Christmas Eve 2007

It is Christmas Eve and I am waiting for the kids to go to sleep so Gary and I can finish up down stairs. The babies woke up last night with the flu so we didn't plan to do any of our traditional Christmas Eve things since we didn't know what today would bring. To our surprise, Caleb and Gillian both slept a lot today and seemed so much better tonight as you can tell from the pictures. Yeah!

The big boys went caroling in our circle with our friends next door then Garrett dressed up as Santa (I guess) and made us all laugh so hard. He was hilarious! Caleb figured out pretty quickly that Garrett was "the pretend Santa" but went along with it to get a present. Gillian stayed away.

After the Santa Show, Gary spent the evening in Santa's Workshop where we have set traps outside the door of the bonus room in order to catch any children who might try to sneak a pre-Christmas peek. We have "Do Not Enter" signs posted all along the hallway and the kids are dying to see what is going on in there. Hahahahahahahah. It is hysterical.

I will post more pictures tomorrow.

Our Ward Christmas Party

We had a great Ward Activity last weekend that our family had the good fortune to help plan and implement. Our Activities Committee took the ever popular "Trip to Bethlehem" program and told the story of Jesus Christ's birth from the Book of Mormon stand point. It was an incredible evening!

We jazzed up our nativity costumes with some bright colors and animal prints and decorated the cultural hall with fabric wrapped booths, white lights and lots of greenery. It was so beautiful. (the pictures don't really do it justice but you can get the idea).

We served food and had crafts at the booths. Everyone was really busy moving about the marketplace visiting and hitting all the shops.

The program that my friend, the Bishop's wife planned was awesome. When everyone first entered the city of Zarahemla, they were asked if they believed in the Christ that was to come. Of course they all said, "Yes" so they were given a bracelet as a symbol that they were a "Believer". During the night, little vignettes were going on where different Book of Mormon Prophets were portrayed talking or preaching in the marketplace just like it might have been during that time. People would stop what they were doing and gather in the center of the marketplace to listen. Actors in the audience portraying "Non Believers" would talk against the prophesies saying that it wasn't true that God would send a Savior born in the East. Incredibly, others who weren't a part of the script would just randomly chime in saying things like, "We believe", "Have faith", "How do you know that a Savior won't come?", "We know that God will bless us with a Savior", etc.

Even the littlest of children got into it. They listened to everything that was going on and participated in their own way. As you can see from the slide show below, Caleb had a sword and pretty much tried to take on any bad guy (as he called them) that didn't believe in Jesus. Way cute!

There were also slide shows and music that would play depicting the birth of our Savior. It was a beautiful evening and a lot of fun. Our family was grateful to be a part of this special night. We all agreed that it set a wonderful tone for our whole Ward Family's Christmas Celebrations.

A Trip to Zarahemla

The King

A few weeks ago after Caleb watched Gillian's, Barbie Island Princess Movie he wanted to look like the prince. He kept saying, "I want that on my head" pointing to the Prince's crown. So I made him a crown and he has been wearing it ever since. He wears it to preschool, in the car, around the house, outside playing and even to bed. He gets upset when he can't find his "King" as he refers to it. Now we can't get it off him. Oh....... what have I done???????

Boas and Scarves.....Gillian's New Thing

Tulare Christmas Parade 2007

Peanut Butter, Sweet Peanut Butter!

Caleb decided that he was hungry the other night and instead of asking for something to eat, he climbed on top of the counter, then up into the cupboards (3 shelves high), got the peanut butter and hunkered down in the family room for a little midnight snack. When I saw what he was doing, I was so mad but then I started to laugh at the unbelievable scene. Peanut butter was everywhere and Caleb was smearing it and licking it all up. It was funny and naughty all at the same time. That's our Caleb. Now we not only have to keep locks on the lower shelves for Gillian, but we need to have them up high too. Oh brother.