Christmas Holidays

As my children have gotten older, I have been thinking about how to capture the true meaning of Christmas. Garrett has been very concerned with all the things "he is going to get for Christmas." I have been reading and talking to friends to see what they do to instill compassion and service in their children during the holiday season. I have come up with some ideas and will continue to research ideas through the year so I can have a plan for next year. Please leave your ideas as comments.

We did do several new things this holiday season. First, the boys put the tree because Garrett was too excited to wait for mommy to come home from school. Daddy, Julius, Sean, Garrett, and Noah had the tree put up before I came home. Above you can see the tree behind Garrett. Garrett also played hockey too. Also, every time we went grocery shopping, we had to buy candy canes to put on the tree. I think we put about 30 candy canes on the tree.

Next, we also went on a hay ride at Jackson Rancheria. In hindsight, we probably will not necessarily make this a family holiday tradition because we waited in line for 1 hour for a 15 minute ride. It was fun, nonetheless. Garrett and Noah saw Santa Clause, ate Christmas cookies, and drank hot chocolate. Mrs. Dalton had over 1 million lights strung along the road that leads to her house. It was very amazing to see. It took a crew of 8 men, working 8 hours a day, over a month to put them all up. Could you imagine untangling that many lights? Not mention what you would have to go through to fix strains that had burned-out bulbs. I would not have the patience and probably would just buy new ones. Notice that I no longer have braces (although the green retainers do show through)!


We also built a gingerbread house. That was quite an experience, and we had the kit. It took many hours so I could not imagine how long one made from scratch would take. I am also not a very good cake decorator so putting on the icing was a challenge to me. It was far from perfect, but Garrett had such a good time putting it together it was worth doing (even though I had a sinus infection!). Please enjoy the grand finale of our gingerbread house adventure in the video posted below.

I also wanted to learn to bake more holiday treats. My children could help, and we could bring plates of goodies to our friends and neighbors. I was a little ambitious for my first time. I failed to cook Almond Rocha twice. I undercooked one batch and overcooked the other. I think if I did it a third time, I would probably be able to do it. I am hopeful this is true, however, we will not know for sure until I try it. maybe next year will do better!

I think next year we will also build the manger for baby Jesus. I will find a manager and a baby Jesus we can put on the dining room table. Baby Jesus will arrive on Christmas Eve night. Our job is to make sure that there is enough straw in the manger for him to sleep warmly. After doing something nice for someone, you can put some straw on the manger. This activity will hopefully help my children learn the value of service.

Thanksgiving 2008

It has been a while since I have had time to add a post. I thought I would go back to Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Thanksgiving was fun this year because all of the family was together including Great-Grandmother. I had the entire week off which was really nice. The week before Thanksgiving, Dr. Duong took off my braces. I picked my retainer color as green. In hindsight, I probably should have chosen a clear color because the green shows through my front teeth. This does show up in pictures! On Monday, I picked up my retainers. I have to wear them day and night for three months. I talk like I have lisp when I wear them. It sure has taken my students awhile to understand me when I talk while wearing them! I have gotten used to them so they are not too bad. I even talk better with them in now!

We had fun relaxing and preparing for Thanksgiving. Although, dinner was at my brother John's house, I did volunteer to feed the missionaries the following day. We ate a great dinner, had great conversations, watched the kids play the Wii, and walked to the park. Above is a picture of Garrett drinking soda with his cousin, JT. Below is a video of Noah with his Papa. I was in charge of the mashed potatoes and the pecan pie. This was relatively easy compared to cooking the entire Turkey dinner for the missionaries.

The day after Thanksgiving, I cooked for the missionaries. I cooked a full turkey dinner except for the homemade stuffing. I had no clue how to cook a turkey. I did however watch Martha Stewart on demand. It was very helpful. Julius also helped me clean and prepare the turkey. I also had found a really useful web page that helped me figure out how to cook my turkey. I cooked it on 450 for about 20 minutes. I then cooked it at 250 for about 5 hours. It worked really well because the meat was really juicy and fell off the bone. Of course, I had forgotten to buy a meat thermometer so I gave Jordan a good excuse to go to the Bass Pro Shop. I also cooked mash potatoes, dressing (from the box), salad, vegetables, rolls, and pies. Mary and Mike also ate dinner with use. Afterwards, we went to watch the Thunder play hockey.

We had a great time. I was really impressed with my ability to cook a turkey. I did not think it would turn out so well. I have been lucky that Thanksgiving was always at other family members' home. I never had to cook a whole turkey before this year. It worked so well that I cooked one on Christmas Day too! (that will be a post for another day).

My grandmother stayed the night with us on Saturday night and went to church with us the next morning. We had fun folding laundry and cooking dinner. She was able to read Garrett a story before bed. I shot video of Grandmother reading Garrett Hickory Dickory Dock. I tried up loading the video, but I think the file was too big to properly upload. I will try to do it again for another post. However, my Grandmother even survived going to church with a 4 year old and a 10 month old.

We had our big meal after church. After lunch, Grandmother played games with Garrett. They played Aggravation and Candy Land. Garrett thought it would be great to then play Catapult. This of course is a game daddy picked out for Garrett and is much too old for him to play the correct way. I think that Garrett really enjoys setting up the game and knocking it down.

It was really nice to have Grandmother visit us. We talked about memories she had as a child. She remembers that once year her father gave some of her dolls to a family that needed the dolls for their daughters. Grandmother remembers that the girls left the dolls outside and did not take care of them. That is always disappointing when once sacrifices for others, and the gift is not appreciated. Nonetheless, it was fun to listen to her stories.

We really liked our vacation especially since Jordan's days off corresponded with Thanksgiving. Garrett is really excited about the upcoming Christmas holiday. I would like to create some new traditions for our family. I have been talking to my friends to see what they do. I have found some new ideas. Some I will not be able to do this year. Maybe next. If you have any suggestions, please leave a comment.