Christmas 2009 - The Same, But Different

Last night Josh was reading a story to the kids called Cherry Pies and Lullabies. It’s about a family’s traditions of making cherry pies, crowns of flowers, quilts and singing lullabies. Each of those traditions is passed down from great-grandparent to grand-parent to parent and to child. It says, “Every time it was the same, but different” and illustrates how the tradition changes from generation to generation, but remains basically the same.

This year we spent our first Christmas away from our family. There were things that we of course missed being away from everyone, but there were so many more wonderful things that came about because we were away. Most noticeably was the lack of rushing around, over-scheduling and overlapping traditions. I felt like never before that we really turned our hearts to eachother and focused on simple and relaxing ways that we could make our own little family happy and our Christmas memorable. It was definitely the same, but different.

We started our Christmas off on Wednesday when we headed with our friends the Lindseys, to Coeur d' Alene for a boat ride to the "North Pole". It was the closest thing we have to the lights at Temple Square! The kids enjoyed the hot chocolate and the warm booth seats with a great view of the lights on the lake. It was freezing cold, so it was nice to have a warm place to sit and enjoy the view.

Christmas Eve day I ran around and did the grocery shopping and picked up last minute items, while Josh worked with the kids to get the house sparkly clean. We started early, which was such a great idea, especially with young children. The kids were cooperative and happy and comfortable just sticking around our own home and not “going places on the fast road”. We had a simple dinner of chili, cheese and chips for dinner. We also had our traditional scones & Martinelli's and then started our little Christmas Eve program. I found some “costumes” from my closet and we did a short and sweet little reenactment of the Nativity with Boo as Mary and Yaks as Joseph. The kids were adorable and I will always treasure their sweet little faces reverently traveling around the Christmas tree to Bethlehem. It was perfect, and I think we all felt The Spirit. Following carols and drinking hot chocolate with handfuls of marshmallows, we read Christmas stories from Grandma & Grandpa, and all went to bed.

Christmas morning didn’t come too early (around seven), when Boo announced that she “went downstairs and saw all the presents”! Mental note to lay down the rules of Christmas Day. I missed their reactions because I was trying to grab a few extra minutes in bed. I was up most of the night with this little diddle who has a cold.

"Gee whiz, I'm tired!"

Photo on the stairs

I didn't get the traditional new jammies this year, so it was a mix of favorites and what was clean!

Nana and Papa sent each child one of these snuggly fleece blankets. They had fun spreading them out and playing with their toys.

Our neighbor Dell in our old neighborhood wanted to get the kids a Christmas gift before we left. He noticed how much they enjoyed riding in our neighbor Shelby's "Jeep car" and decided to buy them one (from Santa)! Nana and Papa brought it up with them and it's remained stashed under a tarp in the garage. It's not the size (although it's huge), but the GREAT thought that he put into buying them something he knew they would love, and oh do they ever! Note how he stenciled their names on the hood of the car. Dear Dell. We miss him.

These $5.00 horses with saddles from Wal-Mart were a last-minute purchase, but a big hit with both kids. They strap their guys to them and ride into the sunset (or into battle).

I won the award for best gift decision = not to get a toy computer for Boo. She played all day with her brother, when she would have been sitting all day on her computer. Great lesson learned that just because they ask for it, doesn’t mean they should get it.

Other things we remembered: Get batteries. Go to All-A-Dollar for stocking stuffers. We didn't go overboard on the number of gifts for the kids either (so easy to do).

Mental note for next year: Untwist all those twisty ties before you wrap the gifts! They take forever and now have the added feature of a KNOT included in the middle of all the twists. GRRRR.

The rest of Christmas Day the kids spent playing with toys and working puzzles and doing projects. We were able to Skype with family members, which was wonderful! I spent the rest of it preparing dinner for the missionaries that night. A beautiful table was set, with festive colors and all of our holiday favorites.

I think my mother-in-law Annette would have been proud. She always sets such a pretty table with her collection of lovely dishes. I thought two ravenous elders would be coming over and eat plates and plates of food, but later found out that they had been visiting (and surely eating) at members’ homes all day! Needless to say, they weren’t very hungry (although they politely took small portions of everything) and we were left with a TON of leftovers. It was nice to have the experience of cooking an entire holiday meal, but it’s a LOT of work! Sheesh! The kids and I went out earlier in the week and bought them each a new tie and a Cross pen set to tuck in a stocking with fruit and other goodies. It was fun for the kids to present these to their new missionary friends.

Elder Howell and Elder Lay

So, although things were a little different this year, they were very much the same. We're happy. We're healthy. We're together as a family. We had a wonderful Christmas celebrating the birth of our Savior. Merry Christmas!