A Castle Dale Christmas

After work on the 22nd we headed down to Castle Dale for Christmas.  We managed to fit all our junk in the car and still fit us and children too.  Small miracle! :)

That night as I was getting ready for bed I realized my camera case was EMPTY! My camera was sitting at home on my bedroom dresser. Arg! I was about to drive home to get it when Luke reminded me my mom probably had an extra camera at her house.  She did! Luke drove to Price on Friday to get it.  My mistake turned out very favorable for us-- her camera is way better than ours!

It was nice being with the Peacock clan.  Courtney and her boyfriend, James, were down from Grantsville and Monica and Chris traveled the far distance across Castle Dale to stay at their parents house too.  It was fun being under the same roof but we sure missed Laura and Eric though.  Why does Nebraska have to be so far away?!
On the 23rd and 24th we played WII games, baked yummy goods, ate lots and lots, went shooting, ate some more, did some crafts and enjoyed one another's company.

 Yes they did taste that good! 

 Cowboy Tree

Loving on Maya (Courtney's dog)

In the middle of the night between the 23rd and 24th Tianna woke me up with a tummy ache. She said, "I guess shouldn't have watched the Grinch before bed."  hahah.. Apparently the Grinch gave her the stomach flu.  It was a rough few hours but luckily by morning she was perfectly fine! .... her mom on the other hand was VERY sleepy!

 

Christmas Eve dinner consisted of  steak and coconut shrimp and an assortment of salads. ( Like I said, more food!) it was very delicious though, so why not! Then the kiddos opened their pj's and got ready for the Nativity.

 I think they liked their new pj's! 

 Found Luke's deer pajama pants at DI! that made me happy!

 Aden and Tianna: Best Buddies Forever and Always

 The 4 Peacock Grandkiddos!

Tianna really really really wanted to be Mary in the Nativity...again.. but eventually conceded the role to her sister who hasn't ever had the chance to do it.  Tianna was the angel.  Raleigh was a short-lived Joseph (it was past bedtime after all,) and Aden was the shepherd who wished to remain anonymous.  (After last time he played Joseph and Tianna bossily placed his hand on her shoulder and wouldn't let him move it so they could gaze lovingly at the baby in her arms, I don't blame him! haha)  So we just had an angel and Mary, but it was still perfect.

 Tianna sang the Christmas song she had composed all by herself:
"The stars are twinkling above, Jesus is in the manger.  Mary looks, Joseph Looks, at the babe so humble.  The Wisemen came, the Shepherds came, it's all a miracle."

 Later the roles switched and "Mary" had the angel at gunpoint while we sang some songs.

Later Grandma Belinda read a story about a little Nephite boy who saw the new star when Jesus was born.  She had their full attentions!

Just before putting the kids to bed we continued on with the Peacock tradition of driving the kids around Castle Dale and Orangeville to see all the lights.  It's a great way to get them all good and sleepy so SANTA CLAUS COULD COME to town! .........i love being a parent! It makes the holidays so much more exciting! 

To Give is Better than to Receive

This year for Luke's family's sibling gift exchange we decided to take that amount of money we would normally spend and put it towards an Angel Tree gift instead.  Then at Christmas we would report on our experiences.  This is our story:

 Our Ward had decided to just collect gift cards or money instead of actual gifts so the families in need could buy what they wanted.  A great idea, but it made it a little less climatic than if we had been able to take the girls to the store to buy a toy for some child, but it still was neat.  As a family we donated a gift card to Shopko.  Also, my parent's had given each of the grandkids some money as part of their gift this year with which they could choose to give the money to someone in need or buy something they wanted.

When we told Tianna about her options she said, "Well, I think I'll just buy something because Santa will bring them all presents anyway."
Um... well... (how do you explain that one!)  So we tried to explain how it would still be better if their parent's could buy their children a present too.  That was all it took for her to decide to give it to the Angel Tree.  Adelia was easily swayed as well.  We put the money in their envelopes and each girl handed it off to the Relief Society President. It made us very pleased to see them joyful about giving to others! 


{This wasn't related to the Angel Tree story, but as a family we also gave another special gift to someone. I dont' want our posterity to think all we cared about was what we got and the worldy gifts we received for Christmas.}


In Logan we had a wonderful friend, our next door neighbor, named Jim.  He wasn't home a lot because he drives truck, but we had gone out of our way to get to know him and we were so glad he did.  He was the kindest, most generous man! I helped him take care of his beautiful yard, and he in turned paid me quite well! Last Christmas we took him a small Christmas tree and a little Nativity because we noticed he didn't have any decorations.  (why would he, he lives alone and is hardly ever home?)  We were surprised that he had little gifts for the girls ready when we went to his house.  He didn't know we were coming or getting him anything but he was giving our kids presents!
Throughout the summer he really went out of his way to help us while we weren't home to take care of our house so we could sell it.  And as a going away present he gave us a wonderful book about Logan.  He was so so thoughtful---truly a Christlike person.  
He is also not a member of our Church.  For several months we knew we wanted to give him something for Christmas and during Stake Conference I had a very strong impression we needed to give him  a copy of the Book of Mormon.  


We put together a care package with a stocking full of candy, popcorn, hot chocolate, and an orange.  We gave him a Book of Mormon and a copy of the November Ensign (October General Conference talks)  We wrote a letter to express our gratitude for him and that since we care so much about him we really wanted to share something very important to us.  We also explained the Book of Mormon's history and what it does for us.
It's always really intimidating to share gifts like this, but we felt strongly that it was the right thing to do.   I really hope he received it in the spirit of love that we sent it with.  I would never want to offend him.

He did send us a Christmas card in return thanking us for the care package and wishing us well.  I will take that as a good sign that he wasn't offended.  We really do love that man and wish him all the best in his life! 

Work Friends

Luke works with such great people. We wanted to thank them for their friendship by having them and their families over for a Christmas party on the 15th. It was loud, it was crazy with all the kids, and it was fantastic!

 This is Keyvan and his beautiful daughter

 Laren and Melissa

 Scott and Tiffany and their little cutie pie

 Aaron and Hilary

 And us.  I love this guy!

A house is a home

A house is a home-- but only once it's decorated :) Especially for Christmas!

Advent Calendar

In my post "Random Stuff" I talked about making an advent calendar for Christmas.  Not every day is something spectacular but some were pretty awesome.
Shepherds night.  On Dec 9th we had a night dedicated to learning about the shepherds.  We ate Greek pork Slovakia (which is the closest thing I could think of.. it does include a pita, after all!) but despite it's lack of authenticity, it was delicious!
Then we read a few stories, sang some songs, made a poster with our hand prints turned into sheep, and let the girls camp out in the living room with our new bunk-bed cots from the Sunstone Christmas gift. It was a very fun night!

I think this will become a new family tradition! 

 Some other fun things have included several Christmas movie nights, hot-chocolate included of course, driving around looking at Christmas lights--the kids especially loved Spanish Forks "Festival of Lights," and we've  made dinner for a family in the ward, delivered treats, and learned about various symbols of Christmas.  
We've made cards for Grandparent's and today we decorated an ornament for each of them.  

And one night we made a gingerbread house.

 And though it wasn't on the "calendar" we spent several nights hanging Christmas lights.

And last, but not least: just because it is funny

Static Queen

Relief Society Dinner

I was blessed to be a part of the Relief Society's Christmas party and program in our new ward (which we love, by the way!)  They borrowed decorations from the ward party and made it seem to "Bethlehemy"
The program was so wonderful.  It's about the women in Christ's life: Mary, her mother, Joseph's mother, Elizabeth, the Shepherds wife and the Inn Keepers wife. It put a different perspective on the whole story.  It made me realize that even though yes, the baby Jesus was the Savior, he was also a little child. Mary's child. It reminded me of the wonder and beauty of each and every child's life.  It makes me want to be a better mother to my own precious spirits that I am so very very blessed to raise.

Bridger's blessing

Whew.  I'm tired just writing all these posts.  In addition to 3 Christmas parties, we went to our niece's "Best Christmas Pageant Ever" play, and then Sunday morning went to our nephew's baby blessing.
My mom didn't have her camera with her, so these are for you Wombat!

 So handsome!