CHRISTMAS TRADITION #3: Delivering goodies to our neighbors and friends
Several Decembers ago, I remember Josh saying to me, "I was thinking maybe this year we could take plates of cookies to others."
"Okay" I replied.
At Christmas-time in my youth, my mother always made fruitcake or cheesecake tarts or something of the like to deliver to the neighbors in our ward. And of course, our family received plates of treats and gobs of goodies in return. And as children, we were quick to eat anything sugary and sweet that entered our home! But as I entered adulthood, it was something I chose not to participate in.
When we were newlyweds, we didn't participate in the neighborhood giving because within the first 3 Christmases of marriage, we lived in 3 different cities and we were still establishing friendships during that time.
We have lived in Salmon now for the past 9 years. The first five, I was working and never really felt energetic enough to take on the task of neighborhood deliveries during an already busy time of the year. So we never made plans to go and visit our neighbors or prepare plates to take to them. Occasionally we had others stop by and bring us something, so every year I purchased a few extra items that were to be handed out ONLY to people who delivered items to us at Christmas.
The year that Josh suggested doing it, I was finally ready to begin that step into adulthood: the stepping-over-the-threshold-into-adulthood-by-delivering-neighborhood-Christmas-plates step. It took me several years to be ready for that step; it's a big one, you know?!
And so, the first year we had about 8 plates filled with a conglomaration of random cookies and fudge. The next year, I did different types of no-bake cookies to fill the 12 plates with. Last year, I made cookies with Reese's Pieces and cookies with M&M's in them to put on the 15 plates. This year, I decided to do something other than cookies. I made 20 small jars of homemade spiced apple/pear jam and paired them with a can of biscuits to deliver.
It took us 3 rounds of delivery, and 5 hours of time to deliver all of them! But every cent I spent on the jars and biscuits, every minute of time making the jam, every gallon of gas that was used to deliver them was well worth it!!! I truly enjoyed every moment of delivering them. I loved sharing with the people that I love and who have made a difference in our lives during the past year. I was filled with a grateful and happy heart after delivering them. It was a reminder to me of all the wonderful people that God has blessed my family's lives with. No wonder people love delivering Christmas goodies at Christmas-time! It seems to me to be the most simple way to share His love of us with others! Giving is an easy and loving way to feel the true Christmas spirit and to spread Christmas cheer!
Now that I've taken that giant step of neighborhood delivering, I understand the reason for doing it and have felt His love while participating in it, and I'll never go back to the non-delivery days again!!!
The boys waited for weeks to decorate this store-bought gingerbread house, and on the first day of Christmas Break, I finally let them. Within just one hour of it being finished, ALL the candy was eaten as well as chunks off the house!
At Grandma P.'s house, they decorated a Gingerbread train with Aunt Tawna. They ate as they went along and only 25% of the candy was eaten after it was completed--mostly because they didn't want to eat the "hot" candy (red hots and mints).
LESSON LEARNED: next year I will purchase double the candy, and when the houses are complete, I will let the children eat only the extra candy so the houses can remain in tact for more than a few hours!!!
I don't force my children sit on his lap because I don't like photos of children crying on Santa. Kanyon wouldn't get within 10 feet of him, so...no picture. 
The following is a short 8-second clip of their favorite song. For weeks before the performance, they sang that song constantly. They loved it! Micah would plink out the rhythm on the piano keys at home and sing it at the same time! Both boys usually shy away from singing in front of people, so I was pleasantly surprised to see Jonah singing along with the program. Even though Micah tried to hide behind the girls in front of him, I know he was singing too. I was so proud of both of them and I truly enjoyed watching the whole program and feeling the excitement in the air! (Pause my blog music at the bottom of the page before playing the video.) 
I enjoy taking photos of my family members, but seriously every time I bring out the camera and tell my boys or my husband that I want a picture, this is the procedure: I hear groans, I have photos of people with frowning faces, I make threats, and then I get ONE good picture with smiles.
It was a crazy morning, and by the time we got back to Tremonton, we were exhausted. But for some reason, we decided to drive to Logan and do a little more regular shopping. Which is a crazy day to do regular shopping because there's SO many people!!! We woke up at 4:00am that morning to get started, and finally by 3:00 we were done shopping! I'm so grateful for my parents who are willing to watch my boys, because we could never achieve all that we needed to do with children in tow! 
That evening, Josh and I went to his cousin's beautiful reception. It was nice to meet Stephanie's husband and to visit with Glade and Debbie, who we both love. Afterwards, my sisters and I tried to carry on last year's tradition by going to the movies together. And even though Trina had already seen New Moon, I hadn't, so she came along with me to that one. It was awesome and I'm so glad she came with me! 