Christmas

Alan said Saturday night that this was a perfect Christmas. I think he might have been right. It started with a family hike the morning of Christmas Eve. It was a short hike but when we stopped for a short break the kids started playing and using their imaginations and were so animated in their play that John and I could bear to interrupt them to make them keep going. So our short rest ended up being a long play time.

That afternoon we dipped chocolates and the boys did some work on our "tree house".

Christmas Eve we did our annual reenactment of the Nativity.  John and I noticed that our roles never change.  The kids always switch back and forth between wanting to be Joseph and a shepherd.  That always leaves John and I to do Mary and the Angel.  Well since John really doesn't want to be Mary, I'm always Mary and John is always the angel.  And a wrapped up scooby doo always ends up being Baby Jesus.

Then we each got to open one gift before bed. The kids get books on Christmas eve, and Mom and Dad each got a gift that the kids made in school. I think those were John and my favorite gifts.

We did your Christmas dinner a little different this year.  I heard about a tradition of a friend of mine and decided to try it this year.  Instead of traditional ham and potatoes we tried to replicate how Christ might have eaten dinner.  I was a little worried about the foods but overall dinner was a success.  My brother and his family came over.  We ate sitting on the floor and used our fingers.  It was a neat experience that helped bring us back from the presents to remembering Christ.

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas too!

Concentration

Last night was Hyrum's winter concert.  The picture above is terrible but it gives you an idea of how Hyrum was during the entire thing.  His brow was furrowed almost the entire time.  Hyrum is a perfectionist and I think he was concentrating hard on remembering the words and getting the actions right.  It made John and I laugh watching him.  He was so excited to have it be HIS concert.  We've gone to many events for Alan but this was his first.  He was even asking if he could have the "You are special today" plate at dinner.

Another reason why I love this kid.

The other day after school he says he's going to make a sandwich for a snack and this is what happened.  It's a triple decker peanut butter, pretzel and cracker sandwich.

I love this kid.

Success!

It was every child's worst nightmare.  The invitations were sent, the cupcakes were baked, the decorations were set.  Then Alan got the stomach flu the day of his birthday party.  He took it pretty good when we told him we needed to cancel, but it was hard.  I had a hard time not crying.  John had a hard time not crying when I stayed up all night debating back and forth to him about what we could have done to save the day while John was trying to sleep.  But we rescheduled.

I was worried that no one would be able to come since December is so busy (it took us 3 weeks to find a weekend where we were free to have a party). But friends came, they all had fun, and Alan felt special. And THAT makes it a success.

It was a movie party filled with lots of candy and popcorn.