Happy Holidays! Pre-Christmas Events

Well the Holiday season came and went in a flash! It is now the day after Christmas and I find myself wondering what happened in December? I know we had about 2 weeks where we all took turns being sick. Kaylie had to miss about 3 days of school this month due to a fever and flu symptoms. Carter and Lily then had their fair share of nastiness, which they lovingly passed on to me. The only child that went unscathed was dear Abigail- thank goodness because she would've been the hardest to help recover. Other than sickness, December was wonderful!

I spent a good deal of time playing Santa and visited too many stores to count in order to get the best deals for our family. I also had a good time finding grocery deals with my coupons (a current addiction). We have been so blessed and have never gone without. I am happy to announce that we now have 600 lbs. of wheat for our family food storage. I've been really anxious to store up for our future. With the economy how it is and everything looking bleak on the horizon, I want to do all in my power to be prepared. It feels so good to be working toward having a years supply of food. We finally have the room to store things (although hiding it may not be easy), I am not going to put off being prepared because having a few boxes out is ugly! I now have wheat, rice, oats, flour, and sugar enough for the year! I'm off to a good start, but so much goes into getting prepared that it will be a while before we are fully there. I am relieved to know that we have our wheat- as it seems to be the most life-sustaining substance that we are required to have. I am learning new ways to prepare it and am excited to become proficient in using food storage. Last night I made wheat bread, rolls, and cinnamon rolls from one recipe of Basic Wheat Bread. It is fun to be resourceful and to produce edible goodies.

Speaking of goodies- our holidays were full of them, but not as full as they have been in the past (especially in Layton). Nathan and I both spent our fair share of time producing goodies for our annual plates to give out to friends and neighbors. I made peanut-butter balls, coconut balls, and mint brownies. Nate made sugar cookies, peanut brittle and english toffee. We had a great family night on Monday and spent the evening with our good friends, the Ercanbracks, caroling to friends and handing out our plates. It was really fun and definitely a lot easier to carol with another family (instead of just Nate and myself singing!). The only problem with the night was the freezing cold air and wind outside, but that was still not enough to stop us!

We were very fortunate this year to have Nathan home not only for Christmas Eve, but for Christmas day as well! I was so worried he wouldn't be here and that I'd have to hold the kids off from opening their gifts, but Heavenly Father provided a miracle and let my husband be home for the whole celebration! It was picture perfect! Christmas Eve went by super fast and we didn't get all the program details covered as we had hoped. However, what we did do was wonderful and will hopefully produce fond memories in our childrens' minds of the true reason for the season. Nate made 4 loaves of Sausage bread and I made soup to go with them for dinner. We went out and made some secret santa deliveries and taught the children the delightful practice of doorbell ditching, aka cherry knocking. They loved it and we had a good time. We didn't end up getting home until past 7 and then we ate dinner. AFter that we had a shortened version of our Christmas Eve program. We had Kaylie dress up as pregnant Mary, Carter played Joseph, and Abigail was baby Jesus. Nate got to play a donkey and ride Mary to Bethlehem. They had fun re-enacting the Christmas story, then Nate and I bore our testimonies to the kids of the real reason why we celebrate Christmas. After that we sang a few Christmas songs and hymns around the piano and gave the kids each a new pair of pajamas to go to sleep in. They had a great time and so did we. I love Christmas Time! Christmas Eve is my favorite, because it is when we truly focus on our Saviour and not all the hoopla that can overshadow everything else.

After getting the kids to bed and making sure they knew that Santa wouldn't come if they got out of their beds, we got to work! We brought up all the presents and rearranged the family room to fit things nicely. We also brought up their new bunk bed bedroom set that I bought off of Craigslist. THen we watched "A Christmas Carol" (our tradition) and didn't get to bed until nearly midnight. It was fun playing the roll of Santa and helper and Nate and I made a good team. The house looked terrific and we couldn't wait to see our kids faces light up with excitement when they woke up in the morning!