photos by William

This year Santa brought William his very own digital camera.  Here are just a few of the many pictures he took on Christmas day.  It's pretty fun to see what is "photo worthy" to him.  I especially love his self portraits.

white christmas

With just a few days until Christmas, the weather was still pretty warm. So when the weatherman said that there was a chance of 3 inches of snow for Christmas I thought to myself, "Yeah, maybe we'll get one." Boy was I wrong. We woke up on Christmas Eve to a snow storm... and it continued to snow all day.  Actually, with those "winds sweeping down the plains" it turned into an all-out blizzard!  All-in-all we ended up with fourteen inches of snow! 

So while the weather outside was frightful we kept a fire going (it was so delightful)... and after our Christmas Eve feast we acted out the nativity.

The boys ended up deciding to both be shepherds.  (Originally William wanted to be a camel and James wanted to be Santa.  When I told him that Santa wasn't in this story he wanted to be a Wiseman... but once William decided to be a shepherd then James had to be one too!)

The boys went to bed pretty well and even slept in the next morning!  Yea for us!  After opening too many fun presents (James got a new bike from Santa and William got a camera, Alex got a farm)...

... we decided to brave the weather and drive to Grandma's house.  But before we could go anywhere Rich had to shovel us out.  And while Rich shoveled (for two hours!) the boys played.  James didn't think it was all that great and decided to head back inside before too long with Mom and Alex.  William, on the other hand, had a blast.  He ran around throwing snowballs at Rich, making snow angels (he called them snow monsters), and even attempted to build a snowman on his own.

It took us a long time to get over to Grandma's--we got stuck in the snow only once.  There were abandoned cars all over the road.  Rich said it looked like one of those end-of-the-world-movies where everyone died and there are cars all over in the middle of the street.  We saw cars, mail trucks, buses... but the funniest was an abandoned beer truck that had beer can scattered around it.  When we finally made it to Edmond we realized that we should have come a little more prepared.  We weren't about to attempt the drive at night when everything started to freeze over.  So after more presents and some good food, we had an impromptu Christmas sleepover. The boys thought it was so cool... and it was an extra treat that Aunt Lisa got to read the bedtime stories.

It was a wonderful Christmas... and the snow made it even more magical!  I hope the boys remember it because it probably won't happen again!

As much fun as Santa, elves, reindeer, trees and gifts are... we always try to stress the real reason we celebrate this season.

We had a Christmas lesson on Sunday in Young Women.  We sang Christmas hymns and read the Christmas story right from the Bible.  One of my favorite verses that we read was in Luke 2:19.

But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.

I've always loved that verse but this time as we read it, I was reminded to slow down with all the hustle and bustle and ponder the reason for this holiday.  Our dear prophet, Thomas S. Monson, said it so well:

Giving, not getting, brings to full bloom the Christmas spirit. Enemies are forgiven, friends remembered, and God obeyed. The spirit of Christmas illuminates the picture window of the soul, and we look out upon the world’s busy life and become more interested in people than things. To catch the real meaning of the “spirit of Christmas,” we need only drop the last syllable, and it becomes the “Spirit of Christ.”

I hope you get the chance to have some quiet time to ponder this season... and have a very Merry Christmas!

a christmas miracle

William and James wait to see Santa Claus

William, for the past several years, decided that he won't sit on Santa's lap.  He doesn't even want to go near him.  This year I wasn't going to push him.  If it was going to be so traumatic for him I thought I'd give him a free pass this year.  James, on the other hand, has been dying to talk with Santa.  It's an ever present topic of conversation.  BUT James won't go sit with the jolly old man if William doesn't.  So, William and I had a little chat.  "William," I told him, "you don't have to sit on Santa's lap.  Just be a good big brother and stand next to James while he sits there because James really wants to talk to Santa."  And William, being the great big brother that he is, agreed.  We were all set to see Santa Claus at the ward party--and then missed him by just one minute!  So we braved the crowds yesterday and took them to see the mall Santa.  Rich was doubtful.  He said there was no way that either of the boys would sit with Santa Claus.

James couldn't wait to tell Santa that he wanted a bike.  And as it turned out, William decided he had better tell Santa what he wanted as well.  And they sat and talked for quite a while actually.

Rich calls it our "Christmas miracle."

christmas songs

So this ended up being a pretty fun exercise.  I saw Katie's list and thought I would  make one of my own.  Here are 5 Christmas songs that I love... maybe not my top five... but at least way up there.


Christmas Song - Nat King Cole... nothing says Christmas like this.  Of course, Nat King Cole could sing just about anything and I would love it.

Christmas Waltz - The Carpenters... or anything off of their Christmas Album.  I grew up on this and I LOVE it.

Jingle Bells - Bing Crosby... again... I love anything of of his White Christmas album.  We had a record of this growing up and it equals Christmas.

All I Want For Christmas Is You - Mariah Carey... this one is just FUN.  It makes you want to sing loud and dance around.  James loves dancing with me to this one.

Baby It's Cold Outside - I really love her singing with Will Ferrell in Elf. In fact, that would be my favorite recording (if it existed).

**Now, I said Christmas songs not carols... that could be a whole other list... but my favorite hymn is Silent Night, (and you can't really go wrong with The Mormon Tabernacle Choir) and my favorite from the Children's Songbook is Oh, Hush Thee, My Baby (I used to sing this with my sisters and mom...)

These songs make me want to change the radio station every time I hear them:
Grown Up Christmas List - by anyone.  I don't care who sings it... I don't like it.
Here Comes Santa Clause -yuck.  I don't know why but I can't stand this song.
Christmas Shoes -Sorry to anyone who loves this... but I don't.  I think Michelle and I used to make fun of it in college.
Wonderful Christmas Time - Paul McCartney... seriously Paul?  You're my favorite Beatle and all... but this is just horrible.
Carol of the Bells - Trans Siberian Orchestra... I actually like Carol of the Bells but this version drives me crazy... it's too electric/synthesized for me.  Rich really dislikes Trans Siberian Orchestra and maybe his dislike has rubbed off on me.

What are your favorite (and not-so-favorite) Christmas songs?

How could you not love this face?  It's impossible.  Even when he's teething.

boys and trains

This week we set up our train.  The boys are so  excited to have it up.  Even Alex thinks it's pretty cool.  Every little boy should have a train.  Seriously.  The boys are always asking me when we can play with the train (the rule is mom or dad have to be around to help.) We're so grateful that Grandpa Fisher gave such nice trains to us last year!

ps.  Make sure you check out the auction happening over at Bloom!

OKC Thunder

Rich went to a Thunder game tonight with a friend from the ward.  He got chosen to race a tricycle.  Here he is in all his glory:

it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

As the boys finish watching "A Muppet Christmas Carol" I thought I'd record some of the past week's events.  William and James are so excited for Christmas.  I often overhear William saying to James, "I wonder what Santa is going to put in our stockings" or "I wonder what I'll get for Christmas."  James tells me everyday that he wants Santa to come.

For Family Night on Monday we took our annual trip to North Pole City.  The boys were thrilled!

And even more exciting--we splurged on the dollar train ride.  James almost wouldn't get on but decided to do it at the last minute.  William loved ringing the bell.

Right before we left we found the best display for these boys.  If you can't tell... they are Star Wars nutcrackers.  It can't get any better than that!

This week we also finally got the tree up and decorated.  The boys were a big help.

William told me that he gets to put the star on because he is the biggest one in our house.

Rich and I enjoyed going to his company Christmas party this weekend as well.  (Thanks Catie for watching our boys!)  We are looking forward to more Christmas fun in the weeks ahead!

William, Alex, and Rich play a game of Spiderman dominos.

Is this fun or what?