Christmas

I had such a fun Christmas this year. The week before Christmas and the week after are pretty easy for me with work. I have several kids who's parents are teachers, so they bring them later in the morning and usually pick them up a little earlier, and sometimes they don't bring them at all, those are the best days. My daycare parents were very generous this year with gift cards for me, and for Mark and I to use together. It was a wonderful two weeks of being able to sleep in a little bit.

On Christmas Eve Mark and I have some pretty set traditions. For dinner we have a deli tray, and homemade tamales. Both of those traditions are from Marks family. I never thought I would ever have to know how to make tamales, but since we no longer live near Marks mom, I have taken over the tamale making process. This is the first year that I was not nervous about making them. Mark says I only make them because I like them, but really, I make them for Mark (Mark's note: she LOVES them, and makes a dang "FRESH" tamale. It makes me happy to see Mark enjoying something that he can always remember having on Christmas Eve. After dinner, we go in the living room, and sing Christmas songs. After the singing we read the story of Jesus' birth. We always write down how we feel, and what has been going on for us that Christmas Season. We have an awesome little journal talking about every Christmas Eve the two of us have spent together. I love that part of Christmas best. After the reading, and journal entry, we open our traditional pair of Christmas Eve PJ's. After that we watch the Chronicles of Narnia, and a Christmas Carol, the one with the guy from Star Trek.

Since Arianne decided not to come over for Christmas this year Mark and I went back to our tradition of opening presents on Christmas Eve. This is something that Mark and I did our first year together and agreed that when we had kids we would wait until Christmas morning. We had a pretty good time opening presents. This year Mark bought most of his own gifts as he wants to get the best deal possible, and will surf the internet endlessly looking for the best deal. Mark suggested that I might need a new pair of boots; I had not given it any thought. At his suggestion I went to the mall one night to look, and try some boots on. Shopping at the mall for a pair of boots, UGG, who wants to do that?? I found the coolest pair of boots, I put them on hold for Mark to go pick up the next day. Since the roads were so bad, it did not make sense for Mark to drive back to the mall the next day when I was already there. So this year I did buy one of my own Christmas presents. I was so excited I could hardly wait for Christmas to open them. They are so soft, and they keep my feet toasty warm.

Christmas day was totally awesome. We had the Hughes' and the Elders from our ward over for dinner. The Sunday before Christmas I saw the dinner calendar being passed around, and nobody in our ward had signed up to have them over. We had a delicious dinner, and a fun evening of playing games. Mark and I really enjoy having Howard, Rachel, and the girls over, it is always so much fun.

I did mention earlier that Mark and I went back to opening presents on Christmas Eve. This year Arianne chose not to come home for Christmas. Due to some of the choices she has made in her life, it would have made it very difficult for her to spend a long period of time in our home. We truly tried to give her every option possible, but she chose to spend Christmas with her roommate, his mom, and the moms boyfriend. We did get to spend dinner and a few hours with her on January 2nd, where she got to open her gifts from a confused Santa.