Christmas

Our Christmas holiday has been something to remember. As usual, I worked at the flower shop and was lucky enough to have Michael around to watch the boys for me. Spencer started off the week by being sick (stomach flu) and missed the last two days of school before Christmas break, that included his class party. Preston, Shannon, Michael and I all came down with head colds, and if I hadn't already had our presents shipped to my mother-in-laws for Christmas, we would have stayed home. This was the first year Spencer & Preston have gone anywhere for Christmas and the boys were looking forward to it, as was their cousin Dallas (the only cousin around the boys' age on Shannon's side). We drove to A.F. on Saturday, and that night we opened our traditional Christmas Eve present...pajamas! Shortly after that Preston threw up. Luckily he slept through the night, and around 6am the boys were up to start the day. Santa doesn't wrap his presents at our house, and when Preston saw his he hugged the box and said, "Just what I wanted!"

Preston was fine most of the day but threw up again that evening. We probably would have left that night, but Michael's other-mother had helped him buy a rifle for Christmas and they were going shooting on Monday. So we had to tough it out. Monday we drove over to Pocatello to do some shopping and ran into my sister-in-law Myrna and my niece Azure, and then we stopped in for a quick second to see my brother Mark & his kids. We drove home Monday night after dinner, and luckily we had an uneventful drive. When the boys woke up this morning, they were able to get out all their toys and play, play, play. Our family gift this year was Rock Band, and since we didn't take this to grandma's with us the boys were very excited to get to play it. I spent the morning finishing their beanbag chairs that I've been meaning to make for several years now. It feels good to finally have them finished and the boys LOVE them!

I love Christmas and I try to keep the emphasise on Christ, but I have to admit that I still love the idea of Santa. After every holiday I make a list of things I want to do different the next year. Here are some of my ideas for next year:

1. Elf on the Shelf


2. Christmas mail box - the boys can leave or get letters for or from Santa, Mom, Dad, or brother


3. "Our Gifts to Christ" box - we'll leave notes of service we've done or seen others do throughout the month and share them on Christmas Eve.