11th Day of Christmas Memories

Christmas of 2008 was a pleasant and meaningful one for me. It was centered around the reason for the season, and I enjoyed all the festivities.

At that time, I was in charge of ward parties, and the theme I chose for the Christmas ward party that year was "In a Manger". The dinner, decorations, and program all centered around that theme. I had members bring their nativity scenes early and set them out on tables at the entrance of the church, so as people came to the party that night, they could walk through and see a variety of nativity scenes. As centerpieces on the tables, I set out gift boxes with the nativity scene printed on them. Inside the boxes were candy and trinkets for the children to take home as their Christmas gift from the ward. I wrote the program that was performed after dinner. A bunch of older boys in the primary came onstage all dressed as ancient prophets, and they told of their revelations of a Christ child that would be born. Then a bunch of older girls in the primary were the angel choir, and they sang a song. Then a narrator read the Luke 2 story, and it was acted out. I created a donkey, and had 2 primary kids dress up as Joseph and Mary and he pulled her through the gym on a donkey to the stage. Once they arrived at the stage (Bethlehem), there was a Stable all set up, and I'd painted a whole bunch of pictures for the younger kids to hold up. I absolutely loved that program, and several people told me that was the best Christmas program they'd ever seen at a ward party.

December 2008 was the first time (and only time) I'd ever made home-made Christmas cards. I made 48 of them and it was a huge time endeavor. It took me 7 hours just to craft all the cards, which doesn't include the time it took me to come up with the unique letter that the card revolved around. It was truly a labor of love. I loved those cards! One of my friends told me that receiving that card was like receiving a gift, which made my heart happy.

We delivered goodie plates to our neighbors and friends. I had only started the tradition of doing that just the previous year. I like to have a common theme for my neighbor treats each year. That year, the theme was cookies with candies. I made sugar cookies with M&Ms in them, and peanut butter cookies with Reese's Pieces in them. It is always so fun to deliver the goodie plates to people who've been influential in our lives throughout the year.

 We got our Christmas tree later that December instead of right after Thanksgiving. We had to get a scrawny tree to fit into our living room, and we found the perfect one! It had a flat side to push up against the wall, and it was round on the side that was visible.

The boys requests to Santa that year were very simple. It made my heart so happy to hear that they wanted such simple things, and it made shopping for them SO easy! When we visited Santa at the library pajama party, and when Santa came to the primary party, and when they wrote their letters to Santa, each of the 3 older boys requested the same thing every time:

(If it's hard to see the words in their Santa letters in this photo, Jonah said he wanted a toy tape measure, Micah said he wanted a snow shovel, and Ammon said he wanted lots of presents--at Santa's discretion.)

Christmas morning was awesome! The boys were all happy with their Santa gifts. Santa delivered: sleds to the 3 older boys, bikes to the twins, a battery-operated 4-wheeler and Tonka Truck to Kanyon, the Guitar Hero DS game to Ammon, and a snow shovel for Micah and a tape measure for Jonah.

After they played with their Santa gifts for a while, and revealed everything in their stockings, we opened gifts at our house. It was the first time we'd ever opened Christmas gifts at our own house--we'd always taken the wrapped gifts and opened them at either grandparents' house (we alternate Christmas and Thanksgiving holidays with the Tolman and Perkins families). We took turns opening gifts, but since Kanyon wasn't interested in unwrapping and Josh and I didn't have many presents, it didn't take long before all the gifts were unwrapped. It was a very quiet, peaceful, calm Christmas morning at home. The boys played in the living room, and Josh and I just sat and watched them. We went down to Josh's parents' house for lunch and opened their gifts from us there. Then it started to snow, which was perfect, since the boys had received sleds from Santa! They went sledding on the hill next to our driveway for a couple of hours and loved it!

Josh was really nice to me that Christmas, too. I had purchased myself a laptop on Black Friday, but I didn't open and use it until Christmas time because it was my Christmas present to myself. I told Josh that since I bought that, I wouldn't have any money to buy him a gift that year. I thought that he would understand, and not get me anything, either. But he surprised me with a new camera and new house phones and a new router. I felt unbelievably undeserving, and incredibly in love with him for being so thoughtful!

Christmas 2008 made my Top 12 memories because of the happiness I remembered feeling for a majority of the season. Focusing on the Savior at the ward party really set the tone for the holiday. Working on the cards to give to family and friends felt worthwhile. Delivering cookies to neighbors was rewarding. Hearing my children's simple requests filled me with love. Being home on Christmas morning was peaceful. Seeing the snow and watching them sled in it with family on Christmas afternoon brought joy to my soul.