Christmas

On the evening of Christmas Eve we had a candlelight service at church. We do this every year whether or not Christmas Eve happens to fall on a Sunday. We enjoyed Christmas Hymns and a chalk drawing done by Pastor Mark, which he also does every year. He also spoke about the birth of Christ and why Christ humbled Himself to be a lowly baby so that the world through Him might have salvation through His death and resurrection.

Also around Christmas time a lot of students who have gone off to college come back home for the holidays. My good friend Elizabeth Christensen and her husband came from Moscow, Idaho to be with her parents and siblings. She moved to Idaho to go the the state college there and met Tim who she has now been married to for a year and a half. She is now student teaching elementary school for her final year of college and Tim is studying to be a farmer. I was so happy to see her and I hope to visit her sometime soon. She suggested that Hannah and I take a little road trip over there for a weekend sometime. It is only a five hour drive, and a gorgeous one at that. Right now the passes have lots of snow we will probably try later on closer to spring.

Daisy had slept at my parent's house so she could open the stocking my mom had for her as soon as she woke up. She got up at 6:55am. My mom told her that she couldn't get up before 6am. We didn't have a time restraint when we were kids but we just had to make sure that we did not wake our parents up. I remember when my brother I were that age. He would wake up at 4am, go get our stockings, come into my room and wake me up so we could open our stockings together. We would sit on my bed enjoying the goodies that were inside. Then we would stuff everything back in and try to go back to bed until our parents woke up.

Christmas morning Rue and I got up and brewed a pot of coffee. We packed all the presents that were under our tree into a box and headed over to my parent's. My mom and dad served a breakfast of venison sausage (shot by my brother's best friend Vincent on a hunting expedition), eggs and pancakes. I had meant to bring over a box of satsuma oranges to go along with breakfast but unfortunately I forget them. My mom makes the best pancakes and all she uses is the Krusteaz mix, but they are the best pancakes I have ever tasted! I don't know what she does differently. She says that it has to do with the pan you use and the right amount of heat.

After breakfast we all sat down and Rue read from Luke 2, one of the passages of the birth of Christ. My dad prayed afterwards.

Then came presents. Daisy played Santa Claus and passed out the presents to each person. Whoever wears the Santa Claus hat gets the job. Some of the funniest gifts had to be what my mom gave my dad. He had told her that all he wanted for Christmas was money. The first gift he opened was a can of tomato sauce with a check wrapped around it. Next he opened a box of scallop potatoes with a check placed on top. And lastly he opened a chunk of wood with, of course, a check. I'd say she did a very good job of disguising the money.

I also gave Ben a very dorky gift just for the fun of it. It was a little air pump with long skinny balloons to make balloon animals with. The only problem was the balloons were very cheap and would pop at the slightest touch. So Ben found that he could attach them to the end of the pump, blow them up, and then let them go like a rocket. We got pretty silly and had a good laugh.

Ben has been dying to get back to Alaska and he is planning on going back this next year and hoping to live in Nome this time. I decided to get him a special shirt that says exactly what he feels. "I'd rather be in Alaska"

Daisy received lots of fun stuff but one of her favorites was a Fly Journal. It is an electronic journal that helps give kids ideas to write about. Daisy loves writing and so was very excited. But alas Rue did not know that the special electronic pen that says the ideas was not included with the journal! So yesturday he braved the after Christmas shopping crowd and went to try and find one. But every place he looked were all out and would not be getting anymore in. The next place he plans on looking for one is online. Let's just hope it is not too pricey!

And then of course my hubby gave me what I have been wanting for a while now, a digital camcorder! It records onto mini DVD's and then I can put them into any DVD player and watch them. I can also put them into the computer and edit them. It takes still photos but you can only do one at a time so I think I will stick with my trusty digital camera for those. It is kind of complicated to learn how to operate, but I am getting the basics down and reading the manual. So be looking for new and improved family videos on my blog!! :)

Later on in the day Rue and I headed home so I could start to get ready for Christmas dinner which was to be held at our house. My parents and I bought a honey baked ham. I also made sweet potato casserole, and broccoli. My mom made scallop potatoes, rolls and pumpkin pie. Her rolls are positively magnificant! But just like the pancakes she makes them from store bought frozen dough. And everyone who has had her rolls all say that her's are the best! Maybe my mom just has a special touch that puts something extra delicious into the food she makes. At around 4 pm everyone came over and we enjoyed a yummy Christmas dinner. I used the special Christmas dishes, for the first time, my best friend Hannah bought me right before we got married. But sadly my mom became very sick and had to go home early. We are not sure what it was but she was feeling pretty bad. My brother took her home and then came back. We watched "Pirates of the Carribean 2" while we had dessert. It was a bummer that my mom could not be there to enjoy it with us!

All in all we had a wonderful Christmas together! This is one for the memory books!! :)