Christmas Eve

'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house,

little children were acting and I was watching with my spouse.

What a beautiful little manger scene, Joseph and Mary were there.

Baby Jesus was quite compliant, but the donkey had a lot of hair.

When at the front door there arose such a clatter,

I sat in my chair waiting to see what was the matter.

As I drew in my head and was turning around,

Through the front entrance St. Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,

and his clothes were not tarnished with ashes and soot.

A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,

And he looked like a peddler, just opening his pack.

(adapted from the poem by Clement Moore)

We went to my parents house for Christmas Eve. We had our usual potluck dinner that was delicious (I made the rolls). Then the kids put on a little manger reenactment while my dad read from the scriptures. Zane didn't want to be the donkey so Clay stepped up to the part! Thankgoodness too because carrying Joseph (aka Luke) alone would have been a little much for little Zbo...ha. My mom had arranged for Santa to come. He brought all the gifts that my grandma, aka Bisa (trasnlation=great grandma), had sent for us. Merry Christmas!!!

Does Santa come to your school?

He came to ours this year. One of the cool things about living where I grew up is seeing my boys experience the same things I did. Its actually kind of twilight-zone-ish...in a good way. There were a lot of pictures I took but I was standing so far away that I didn't get as good of angles as I could usually (haha). They had the parent area taped off so we couldn't be with our kids. Each class was brought on to the black top and sat down to watch Santa's helicopter land. He circled the school a few times and you could hear him saying "Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas!" from the helicopter up in the air. The helicopter landed out on the field and Santa was escorted in. I thought it was so funny that Santa seemed to have as many bodyguards as Mr. President himself. Then the kids just lined up and were shuffled past Santa, it was pretty quick. I guess he was visiting all the schools that day. That night Luke and Ethan were talking to us about the whole event and Ethan said "but Santa wasn't real, he was fake." Steve and I quickly jumped in with how busy Santa is that sometimes he has his elves dress up and go places for him because he can't go himself. Ethan seemed to believe it...hopefully.

Gingerbread Houses and Boat Parade

We were lucky to be invited to the Sheldon's Gingerbread house decorating party again this year. Ethan, Luke and I had a blast decorating our house and cookies. The cookies didn't even make it home! The theme for our house was see how much candy you can pile on. We have a rule at our house that you can eat anything you want on Christmas Day so the gingerbread house was saved for that day and we ate and ate and ate. Here are the boys after we finished the house.

We also went to the Boat Parade in Balboa this year. Last year we got there too late and caught the very last boat but this year we made it! I was so excited. The boats were gorgeous. We took along some pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and nibbled while we watched. Aren't I one of the best photographers you've ever known? The gang - the Willifords (my sister and her family), Sadie, Ethan and Luke. Steve was standing by me out of the picture.

Breakfast with Santa

Another one of our favorite Christmas activities is our ward's Breakfast with Santa. It was even more enjoyable this year because I was released from Primary so I didn't have to be involved in any of the planning or execution of it. I just got to go and hang out. This year they served donuts and hot chocolate. They always have fun little coloring activities or sticker crafts for the kids to do while they wait for their turn to visit with Santa. Santa was a lot of fun this year, as always! Ethan and Luke told them all they wanted and were thrilled to get a candy cane from Santa! Sadie would not sit with Santa. She stood and looked at him gravely, it was hilarious. I should have taken a picture of that!

Christmas at Disneyland

One of our favorite things to do during the Christmas season is go to Disneyland. Its on my top 5 list of places to go to feel the magic of the season. Disneyland gets all decked out and the Small World ride completely changes just for Christmas. The kids and I went this year with my sisters and a friend and all the kids. We had 11 kids between the 4 adults, crazy!! But it was so fun. I snapped this picture of Maxwell, Ethan and Luke on the Small World ride with my phone (sorry its so grainy). Getting out the parking structure was TORTURE and Sadie cried for 45 minutes but other than that it was fantastic. I'm going to miss having passes next year at Christmas time.

List

1. I'm in popcorn heaven tonight. Oh. My. Delicious. You have got to try these recipes here and here. Popcorn is one of those things you feel like you can eat a truckload of all at once, its so light and airy. Mmmmm....

2. Sadie went to bed at 5:45pm tonight. You read that right, 5:45pm. I'm crossing my fingers she stays asleep until 6am tomorrow morning.

3. We're taking pictures on Friday. I hope we can pull them off. Getting three kids to all look at the camera at once while having a somewhat congenial look on their faces can be tricky, especially the girl; she'll be the trickiest of the bunch. The boys are excited to wear their new clothes though. I went with the black, red and white combo. I was hoping to do mustard and navy blue but that was harder to hunt down then the previously stated combo so there it is.

4. I felt so awkward at church last Sunday. It was weird to sit in Sunday school. We have a joint meeting for the third hour. I remember being envious of those that could attend those meetings but Sunday I would have rather been in Primary again. Its ok though. I'm fine. This is probably the first calling in a long time I've been so attached to. I think thats the weirdest part of this whole experience.

5. The hubs is doing a great job losing weight. I think he's lost close to 20 lbs. Way to go, hunners. I'm struggling. First of all, what the pickle was I thinking trying to lose weight during the holiday season?! I swear I must have been delirious. We're trying to change our mindsets. We are both healthy eaters. I mean healthy in the form of we can put away food like pros. So we're trying to change that. Portion control. Portion control. Portion control. That's my latest mantra. Except the other day I read that Kate Moss said "nothing tastes as good as skinny feels." Excuse me, I beg to differ. I know some awesome lasagna and texas toast that probably tastes pretty darn close to how good skinny feels. Ugh. I need to be reprogrammed. Wish it were easier. I wish I were one of those people that could decide and be done with it. I have to decide over and over and over again. Its exhausting.

6. I love Pandora. Have I said that before? Its awesome. I got the "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" station and I listen to it all day long. Its beautiful. No commercials. No junk. If I don't like a song I just hit the little thumbs down button and it won't play it anymore. Pandora is a my best friend.

7. I'm reading John Adams by David McCullough. Its a Pulitzer Prize winner. It was made into a mini series on HBO. Its 768 pages. Oi. Seriously, its slow reading but this is the first book in this kind of history genre that I've actually been interested in. Usually stuff about the Civil War is too dry for me. I'm actually liking this book. It might take me a year to finish but I'll finish.

8. I'm playing my flute in our Christmas Sacrament program on the 20th. Yikes. Do you know how long its been since I played my flute? I actually took it in to be re-padded today. We'll see what the estimate comes back as. I had to rent a different flute so I have one to play on d-day. So this has reminded me of how much I liked playing with a group and I found this group, Orange County Mormon Choral Organization. I noticed they have an orchestra and they are in need of flute players. But I'd have to audition. Whoa. I don't know if I could hack that. And I'm a commitment-phobe too. Hmmm....

9. Have I told anyone that Sadie's a walker? Yah, no more crawling. She crawled FOREVER on her belly. Then around 10.5 mos. decided she could get up on her knees. Then she took her first few steps a couple weeks before her birthday and now she is full fledged. I need to take a picture of her shoes. They are kaput. I ordered some new ones from Robeez and I'm hoping they get here quick!

Sadie's current pair of shoes. Cute huh?

Sadie's soon to be new pair of shoes. Hopefully they last longer than the last pair.

10. I was reading books with the boys before bed tonight. Its usually part of our routine but the first thing to go when we are pressed for time. But on school nights its a must because its part of Ethan's homework. Everything that has to do with Ethan's education is not a burden. Its more like I feel accomplished and purposeful. I got to thinking, am I going to be as gung-ho next year when Luke adds to the bill? Or in a few years when its Sadie's turn? I want to be. I want to show them all the same committment. But it won't be new with Luke and Sadie. It will be been there, done that. Hopefully I'm wrong. Please let me be wrong.

Jog-a-thon

Ethan and Luke ran in their first school Jog-a-thon last week. I remember doing many a Jog-a-thon when I was at Killybrooke Elem. so this took me down memory lane. I didn't get to see Luke jog because I was home with Sadie while she napped but I caught up with Ethan and got some pictures. I got to see Luke when he went to his snack time and his cheeks were still rosey. Ethan ran 39 laps and Luke ran 20, or so he says...his teachers haven't sent home his lap count yet so it could be more or less. Great job, boys!

Haunted Halloween 2009

Halloween was such a great holiday for the boys. Ethan and Luke said many times "this is the best day of my life." By the end of October I was ready to see Halloween go, to be honest. It was Halloween almost every week in our house with all the different activities (Johnson Halloween party, ward halloween party, school parade and halloween party, Pretend City halloween party and then the actual day of Halloween party) we had but I know the boys really enjoyed it and hopefully they have some memories locked away. If you can't tell, Ethan was "Dark Vader" aka Darth Vader, Luke was a Storm Trooper, and Sadie strayed from the theme and was a fairy (I'm all about the hand-me-down costumes when I can).

From the heart

Thankfulness is all around,
it lingers in the air.
It reaches out to take my hand
and show me all who care.

Thankfulness in my child's reach,
they guide me through the day.
The lessons that they teach
show me there is another way.

Thankfulness between four square walls,
underneath a humble roof.
Keeps me warm and sheltered,
A small token of love's proof.

Thankfulness in my husband's eyes,
his touch and his care;
the power of his influence, the quiet self-sacrifice.
Bound together eternally, this life's journey to share.

Thankfulness to run, to walk, jump and skip;
In eyes that see the mediocre and the grand.
An able mind. To taste deliciousness;
the laughter dancing from each mouth like the melody of a band.

Thankfulness is all around,
it lingers in the air.
It reaches out to take my hand
and show me there's so much life there.

So I don't know where that came from. It just came up and I let it out. Its a little cheesy but its me. I love Thanksgiving and I have so much to be thankful for.

Famous Quotes...Or Should Be

An excerpt from Ethan's prayer tonight (I am so sad I was not in the room. Steve was and came out and told it to me. I'm still laughing. This is when I LOVE being a mom.):

"Please bless if a bad guy is in the house you can use the force."