Christmas Memories Old and New

I took Jack to a fun activity called Swim with Santa and we had so much fun. Santa was in his swim trunks and Bermuda shorts and even got in the water with the kids. It reminded me of the two Christmas' I spent in Chile on my mission. Chile's weather is opposite ours and Santa comes riding in on a Surfboard and everyone goes to the beach on Christmas Day. What a special time that was. I remember singing carols in the streets and going to the beach with our Bishop. We were supposed to continue missionary work and keep talking to everyone we met. the little town we lived in Pichilemu blossomed over Christmas vacation (which incidentally was also Summer vacation- what a jip right?). The town of 400 people grew to thousands of tourists and surfers who occupied the thousands of small beach homes during the summer. One of my companions was very scared of talking to people about the gospel (even though she was Chilean and spoke perfect spanish- I should have been the one embarrased of my spanglish). I remember we were supposed to handout 25 handouts a day which usually meant having a charla corta (short chat) with them about gospel principles. I remember we ventured down to the beach on Christmas Eve and as I was stooped down talking to a sun-bather about modern-day prophets, I looked up and saw my companion throwing missionary folletos into the air. Since there were so many people on the beach, the pamplets would float on the wind and float down and land next to someone. I even saw a few people pick them up and open them, but the rest just used them to fan themselves. Needless to say, we had a little chat and I stood next to her for moral support as she practiced approaching total strangers.

Christmas was celebrated at midnight on Christmas Eve. It was kind of like a New Years Countdown, and then everyone would open their presents at midnight. Festivities would carry on until 3 or 4 in the morning following which everyone would go home to bed and sleep all day Christmas Day just to wake up in time for lunch and a siesta. We had special permission to stay up late one year and we celebrated with our Mamita who we were staying with and her family. It was very special and family centered. The next morning, however we had to be on the streets by 10 AM and we wandered around looking for anybody to talk to and didn't see a soul for hours. I can remember the smells of the streets near Santiago, the dust in my Doc Martins and the sights of the flea markets. The fresh veggies and the raw meat that was just carried around town on sticks, the flies, the souvenirs, the fake burned CDs, empanadas, completos, the diesel smell of the crowded noisy buses. But Christmas was different. It wasn't white and there wasn't any snow, but it was still and peaceful, like it should be for Christ's birth.

I think my favorite memory of this year and Jack's fourth christmas will be Rudolph. I sang it for Jack right after Thanksgiving and he quickly picked up on it and would sing it for me as I drove him to school. He memorized all the words and can sing them all without any cues. This christmas season, he has sung it for Grandmas and teachers. He sang it in a microphone at our family parties and then sang it following Cori's concert, although that time he lost his place and transitioned into his own version of "transformers..... more than meets the eye." He asked Santa for a rudolph and here he is listening to his new toy for the first time. I love that he is all concerned that the toy rudolph doesn't finish the song. I also love that he doesn't know any of the echoes except for some times "Ho, Ho, Ho and yipee." He sings it so pure and simple. Of course we have yet to capture a good performance on camera but isn't that what happens? I know this is one of those things I will look back on and miss- the year Jack was so facinated by Rudolph.

Family Christmas Letter (sort of)

I could pretend that I am trying to save trees or stamps or something, but honestly this is just an easier way to do a letter. Without any more ado... here is our list of

Top 10 events from 2008!

1. Gas prices came back down to what we haven't seen since high school- yeahhh!

2. Jack turned 3 with a vengeance and the world will never be the same. There are now 3 major opinions in our house demanding to be counted. (Well, 4 if you count Charlie but he pretty much only expresses his opinions on eating)

3. Becky got a therapist job at a place that would let her work until her water broke and then come back whenever and for however long she wanted.

4. We took an awesome vacation to Disneyland in Feb with Grandma Julie

5. Adam passed his major test (in addition to the test of being in Oklahoma for 12 weeks away from his doting wife) and is now in full swing as an official Air Traffic Control trainee at Salt Lake International.

6. We moved into our new house and have unpacked almost every box. Adam has also learned to install a toilet, build shelves, trim trees, spend lots of $ at Home Depot and many other joys of home ownership.

7. After five years of marriage Adam finally claims that his home theatre is satisfactory (although he still must tweak it every few weeks just in case the acoustics shifted :)

8. Jack started pre-school and is doing great singing, washing his hands, playing and sharing with other kids and he's curious about everything.

9. After 8 months of pull-ups we can proudly say that jack is 50% potty trained. What can we say, we just have no clue what we're doing. But, after our latest movie, Jack says he is ready for Potty Power.

10. Best of all, our family was joined by the great addition of baby Charlie who is a boy despite many store clerks who think he is too pretty to be a boy and have read too much Jack Welland. Charlie was born July 17 in a less traumatic way than Jackson and we love him so much!

Christmas is magical

The other day I was listening to 106.5 the christmas station when I heard, "Where are you Christmas? Why can't I find you?....." I started thinking about it and thought that Christmas is right here right now. This is Jack's first real Christmas. He is excited about Rudolf and Santa Claus and can kind of understand how fun it is to make and give gifts. To give you fair warning, we decided to make most of our presents this year and have had so much fun. Now Jack asks me everyday if we can do a craft. Silly Mommy. Christmas is so magical with Jack this year and he tells me everyday that he wants to go on the Polar Express and when I tell him we don't have tickets, he says, "Just look in your pocket." Jack beleives in magic and it makes the season magical for me. This is one of the great reasons to have kids. I get to relive the magic with Jack. I love Christmas.

Family Christmas Party in matching sweaters. We're so cheesy. Jack sang his first solo in a microphone in front of everybody- Rudolph of course. He didn't even get stage fright- so much for that performance anxiety his music teacher thinks he has just because he won't sing ba ba ba ba into her stick ;)

Jack was a pretty good shepherd watching over baby Jesus. That is until the program went long and he decided to swing on the curtains and trip the wise men. Oh well, so it wasn't the greatest Christmas pageant ever.

Charlie stole the show as baby Jesus. He was perfect, he laughed and smiled when Mary and the angels rubbed there little hands all over him and the best part was that he couldn't roll or crawl away. That really ruins the picture when baby Jesus stands up and walks away.

At his pre-school party, Jack received exactly what he wanted a Transformer. He was almost the last of all the kids and each time the Elf went to call a name, Jack would say, "Oh me me, please pick me." When it was finally his turn Santa thanked him for being so patient and let him shake the Santa bells.

Our family commemorated in Gingerbread Men: Daddy, Mommy, Jack & Charlie- they didn't last too long.

Frosting cookies at Jack's school.

One of our many creations: Jack painted these for his teachers and Grandmas. He squeezed so much paint in each one, a few took over a week to dry.

My Grandma Smith is pretty cool. She has been planningour family party for months and she made all her Granddaughters and Great-grandaughters aprons and gave us all a poem about Grandma's apron. She also made pajama pants for the boys and 2 I-spy quilts, and organized service projects and a future quilt project. She is recovering from a fall a few weeks ago that left her with black eyes, but she looked great to me!

Happy Birthday Adam!!- Top Ten List

Adam's birthday is the 19th of dec. Since we were busy celebrating 2 Christmas parties, we celebrated his birthday this morning. He unwrapped birthday presents wrapped with Christmas paper, we had scrambled eggs, blueberry pancakes and the celebration was made complete with a #3 candle on a plate of brownies. Since Adam's almost 30 now, I figured it was appropriate to have a #3 but no #0 on his brownie. (Adam is totally in denial of being almost 30 which makes it that much more funny.) I do feel a little bad that Adam's birthday is overshadowed by Christmas so here is a
TOP TEN REASONS WHY I LOVE ADAM (there are so many, but here's a sampling.)

1. He wakes up in the middle of the night with Jack or Charlie even though he has to be to work at 6:30 AM. (I say that one should count double)

2. He is a passionate person. He LOVES the things he loves...airplanes, speakers, home theatre stuff, tools, etc.

3. He recognizes that his family is the most important thing and cherishes snuggle time and holding Charlie time.

4. He just finished working so hard and Aced his big test for the Air Traffic Control program. Way to go!

5. He's a great Bass and can sing classical and fun pieces.

6. He's an awesome dancer and will let me do waltz jumps and tango twisties whenever I want, (even in the kitchen).

7. He is a very unselfish person. Financially, he makes sure everyone else has their needs and wants met before asking for what he wants.

8. He has skills on ebay and guitar hero. And he whips me every time in Wii tennis.

9. He can fix anything. As a new home owner I am really appreciating the fact that we don't have to call in plumers or electricians. What a blessing to have sucha great Handiman- Handi-Adam.

10. He takes care of things that I don't ever think about. Like fuel filters, ice melt, checking my oil, making sure our swamp cooler works, and rotating my tires.

I am so greatful for Adam- he is a HUGE blessing in our family.