Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve we drove back up to Gordon's aunt and uncle's home to spend Christmas with family. It just didn't feel right to try and spend Christmas day at Disneyland (even though they are open). I personally love visiting with this family because they are so open and welcoming. I have always felt like I'm family not just an in-law. When we attended church with them Aunt Marla introduced me as her niece, and that just feels nice.

We had the big dinner on Christmas Eve where some friends, neighbors and extended family also attended. After dinner we went to enjoy a street not too far away that goes all out in their Christmas lights. Santa was there too, handing out candy canes! You'd think he'd be too busy for that on Christmas Eve! After coming home we gathered in the living room while Great Grandpa read the bible. He would pause when a new character was introduced and the kids would have to hunt to find that piece of the nativity. This helped keep the kids engaged, but they surely weren't calm :). Aunt Marla has a collection of hand bells and we tried to play a few Christmas songs with them. It really ended up sounding like ringing in my ears but the kids were having fun.



We were a little worried about spending Christmas morning with so many other families. So we had lessons everyday for about a week before Christmas where we'd read a verse of scripture on thanksgiving or gratitude. Then Gordon and I would role play scenarios until the kids knew all of the answers by heart.

Our scenarios often went like this:

Mom: Here is a gift for you!

Dad: Hey! I wanted two of those and you only gave me one!

Mom: kids was that nice?

Kids: NO!

Mom: what should he say?

Kids: Thank you!

We twisted it up several ways but it actually worked, the kids did remember to be grateful on Christmas day and I never heard any comparisons between any of the kids if someone got more or less. Wahoo!

Christmas was a relaxing lazy day where we stayed in our pajamas the whole day. We ate leftovers for our meals, we played some games, watched a movie, it was really nice.

One funny tradition we did was that the kids have to line up in the hall, in age order and walk in backward! Apparently this family has been doing this for decades.