we rely on the Savior through our trials, we are blessed with peace and contentment, as we make changes in our lives that reflect our love of God, we have moments of happiness that fill our hearts so completely that our lives almost glisten. Hardships are never sought after though, like the snow sometimes is, but they are hard and cold and we really have to have a great deal of faith to warm our souls with the love of God, in order to persevere through them and then we are able to build something of ourselves, much like my girls built a snow fort and a snowman. Those things brought them enjoyment. Trials, faithfully endured, allow us to build something of our own lives, and in due course, when the springs come, they will water and nourish us in such a way that we will grow far beyond what we could have been without them.
OK, let me tell you about Christmas week. At our house we have a great tradition - the tradition of preparing Christmas dinner on the 24th. Being the day before Christmas, everyone is able and willing to help and assist with the work that comes. This year I found chargers on a really good sale, so we were able to set our table a little fancier than most years. It was fun to teach the kids how to do that!
There was nothing unusual about the meal, pretty much the standard turkey dinner, but it looked so nice on that Christmas table, as we sat down to eat together. I LOVE family meals, especially Christmas and Easter when my grown children are able to come home and join us. Life doesn't get much better than to have your children around you, enjoying one another's company. How deeply I desire for my children to love being together in my home...
Another Christmas Eve tradition is the tradition of acting out the nativity story. My kids are getting older now, but they are still game for putting on the production! I love the unique way that the story is presented each year. They have mostly outgrown their costumes, yet they still put them on and play the part. It is GREAT!!!
This year Naomi acted the part of Joseph (notice her dandy beard ♥). Beth played the part of Mary and I believe the donkey is Melodee. 
Christmas morning was filled with surprises, especially for Beth. She discovered that Santa Claus had delivered her grad dress along with her stocking fillers! That brought a huge smile and lots of excitement.
Breakfast was extra special, since it is traditionally the only meal we prepare during the day. We made some yummy eggnog and dressed it up with a squirt of whipped cream and some cinnamon. Along with it, we made our traditional meal of waffles, strawberries and whipped cream which is always enjoyed together with much anticipation, because, as soon as the breakfast dishes are done, we get to open presents!!!
I love Christmas breakfast! Everyone is eager to help get things put away so the festivities of the day can move along. Presents are so much fun to open, you never know exactly what you will get, but the fun of discovering what your packages contain is greatly anticipated. For me though, it isn't so much about opening my gifts, it is seeing my children and husband open their gifts. I love to watch the expressions on their faces - surprise, joy, happiness, excitement etc. That is the part of Christmas I love the most.
One tradition we started when the kids were small, was individual candy houses. We used to make them with gingerbread, but the kids like sugar cookies better, so we went over to using sugar cookies. Then we had a year that I didn't bake the cookies long enough to crisp up... I like soft cookies as a general rule, however, soft cookies, when you are trying to build a structure with them, bend way too much. It made it rather difficult to build a house, however, a mound of icing, candy and cookies, is never a bad thing... but it wasn't a house. Last year, we decided to build rice krispie models. We build trains, houses, and I think we even had a dragon. This year Adele joined us in our rice krispie sculpture activity and built a horse! What fun it is to do things together as a family!!!
After Christmas Beth and Melodee got to spend a little time with the horses - something that for them, Christmas isn't complete without. Melodee also spent some time sewing, assembling the black cape she wanted.
Charity also tried her hand at sewing and made herself a new skirt for church. It turned out super cute!!!
Myles got a train set for Christmas and spent some time setting it up in his room. He actually had it set up to go under his dresser and around and under his bed! What a great gift!!! He found that train track is a great thing to have, and the creative ideas for what he could make his train do, began to be realized.
A week after Christmas we also celebrate New Years. New Years is celebrated with appetizers of all sorts and varieties. I put the food out and then, our first serving is our supper, and then as the evening progresses, we can snack as desired while playing games or engaging in other activities. It also has become a much anticipated tradition.
In addition to all the appetizers, we also put together a hot chocolate bar with a wide variety of things that you can add to hot chocolate. I think one of my favorite additives is the hot tamales. I LOVE the cinnamon flavor in my cocoa - especially white cocoa. ☺
Once the food was eaten, at least the first helping, we started gift opening with Brandon and Alisha. We presented them with their gifts, and they presented us with ours. Naomi wasn't able to be here for this, so we took pictures and sent them to her as it was happening. That was OK but it made her want to be here even worse, so we did a facetime call, and had her virtually in attendance. Technology is amazing!!!
With Brandon and Alisha here, this is when we did the family gift exchange. We had a great time as we opened gifts from one another. There was a great deal of thought that went into each gift, and it was fun to watch the kids present each other with the items they had purchased.
And with that a New Year was rung in! I am so blessed to have such a great family. I love that they love being together. I wish we could all get together at the same time, but I know that with so many of us, the chances of everyone being able to come on the same days, gets less and less likely with each year, and with each additional work schedule that gets worked into the mix. Regardless, I love the anticipation of good company that comes with Christmas. Christmas is a GREAT time of year!!!
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