We had a wonderful Christmas season this year. Last year I really wasn't in the Christmas spirit so this year I was determined to make it better. I started listening to Christmas music before Thanksgiving and didn't really listen to anything else the whole season. We watched a lot of Christmas movies and decorated the house and put the lights up together. For the last 14 years we have had a tradition of going to a movie and out to dinner on Christmas Eve. This year we changed it up a little bit. This year we went to see a play at Desert Star. It was called Ebenezer Scrooge and his nightmare before Christmas. It was super funny and we had a great time.
We decided that since the play was a lot more expensive than a movie that we wouldn't go out to dinner at a sit down restaurant. We couldn't all agree on a place so some of us went to McDonald's and Jaxon and Jake chose to get a pizza from Papa Murphy's to eat at home.
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| The fam in their annual Christmas Jammies |
Jadon had written to us on Monday and told us that he would be calling between 8:00 and 10:00 am. I was really excited to be able to see his face and talk to him. I got up and was ready for the day by 7:30. No one else was awake. I didn't know what to do while I waited. I had so much nervous energy so I decided to go out and shovel the new snow that had fallen all night. Dale came out with me and put Christmas music on his speaker. It was so magical to shovel the pretty snow while listening to music. It was very peaceful.
After we came in, everybody sat in the front room while we discussed what to do while we waited for Jadon to call. We decided that we would go in the kitchen area to see what Santa brought while we waited for him. It turned out perfectly. After everyone was done checking out their Santa stuff he called. He called me on my phone first to see if we were ready to skype. It was so much fun to hear his voice. When he called on skype we set the computer on the couch and all of us huddled around the computer to talk to him. He was at the Malone's house and his companion was talking to his family in the next room so we could kind of hear them. At one point, Jadon showed us on his Ipad to his companion's family on his Ipad. It was pretty cool. It was so much fun to talk to him and see his face. He looked and sounded so good and happy! He told us about how he helped his branch president on the farm on Christmas eve and how cool it was. He couldn't believe how deep Jake's voice was. He recited the first vision for us. We took the Ipad outside and showed him the snow. He was jealous because they don't have any snow at all. He let us say hi to the Malone's so we could thank them for taking care of him. The hour went by really fast and no one wanted to say goodbye at the end of the hour. I miss him so much but it makes it so much easier knowing how happy he is and how much he is learning. He has grown up so much in just 4 1/2 months. It has been hard not having him around during the Christmas season. Every time we do something that is a Christmas tradition, it feels weird doing it without him. You would think this would make the Christmas season sad but it didn't. I think having a missionary in our family brings a very special spirit to us.
After we hung up with Jadon, we finished with our Christmas morning by opening presents. Santa put silly string in the kids stockings and they had a great time spraying it in the house. Penny, our elf on the shelf, had hung ornaments all over the kitchen area a few day before so the silly string stuck to them making it look like a big spider web. Luckily, it wasn't that hard to clean up once it dried.
Jadon sent us a Christmas package. Inside was a a container, for each of us, of one of the treats he likes in Maine. Along with it was a hand written letter for each of us. That was the best thing of all. I don't know what it is about hand written letters but I love them.
Since it snowed about 8 inches, and the plows didn't come through our neighborhood, we decided to so some hookie bobbin. It was a perfect day for it. The sun was out. The streets were covered and everything was beautiful. The kids had a great time and a few of the neighbors came out for rides. We spent a few hours doing that and then we headed up to my Dad's for Christmas dinner.
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| Katie |
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| Kyson |
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| Jaxon |
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| Jake |
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| Kierra |
This was a wonderful Christmas and a great way to end 2015. I am so thankful for all of my many blessings! I love my family so much. I absolutely love having a missionary. Monday's have become my favorite day of the week because I love getting Jadon's letter and reading about all the wonderful experiences he is having. I really do feel like our family is being blessed because of his service. I think there will be some major changes in our lives in 2016 and I'm excited to see where this journey will take us!
