Heather & Jared's Family Blog: Christmas and New Year!

We received two early presents a couple weeks before Christmas. A furniture store in town had a big sale on couches and since we did not have one yet, we went and found a nice one at a great price! The very next day, we received a visit from Heather’s parents who were returning home from their mission in Brazil. It was great to see them and spend time with them for the brief time they were here.

Jared finished up the semester and spent most of the break at home with the family. He enjoyed watching some college bowl games, playing with the kids more, and working on some of his hobbies. Amber also finished up her semester and we all enjoyed the holiday break together as a family!

For Christmas Eve, we spent the morning acting out scenes from Joseph Smith's life, a favorite activity for the kids. They act out Joseph Smith visiting different churches, reading James 1:5, and going to the Sacred Grove to pray, and Angel Moroni visiting him while he was sleeping, getting the plates on the Hill Cumorah, and translating them with Oliver Cowdery. We take turns being Joseph Smith and Angel Moroni (who gets to wrap up in a white sheet). We hide a Book of Mormon under a pillow and use a chopstick to pry it up, pretending it was the gold plates under a heavy rock on the Hill Cumorah.

Also on Christmas Eve we were anticipating the visit of our Secret Santa. For the last week before Christmas, we received packages on our doorstep with small character of a Nativity. Here is the order we received them in: a donkey, a cow, a shepherd and sheep, three wise men, an angel, Joseph, Mary, and a baby Jesus in a manger. The last day was Christmas Eve and we were really looking forward to finding out who was delivering these gifts. We had some guesses. We had been polite anonymous gift receivers--we didn't peek out the window or wait by the door, we gave them a little time before we opened the door each time the door bell rang. The kids were excited each night when the next part of the nativity was dropped off. On Christmas Eve, a family from our church showed up with the little baby Jesus to add to our Nativity. We feel honored that they did this nice thing for us. We wanted to get a Nativity set for the past few years and now we have one with a fun story to tell of how we got it!

After their visit, we had our Bethlehem dinner. This is our Christmas Eve tradition. We try to make a meal similar to what Mary and Joseph might have eaten in their day (yes, I did a google search on the topic). Our dinner had pita bread, cheese, olives, grape juice, apples. Probably the juice and olives are the most authentic aspect. We ate by candlelight on the floor. The kids loved it. The dinner really focused our thoughts on the Savior. The kids asked thoughtful questions like "Did Jesus like to play with toys?" and "Did Jesus have blankets when he was little?" We talked about what His childhood might have been like. It was a special time.

After dinner and cleanup, we talked about Santa for the first time that day. We set out cookies and milk for Santa to fill. We chose to have the kids put out some shoes instead of stockings this year, just for variety. Amber wrote a “Thank you” note to Santa. The kids weren't sure what would happen but they went along with it. It took a little while for the kids to settle down, but it could have been worse. Amber's last question before falling asleep was, "Do you think Santa knows some things that 5-year-olds like?" We assured her that he did.

The next morning, the cookies and milk were gone and the shoes were full of treats! Kyra was content to just hold one shiny candy in her hand all morning. We ate breakfast: cinnamon raisin bread from our new bread maker (a Christmas present we started using a couple weeks early) with a nice glaze drizzle!

Then we started opening gifts. The kids got books, a bowling set, a stick horse, sticker books, and a kids book of Chinese! They also got lots of treats. Nathan got a new picture of Jesus (that's what he wanted for Christmas, Amber asked for a new book). I also gave Amber a picture of her behind the outline of a temple (I received this in YW from Sister Kump, so I put a picture of Amber in it and gave it to her).

Jared's brother gave us a crepe maker. During our Thanksgiving visit, we learned that all of Jared's brothers had received a crepe maker for Christmas one year except Jared. It is claimed that was the Christmas he was living in China or on his mission, but it was certain that they were gifted before we met. When Jared discovered this he made a big deal about how he was discriminated against because he wasn't married yet. So, Jared's brother and sister-in-law in Iowa gave us a crepe maker. The day after Christmas we made crepes for breakfast!

We also had a nice video chat Heather’s younger sister and her family living in Switzerland. They have three beautiful girls around the same age as our kids. They sang some songs and showed each other the gifts they had received. We also spoke on the phone with lots of other family throughout the day and were happy to hear from everyone!

We had some friends watch the kids for us and on December 30^th we took a trip to the temple in South Carolina and had an enjoyable time there. For New Year’s we put the kids to bed at the normal time then watch a movie together and rang in the new year with shrimp cocktail and sparkling cider.

We hope everyone had an enjoyable Christmas and New Year and wish you the best in 2010!