December

It has been a great month!!! The kids did sit on Santa's lap (well, I actually sat on Santa's lap and held Belinda when it was her turn). On Sunday, Katie Marie's sunbeam teacher informed me that she told her class that Santa wasn't real. While we were leaving church and getting in the car I asked Katie Marie about it. She said, "yeah, Santa isn't really real huh?" I had to inform her that some children still believe he is real and so we have to keep it a big secret. She promised she would. Sorry in advance if Katie Marie ever reveals this big secret to anyone else.
We also continued with our tradition of baking a ginger bread house and cookies. This is a really fun tradition for us.

We did go sledding. Lucky us!!!

I did finally finish Belinda's ornament.

On Christmas morning we read the version of the Christmas story from the Book of Mormon and opened up the most important gift of all (a picture of Jesus to remind us that Heavenly Father gave us what is most important). It's a good thing that we don't do the Santa thing, because first thing in the morning (about 8am) Katie Marie ran out into the living room to turn the Christmas tree lights on and then came to wake us up.

We were spoiled this year. Belinda is still holding the picture of Jesus.

Digging into the stockings.

Randy found some black socks in his stocking. Katie Marie told him about this as soon as we came home from the store. "We got you some black socks dad." So it really was no surprise on
Christmas morning. He did a good job looking surprised though. Oh well.

Belinda had fun opening her presents this year. This being her first year to participate in the opening part of it.

Here is the long anticipated present that Katie Marie found in our closet about a month ago. When she found it she came running out to me and said, "look mom." I told her that it was for Christmas and she wasn't supposed to know about it. It was supposed to be a secret. The good thing about the whole situation is that afterwards when ever we would ask her what she wanted for Christmas she would tell us that she wanted this. There was definitely no disappointment there.

The Mr. Potato Head that the girls got to share. Belinda enjoyed wearing the glasses.

Opening present from Grandparents.

Belinda went and got the baby doll Ava and decided to pull her around in the sled that she got.

More goofiness!!!

The big present from Grandparents.

Tutu's from uncles.

First and cutest baby outfit for Alvin.

The year is coming to a close and it is time to start thinking and planning for next year. Some of the things that are our goals for this coming year really are just needs. Like getting a bigger car so we can fit the new addition to our family inside of it. We also need to figure out sleeping arrangements for the girls (they may be sharing a bed), and basic paying off debt sort of stuff. Yikes!!! It seems a little overwhelming, but I'm excited for the new challenges that 2011 will bring. I was thinking about some of the things that were new for us in 2010 including:

• new house
• new dog
• new fish
• new yard
• new friends
• new ward
• new foods (spaghetti squash, acorn squash, other squash, brussel sprouts, persimmons, asian pears, collard greens, eggplant, a fruit mix between grapefruit and orange, etc.)

Also thinking about what will be new for us in 2011:

• new child (first son)
• new car (a must have)
• probably more new foods
• new garden (really hoping)
• new fruit trees (also really hoping)
• new and improved energy (please, oh please)
• renewed love and appreciation for quality family time.

We have been so blessed. We can't believe how dramatically a year can change our lives, but we are so grateful for the wonderful changes that have happened to us.

We Love Each Other!!!

It's Beginning to Look a lot like.....

CHRISTMAS!!!
We ordered this awesome nativity this year. Perfect for the kids. Since they love to play with all the nativities we have set up.
Here is a better view of the tree skirt that Randy made. Isn't it AWESOME?

We love reading Christmas stories and putting them out under our tree. Probably one of my favorite ones is "A Christmas Dress for Ellen."

Each year we add an ornament to our tree that represents our year. I made this one for Randy and I to represent that we bought our first home this year.

This one I made for Katie Marie to represent how she loves to dress up. She also was a ballerina for Halloween and loves pretty princess things. I still have yet to make one for Belinda.

Here is our tree. LOVE it!!!

I made Belinda's stocking this year. You can't really tell, but the candy cane fabric is all sparkly. I love the ribbon around it. I also hand embroidered her name onto the top. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out.

Here are all of the stockings hung up.

We have a tradition to do unmatching stockings and that the mom makes them for the kids. Randy's mom made his stocking and my mom made my stocking.

I made each of the girls stockings.

Some of our favorite Christmas traditions include:

• Every night in December we read a scripture, sing a Christmas song, and read a Christmas story, by candlelight.
• Adding a new ornament to the tree.
• On Christmas Eve we each give a gift to Jesus (like a new years resolution).
• On Christmas Eve we always reenact the nativity.
• During December we make Gingerbread houses and cookies.
• We eat lots of oranges, eggnog (mostly Randy), and pomegranites.
• We want to start the tradition of eating a fondue dinner.
• We don't celebrate the Santa thing, but we enjoy exchanging gifts with one another on Christmas morning. I think the way we'll do that is on Christmas morning the youngest will get to choose a gift that they have given someone and give it to them to open, instead of having the youngest open a present first. That way it will be about "giving" presents instead of "getting" presents. We'll each take turns giving a present to someone to open.
• We enjoy doing elaborate stockings with fun items included in them. We like to stuff them to full capacity.
• We don't do a lot of presents under the tree. It kind of depends on the year, but never more than 3 presents each from us (more if you include grandparents and sibling presents). This represents the 3 gifts the wisemen brought to the baby Jesus.

On a side note: Even though we've told Katie Marie the truth about the Santa thing, she still knows he exists, because she's sat on his lap and he's given her candy canes. She says, "Santa is real, but he doesn't bring us presents, right?" Okay Katie Marie! We had a conversation about what Christmas is all about the other night. I asked her what it was all about and she said, "the presents, the tree, etc." We talked about the reason we give presents and about what the star on the top of the tree represents (the star of Bethlehem). Now when I ask her what Christmas is all about she says, "giving presents to Jesus." We love Christmas and we are super excited about the spirit that we feel this time of year.

Jesus was born in Bethlehem and came to earth to atone for our sins. He lived a perfect life and gave up his life for us willingly. He lives again. He has given us the greatest gift that any of us could possibly wish for, a chance to repent and return to live with our Heavenly Father again. He loves each of us. Christmas is a wonderful time to celebrate Him and His life. May each of you have a very Merry Christmas!!!