Merry Christmas!

I'm taking a one-day hiatus from the 12 Days of Christmas Memories. Today, I'm sharing with you the newsletter we sent/will be sending with Christmas cards this year:

In with the NEW, Out with the OLD…

Let the Tolman 2011 Tales be Told!

Josh has the same OLD job—he just completed his 11th season working as Superintendent for the Salmon Valley Golf Course, and he still loves it!! He was called as a NEW 1st counselor in the ward Elders Quorum Presidency, after the OLD presidency (where he also served as 1st counselor) was released due to the NEW ward boundary changes. He completed his 3rd year of serving on the School board, and all the meetings he goes to gets OLD for all of us! He purchased a NEW car in January (which looks like a Silver Box), and we’re all quite fond of it!

Kala began a NEW full-time job in February as the Elementary School Music Teacher. It has been frustrating and also fulfilling! She also began a NEW part-time job at the end of January as the bookkeeper for the Golf Course. Having two jobs sometimes feels overwhelming, but she was able to purchase a NEW deck for the house with her income. She teaches the adult Sunday School Gospel Principles class and likes it when NEW people come to her class! She finally began passing off some of her bucket list items this year, and it makes her feel OLD that she didn’t start doing them earlier in life!

Ammon is 11, and was one of the OLDest primary children in his final Primary Presentation in Sacrament Meeting in October. He is still a lover of sports, and this year he competed in: bowling, golfing, football, and basketball. He excels in whatever sport he participates in, for which we are so proud! He started 6th grade in August, and was so excited for his NEW schedule of 7 periods a day. He plays the trumpet in the Jr. High band and is involved in the Gifted & Talented program. He mowed lawns this summer to earn money for his future endeavors.

Jonah turned 8 in September, and was baptized a NEW member of the LDS church. He is in 2nd grade and loves going to school! He is friendly and always has a NEW best friend every few weeks! He played soccer this spring and had swimming lessons this summer. He likes to run and read and be silly and be a big helper. He is so good at doing his same OLD chores every week, and he always feeds the cat without being asked!

Micah is 8, and is the NEWest member of the LDS church in our family. He is in 2nd grade and is a fast reader. He tires of going to school day after day, but he likes playing at recess and P.E. He played soccer again this spring and liked it. He also had swimming lessons this summer, but didn’t like practicing the same OLD swim strokes every day. He climbed Mt. Borah with his dad and grandpa this summer, and he helped haul pumpkins at the pumpkin patch this fall.

Kanyon is slowly leaving behind toddlerhood. He is 4, but will soon be 5. Hearing him say daily prayers at dinner never gets OLD. He is sweet and kind and remembers others. He has really grown up in the past year, and is like a whole NEW kid this fall. He loves pre-school and makes friends and doesn’t bang his head as much and is sleeping better at night. He loves playing on the computer and the wii and jumping on the trampoline and being a big boy.

2011 was a wonderful year for our family. This spring: Josh and Kala went on a mini couple’s vacation to Moab, and Kala visited her Grandpa P. in Spokane. This summer: Josh’s Grandma T. passed away, Kala took the boys on a 10-day sight-seeing trip to Utah, we visited Kala’s Grandma R., we went to both the Perkins family and Tolman family reunions, and we went camping a handful of times around Salmon. This fall: we dedicated three weekends to pumpkin patch sales, and we hosted Thanksgiving for the first time. Throughout the past year, we spent a lot of time enjoying our NEW home and having get-togethers with friends and family young and OLD.

We wish you a very merry Christmas,

a holiday season full of love,

& a happy new year!

7th Day of Christmas Memories

The Christmas of 1994 was definitely one worth remembering for both good and bad reasons.

That was the first Christmas that our whole family wasn't together because my oldest brother Mick was on his mission. But we had extra company that Christmas, too. On December 21st, my older half-sister Lisa and her husband Mack, flew out from Virginia to spend a week with us. It was the only Christmas I've ever had with Mack, and the first time I'd seen him since their wedding three and a half years earlier.

The day after they arrived, Lisa and Mack went skiing in Logan Canyon. The next day they went skiing again, but this time they took me and Tawna with them. I was so excited that my parents would let me sluff school to go skiing! Although I wasn't very good at skiing, I loved participating in the sport. I had taken lessons when I went skiing with the junior high school, and I also usually went skiing once a year at the ward Night-Ski, so I felt pretty competent in my skills. Lisa and Mack took turns alternating between Tawna and I to ride the ski lift with, and it was fun to get to know them better! Mack was amazing at the sport, especially since he'd never gone until just the day before!  His abilities definitely surpassed mine, but he was gracious and Lisa was kind. The 4 of us had so much fun together that day!

On Christmas Eve day, the whole family took a trip to Logan to go to the Hardware Ranch, a wildlife management area where herds of wild Rocky Mountain Elk live. It is up Blacksmith Fork Canyon, and once we arrived there, we rode a horse-drawn wagon on the property amidst the animals. I remember being in awe at the sight of hundreds of elk. I had never seen so many before!

After we left the Elk Ranch, we went to dinner at the Mongolian BBQ restaurant. I always loved eating there, and watching them grill my food I'd picked. As we were driving home, I remember our vehicle crossing over railroad tracks, and my dad wincing and complaining that going over the tracks made his stomache hurt.

When we arrived home that evening, we did our usual Christmas Eve traditions of reading the Luke 2 story, reading the book "Twas the Night Before Christmas", and leaving cookies & milk out for Santa before going to bed.

In the middle of the night, my dad went to the e.r. with abdominal pains, where the Dr. diagnosed him with appendicitis, and he had his appendix removed that night.

The next morning, Christmas day, was Sunday. We awoke to receive the news from Mom that Dad was in the hospital. It was weird that he wasn't at home on Christmas morning. Mom and I decided to still go to church (only Sacrament meeting that day), and Lisa and Mack came with us. Lisa and Mack belong to a different faith, and I remember the speakers that day were our neighbors the Greer's. Brother Greer spoke about Samuel the Lamanite's prophesies of Jesus, and I remember thinking that Lisa and Mack must feel completely lost about what he was saying over the pulpit.

After church, we opened gifts and went to visit Dad in the hospital that afternoon. Christmas really didn't feel like Christmas that year. {And apparently the family photo book feels like that, too. There's a big void in 1994's photo album. There were absolutely NO Christmas photos taken that year! Not a single photo was taken the entire week that Lisa and Mack spent with us!}

On Monday evening (the following day), Dad was released from the hospital. On Tuesday, we all went down to Salt Lake City together (except for Cody who was gone to a camp reunion). We had a short visit with my Great-Grandpa Perkins. Then we watched the movie "Legacy" in the Joseph Smith building at Temple Square.Then we went to eat at the restaurant "Dela Fontana" which is where my parents had their wedding breakfast. It was such a formal restaurant, and we had a 7-course meal, and I remember there was so much silverware that I had no idea what to do with! After dinner, we found a hotel room for Mack and Lisa to stay that night, since their flight back to Virginia was leaving early the next morning. Then we drove back to Temple Square, and walked around looking at all the lights. I remember listening to the conversation between Lisa, Mack, and my dad. They were discussing the design of the temple, and the significance of the sun, moon, and stars that are entricately carved into the temple's granite exterior. After we were all done walking around Temple Square, we said our good-byes in the parking lot; they drove to their hotel, and we drove home to Tremonton. I felt sad when they left. I'd really enjoyed having them in our home that Christmas season.

There were so many different unrelated circumstances that occurred during that one-week time period, but when combined all together, they complete my memories of the singular event of Christmas 1994.

6th Day of Christmas Memories

In the winter of 1993, I was a freshman in high school. Christmas of 1993 was memorable for me because of the gifts that I gave that year.

At the beginning of December, my friend Heather and I participated with our Young Women's group in a "12 Days of Christmas" activity to spread some holiday cheer to two families in our ward. Heather and I lived across the street and one house down from each other, and both of the receiving families were within 3 blocks of our houses. For 12 days that month, we gave fairly inexpensive items to the two families by ding-dong-ditching them and leaving the gifts on their doorsteps. Heather and I were in charge of two of the days; we gave apples one day and a loaf of bread the other day. We had so much fun ringing the people's doorbells and then running and hiding. One of the families always picked up the gift and went inside immediately. The other family tried to discover who it was that was doing the activity. I remember being with Heather and trying to stifle my laughter until they (the 2nd family) finally stopped looking for us and went inside. Then we were free to come out from the bush we were hiding behind, and we laughed out loud together as we walked home. Heather and I shared some really great moments together throughout the years of our youth!

Beginning in my Junior High years, giving gifts to friends became a popular thing to do. By my Freshman year of high school, I had a list of 20 or so friends to give gifts to. It was tricky to come up with a large quantity of gifts that would be affordable, too. I remember giving candy one year and small matted pictures of Jesus one year. But the Christmas of 1993 was the biggest and best year for ideas I'd had yet for friend gift-giving. Remember how I said my Grandpa Rose was excellent at woodworking? Well, he'd created a whole bunch of small wooden rocking horses and had given them as gifts to his children and grandchildren, but there were several extras left over in his shop. After they sat on a shelf in his shop for a few years, I asked him what he planned to do with them and he said I could have them. There were 7 of them, and I was thrilled that he would give them to me. I decided that for Christmas that year, I would decorate them and give them to my sisters and my bestest friends. I purchased doll hair and ribbon and craft flowers, and for weeks I worked on finishing the decorative rocking horses. I combed and cut and glued hair onto the horses for the mane and the tail. I tied bows and cut ribbon and glued it to the fronts of the horses. I arranged the artificial flowers and added them onto the fronts of the horses, too. I was so proud of those horses when they were completed because I'd invested a lot of my time and money in them. I had worked on them in the evenings after school every day, perfecting their appearances, and I grew to love those horses so much! I kept one of the horses for myself, gave two to my younger sisters, and gave four to friends. I was excited to give them away to my loved ones because I felt like it was a true gift of love, but at the same time, I was also sad to depart with them after spending so much time with them!

The best part about giving gifts out of love is that it makes the heart grow, and the gift itself becomes more meaningful. I remember not caring so much about what others gave me that year because I was so focused on what I was giving instead. And I loved that feeling! The Christmas of 1993 is so memorable for me because it was when I first experienced the joy of giving gifts out of genuine love.

5th Day of Christmas Memories

The next Christmas in my memory bank is the Christmas of 1989.

In the summer of 1988, we moved from Ogden to Tremonton, Utah. I attended 4th and 5th grade at the elementary school 2 blocks from our home. I liked living in Tremonton, because within 2 blocks of my house, there were 3 girls my age that I got to play with and go to school and church with.

In December of 1989 (my 5th grade year), the Chicken Pox was going around. I caught it during the last week of school before Christmas Break. I was so mad because I had to miss the 5th grade Christmas Program since I had to stay home taking baking soda baths to help relieve the itching that the Chicken Pox caused. I was the first member of my family to have the dreadful disease. By Christmas Eve, the last of the red marks disappeared from my body and I was able to celebrate the holiday itch-free.

On Christmas morning, we saw what Santa brought us, and we opened gifts. My favorite gift that year was from my Grandma and Grandpa Rose. Grandpa and Grandma are both so good at working with their hands; Grandpa was excellent at his hobby of carpentry and woodworking, and Grandma was amazing at crocheting and dollmaking. That particular year, Grandpa gave us little benches that he'd made and painted, and Grandma gave us beautiful hand-made crocheted dolls. My bench was white and my doll was blue (my favorite color). I still have both to this day: the doll is on display in my room, and the bench is currently used in Kanyon's room. After all the gifts were opened, I layed out all the presents I'd received around my bench, and I had my picture taken with the display. That began an annual tradition of taking my picture sitting on Grandpa's bench with all my Christmas gifts surrounding me.

Right after Christmas, my Chicken Pox spread like wildfire, and during the remainder of Christmas Break, all the rest of my siblings got it! My brother Cody had like 50 spots in one armpit alone. Everyone was miserable, and I felt validated: even though I missed my class Christmas Program at school, at least I could enjoy Christmas vacation without having the miserable pox!!!

4th Day of Christmas Memories

The funny thing about memories is that they are only as true as the perceptions we have at the time. The Christmas of 1987 was a completely different one for me than the Christmas of 1987 my mother remembers.

In the summer of 1987, we left Spokane, Washington for Ogden, Utah. We moved into a 3-story townhouse in a neighborhood chock-full of them. My dad was going to school at Weber State University to obtain teaching endorsements on his Master's Degree. We only lived in Ogden for one year, but I absolutely loved it. I loved my 3rd grade teacher Mrs. Hanebut. I loved our next-door neighbors, the Eskelsons. And I loved my best friend Katie Roghaar who lived in our same ward. Here's what I don't remember about living in Ogden that my mom does: we were very poor. At that time of my life, I always thought we were rich! And that one aspect is the big difference between her memories versus mine.

Here's my memories from that Christmas season:
I remember Aunt Candi came and stayed with us overnight at the beginning of December so she could do some Christmas shopping in Salt Lake. I asked her why she couldn't just shop in Boise where she lived, and she said there were so many more stores in Utah. I couldn't comprehend that at the time because Boise felt huge to me whenever we visited, but I didn't tell her that. She brought me back a purple-heart-bead necklace from her shopping spree before she went back home, and I loved that necklace dearly.

I remember going Christmas-tree shopping at a Tree Lot, but not buying a single one.I remember sitting in our Volkswagen Bus driving down Riverdale Road with the whole family, and coming home empty-handed from the excursion.

On Christmas Eve, I remember someone leaving a box on our doorstep labeled "from Secret Santa" with gifts inside for us. My gift inside the box was a large, plush My Little Pony with turquoise hair and a bright pink mane & tail. I loved playing with that doll and I kept it for years. That same day, I remember a man bringing a Christmas tree to us, and we were delighted! I remember having so much fun decorating it because I thought we weren't going to have a Christmas tree at all!

I remember waking up on Christmas morning to find that Santa had brought me a Space Barbie and a Cabbage Patch doll. I was so excited!! When I was 8, there were no toys in the world I loved more than Barbies and Cabbage Patch dolls. I played barbies daily with my sisters and my neighbors, and I was so happy to have a new barbie to add to the collection. Space Barbie had a maroon and silver shiny body suit, and it was such a perfect barbie for me because when I was in the 3rd grade, I wanted to be an astronaut when I grew up. I loved Space Barbie! And my new Cabbage Patch doll was gorgeous. She had red-brown hair, and a light-blue dress with mini pale-pink flowers all over it. That particular Cabbage Patch was perfect, too, because when I saw what her name was, I couldn't believe it. The name on her birth certificate was "Michaela Imelda". My first name is also Michaela, and it was spelled the exact same way. I had never met anyone yet with the exact same name as me, and I loved how it made me feel to have a doll with the exact same spelling as my name! I loved Christmas morning because I was so ecstatic with what Santa had brought me.

Here's my mom's memories of that Christmas season:

In early December, our dryer broke. Money was very tight: dad was going to college, and the only income we had was his army retirement. Dad purchased a new dryer with cash, but then there wasn't enough money left to afford Christmas. 

My mother recounts, "I decided we would wait until a couple days before Christmas to buy our tree as they are usually really cheap then. We went to buy the tree in the evening, but there was no attendant there. So we went back the next morning, Christmas Eve day, and the trees had already been loaded on a truck to be hauled away. The man told us that if we had come earlier he would have just given us a tree free, but he couldn't unload the truck. So we went home and I felt awful.

"The Bishop dropped by to see us. He noticed we didn't have a tree. I explained to him what I had done. He went straight to a store and got us a tree. He claims it was free. So we had fun decorating it on Christmas Eve.

"With money being so tight, I had to be careful what we got for Christmas. I had been watching the Cabbage Patch dolls dwindle in the store as I was agonizing over whether I should buy you three girls the dolls or not. They were quite expensive for us in our situation, but I couldn't imagine a Christmas without a doll. Every time I went to the store I had to walk by a display of some darling dolls that talked--they cost nearly $100, and lots of people were buying them. My heart sank every time I had to walk by them.

"I debated about the dolls so long that when I finally decided to go ahead and get the dolls, I had to sort through the display to find dolls with long hair--and to my amazement, there were exactly three dolls left! All the others were baby dolls with not much hair, and they weren't very cute.

"I took the three dolls home and on Christmas Eve I decided which doll should go to which girl. I finished the stacks and sat back to admire my work. Only then did I read the names of the dolls. And the doll for you was named Michaela Imelda. I couldn't believe it!! She was really meant to be your doll. It brought me much happiness that Christmas Eve."

My mom added, "I hope you will always remember that the amount of gifts you give or receive is not important--but the feelings of love behind them. I am so glad you felt we were rich then. We tried to spend more time with you children, and in that way we were rich. But truthfully is was our poorest time. A little girl up the street got one of those talking dolls and brought it to show you girls. Her parents were always working and she was left to fend for herself. I felt we were richer than them because we had each other and love".

Christmas of 1987 was purely magical for me, and it was the Spirit of Christmas that made it such a memorable one. Because of my mother's love, and the generosity of our Bishop, it was a Christmas that will always be remembered.

3rd Day of Christmas Memories

The Christmas holiday of 1986 was an eventful one for me.

On Christmas Eve, my older half-sister Lisa came to spend the week with us. It was the first Christmas I ever spent with her; she lived in Virginia and I hadn't seen her since we moved away from North Carolina when I was 2. In 1986, she was 19, and I was 7, and I pretty much idolized her from the moment she walked in the door after my dad picked her up from the airport. I liked having an older sister around! Up until then, I was raised as the oldest girl in our family, with two older brothers, and two younger sisters, and so it was a welcome change having Lisa there!

I remember Lisa painted my fingernails while she was with us. It was such a momentous occasion for me because it was the first time I'd ever had that done! I remember wanting her to do my hair while she was there, too. I asked Lisa yesterday what she remembered from that Christmas of 1986, and she said she remembered me banging on her door very early every morning! Which I'm sure that I did--because I do remember wanting to spend every waking minute with her!

On December 30th, Lisa left to return home. I was very sad to see her leave, but I was so grateful for the time she spent with us that Christmas.

Two days later, on New Year's Day, I was in an accident. Dad took me and my older brothers sledding with our friends the Spear's at Mission Park in Spokane that afternoon. Mission Park has a wide hill that's perfect for sledding. The area is visible from the freeway and is close to the waterslide park. On one of the runs down the hill, I decided to ride a plastic sled along with my friend Jessica. She sat in the front, and I sat behind her. Having two people on the sled made us go twice as fast, and we zoomed down the hill. As we approached the bottom, we could see her older brother Ryan. He had just finished his run, stood up, turned around, and was standing there watching us. We were headed straight for him, and he just stood there frozen in place, not knowing what to do. At the last second, Jessica jumped off the sled to avoid hitting her brother, and I just sat there and screamed. Ryan held up his metal runner sled to cover his face, and when my sled hit his feet, he fell towards me and the metal runner on his sled gouged my chin. It was a pretty deep wound, and I remember seeing blood. My dad ran over and picked  me up and carried me as he was running to the Volkswagen Bus. He laid me on the backseat and drove me to the hospital, remaining calm and talking to me the whole way. He'd given me a scarf or something to cover my chin, and I held it there the whole time on the car ride. I felt like I was in a dream as we drove, and I was seemingly calm, too. After we arrived at the hospital, they gave me 6 stitches to sew up my chin, where the scar remains today. The Dr. told me that I was very lucky that the wound wasn't an inch lower, or it would've cut through my airway, and that would've been life-threatening.

The Spear's felt terrible, and I remember that night, they came and visited us at our home. They brought goodies and they made Ryan apologize to me. The hardest part about having my chin wound that winter was that I couldn't play outside in the snow until the stitches were removed. So, for over a week, I remember that whenever my siblings went out to play, I just sat at the window and watched them, feeling upset that I was stuck inside!

Sometimes it's the events surrounding Christmas that make it a more memorable one, and in 1986, that definitely was the case! I don't remember much at all about Christmas day itself that year...except for the fact that I got a barbie from Santa. But having Lisa in our home and having my chin cut upon both upstaged the Christmas morning events in my memory!

2nd Day of Christmas Memories

The second Christmas I remember was the Christmas of 1985, when I was 6 years old. I only have a few vivid memories of it, and it's the only Christmas I ever had at my Grandma Perkins' house.

In August of 1985, our family moved from Lakewood, Colorado to Spokane, Washington. I loved living in Spokane! We lived there for 2 years, and I attended the first and second grades in an elementary school down the street from our home. I had several good friends that lived close by, and I played with them often. Another nice thing about living in Spokane was that we lived closer to my Grandma Perkins. Grandma and Grandpa had a home on Lake Couer d'Alene, which was only about an hour's drive from our house in Spokane.

My dad's sister Candi and her family lived in Boise, and the Christmas of 1985 they came to stay and celebrate it at Grandma and Grandpa's house on the lake. Because we lived so close, we joined them for the Christmas festivities, too. I only got to see my Aunt Candi and my Crouch cousins once or twice a year, and it was always a treat to be with their family because they were so fun! I remember all of us kids being downstairs in Grandpa's Den that Christmas, and I remember there was something on the big, old T.V. I remember feeling giddy and happy and laughing with my cousins. I could just feel the excitement of Christmas in the air!

I have no idea what gifts I received, or what we ate for dinner, or what was said...but I have never forgotten the joy that I felt that Christmas morning at Grandma's house celebrating with siblings, cousins, parents, and grandparents. Being with extended family on Christmas felt special to me, and that is what I remember the most about that particular Christmas.

1st Day of Christmas Memories

The first Christmas I have memories of was Christmas of 1983, when I was 4 years old. At that time, we lived in Lakewood Colorado; Lakewood is on the southern outskirts of Denver. We lived there for 4 years, and I remember loving the wintertime there because of the snow. Two of the winters we lived there, the snow was multiple feet deep, and I loved building snow tunnels in the yard with my brothers! I also loved looking out my window at bedtime in the winter, because there was a streetlamp across the street and when it snowed, the falling snowflakes appearing under that light looked like dancers on a stage under the spotlight. It was always a beautiful and mesmerizing sight to behold!

Several days before Christmas that year, my little sister Tawna became very ill. She was only 22 months old. Whenever she breathed, her chest caved in. My parents took her to the hospital, and she was diagnosed with Croupe with Strider and was hospitalized at the Fitzsimmons Medical Center which was located on the army base in Aurora (on the northern outskirts of Denver). My littlest sister Tabbi was only 3 months old at that time, and my mom was nursing her, so my mom stayed home with the baby, me, and my two older brothers each day. Once a day, her and my dad went to visit Tawna in the evening for just a short time in the hospital, so she could return home to feed Tabbi. It was a very cold winter, and the temperatures were below zero every single day, so they didn't want to take the baby out in the cold with them to the hospital. We only had one vehicle, an orange Volkswagen bus, and it was having difficulties starting due to the extreme cold, so it became necessary to borrow a neighbor's car to make the daily trip to the hospital.

On Christmas Eve, we all went together as a family to go visit Tawna in the hospital. I remember walking in the hospital, and going to visit her in her room. She was sitting on a hospital crib inside a giant plastic tent, holding a blankie. She looked so weird to me being inside that plastic tent. I didn't know how to act, or what to say, or what to do. I didn't like being in the hospital, and I wanted to go home. I don't remember how long we visited, but it wasn't longer than an hour or two.

On Christmas morning, Santa came to our home and we got to play with the gifts that he brought. I got a play cook-stove from him that year, and I loved playing with it. But we were forbidden to open any of the other presents under the tree until Tawna came home from the hospital. My dad explained to all of us in a family meeting on Christmas Eve that we would wait for Tawna to be released from the hospital to celebrate Christmas, so that she could be a part of it, too. I remember crying because I had to wait to see what awaited me inside the wrapped gifts! Thankfully, two days after Christmas, Tawna was released from the hospital, and we got to all be together to open the remaining gifts.

That Christmas felt different; instead of being full of happiness, I felt a lot of sadness. As a 4-year-old, it was difficult to comprehend everything that was happening. I was sad that my sister was sick, I was sad that she had to be alone in a plastic tent, I was sad that I had to wait to open presents, and I was sad that we couldn't all be together on Christmas Day.

12 Days of Christmas

In the last two years, every December I've done "25 Days of Christmas" blog posts. Each day I highlighted a different person in my life and shared with my readers the positive aspects and characteristics of that individual and happy memories I've had with them. If you are interested in reading about the 50 people I've highlighted, click on "25 Days of Christmas" under "labels" in the right-hand column of my blog.

Well, back in October, I began thinking about what I would do this year for my "25 Days of Christmas", and I decided it was time for a change--mostly because I knew I didn't have the time to invest in doing blog posts each day like I used to now that I'm working full-time. So, I came up with an idea of posting one memory of a Christmas in my life for each of the 25 days leading up to Christmas. But once I started thinking about the 32 Christmases I've celebrated in my life, I didn't think that I could remember specific things about 25 of them! So, when I was thinking about it in November, I decided to revise that plan, and cut it back to just 12 Days of Christmas memories. I wanted to begin blogging about it on December 13, so that it would be all done on Christmas Eve. But this last week of my life has been hellacious to say the least, and I didn't have the time to start doing it...until now.

Even though my plans have changed several times, and it's not what I originally intended it to be, I'm still going to move forward with my 12 Days of Christmas memories posts, beginning tomorrow. Each day, for 12 days, I'm going to talk about a memory I have of a Christmas in my life, and why I remember it so well. It's a little bit like the Christmas Carol story--I'm excited to share with you the memories I currently have, so that perhaps in the Spirit of Christmases to Come, I will be able to better remember and reflect on the Spirit of Christmas' Past!

A home-stay Thanksgiving day

In our 13 years of marriage, we've never hosted Thanksgiving dinner...until this year. When we first moved into this home 18 months ago, I really envisioned us hosting dinner parties and entertaining guests in it; it has the perfect floor plan for it, and we've never been able to do that in our previous houses. I've been trying to take advantage of my home by doing just that, so I offered to host Thanksgiving this year, and my invitation was gladly accepted by Josh's family.

We all divided the food responsibilities. Josh and I were in charge of making the turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, and pumpkin pies. Josh's mom brought ham, salad, rolls, and drinks. Scott made fruit pies, Gideon made salad and yams, and Barb brought salad, ice cream, and lil smokies. 

The day before Thanksgiving, we were out of school, so we cleaned the house, got extra chairs, and did last-minute food preparations. We thawed the turkey, and Josh decided he would be in charge of cooking it. He also wanted to cook the red potatoes from our garden (he makes a mean batch of mashed potatoes). I was in charge of making pumpkin pies, pumpkin cheesecake, turkey gravy, and stuffing. It was nice having Josh do so much to help in the kitchen. On Thanksgiving morning, he woke up early and got the turkey in the oven and we worked together on peeling and cutting the potatoes. Everything went smoothly, and the food was cooked by the time we planned on dinner. We ate about 1:00. We had 24 people in our home, and the dinner was superb! 

After dinner, we watched home videos and played wii games all afternoon and evening. It was very fun!

The next morning, we put on our winter clothes and headed out in the fresh snow to go get a Christmas tree in the mountains a couple of miles from our home. The boys had been out sledding around our house, so they decided to bring along their sleds on our excursion, too. Although the sledding wasn't the greatest idea on the steep slope covered in trees, the tree-hunting was successful, and in just an hour, we had picked out and cut the biggest/fullest Christmas tree we've ever had! Getting our tree has become one of my favorite annual winter family traditions!

That afternoon, we had game time and crafts at our home. I love playing group games! We laughed and had such a great time together! We played Apples to Apples, Scruples, and the dice/100 game.

After the adults were done playing games, Alyssa brought out an edible turkey craft for the kids to make and eat. They were so cute!

On Friday night, we went and saw the Parade of Lights on Main Street. It was freezing, but the parade was the best I've seen yet in Salmon. It only lasted about 15 minutes, but there was candy thrown, and it kept the kids active, and we all went home happy.

On Saturday morning, we went to the Cheerleader's Bazaar. I haven't been to it for 4 years, and it's really grown since then! We bought some fudge and cheese and wandered around visiting with people who were shopping there, too. Afterwards, Tiffany's family and Gideon's family left to return to their homes.

Saturday afternoon, Ammon went with Malachi to the Forsgren's house in Stanley to spend the night, and Josh and the boys headed there the next morning to see cousin Erick at his mission farewell at the Stanley church.

It was a very full weekend, but one of my favorite Thanksgivings ever. It was nice to have all of Josh's immedate family there, and I loved being able to host it in my own home!