Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! I am still in awe of how quickly this year's Christmas snuck up on us. Each year, I write Jeff a letter for Christmas. It's basically a gift of words that summarize our year, our growth, and my love. As I looked back at the year in our blog, I was exhausted just remembering all we've done this year! It was a crazy busy year full of incredible milestones for our family. We celebrated our 10th anniversary, Jeff's 50th birthday, Danny's graduation, mission & first time in the temple, Jonas's baptism, and the announcement of a new grand baby to come in 2024. I traveled with Jeff through the southern states, took Jonas (and my parents) to San Diego, cruised with the family in the Western Caribbean, Jeff took Danny on a church history trip from NY to NE (then Jonas and I met up with them in CO), we grabbed the boys (and Danny's friends) for a Lake Powell trip, took the family to Flaming Gorge for our annual August trip, I went on a girls trip with Nichole & Kate in WA and Canada, met up with Jonas and Jeff in Oregon for another week, traveled with Jeff and Jonas to Moab and Durango, took Jonas to Disneyland, then rounded out the year with another quick trip to Colorado for Tyler's graduation. This was on top of just our normal daily routines and all the fun holidays and events we celebrated in between! It's no wonder this year flew by so fast...and no wonder Christmas literally snuck up on all of us. Thankfully (because of my meticulous planning that some might term borderline OCD), we were prepared. This year, Christmas Eve was on a Sunday. I actually really love it when Christmas Eve falls on a Sunday. This is the day that I truly try to remember my Savior (prior to the flurry of wrapping paper and gift receiving excitement on Christmas Day) so it was all the more perfect that we started our day with a church service full of music and scripture. After church, the older kids went to visit their biological mom while Jonas and I made Santa's favorite cookie (even though Jonas is aware of the secret of Santa). Yup...this year, that magic faded as new meaning and magic evolve, but he still wanted to enjoy the cookies. 

Once everyone gathered that afternoon, we started our evening's festivities by assembling and lighting our luminaries. I loved that the newest generation gets to join in on the tradition. I know our children will eventually establish their own traditions and gradually fade away from ours. Christmas will evolve (as it already has), but the memories and meanings of our traditions will last.

After the luminaries had been set, we enjoyed our Bethlehem dinner and Christmas Eve devotional. Jonas and I played a duet, Silent Night, to start it off then we collectively read the scriptural account in Luke 2 accompanied by the book A Christ Centered Christmas. Next, Jonas played the First Noel while Amber sang then Jacob and Amber serenaded us with What Child is This (The Hound and Fox version). We quickly ended with a family prayer before the excitement and anticipation of what was to come overwhelmed the reverence of the moment. The rest of the evening we hung out together, ate more, laughed a lot, and played video games. 

Morning couldn't come fast enough for Jonas. In fact, he woke up at 4:00 a.m. too excited to sleep (even without the secret of Santa). For the past several years, I've placed goodies in small stockings in his room and even given him a few of his gifts to open to entertain him until he could go back to sleep. This year was no different, but once he was back asleep, he didn't wake up until 7:30. I think that's the latest we've opened gifts. Amber, Jacob, Dallin, Laurin, Casey, Carter and Everly all spent the night so we all got to open our gifts together. Danny even got to call while we opened gifts so he could be a part of it all. There were a variety of gifts and ample amounts of excitement and laughter (especially when everyone decided to wear the new communication helmets around the house to test them out). We had our traditional waffle breakfast after the gifts then just got to hang out together, playing more video games, testing out our new toys, etc. until our prime rib dinner that night. Then just like that...it was over. It really does come and go so quickly. Thankfully, the memories last.