I Warn You Now...

...this is a long post--mostly for the sake of documenting our semi-interesting lives on a semi-consistent basis. This Christmas season was a new experience for us with many firsts. Our first Christmas not home in Idaho which was great not traveling 24 hours round trip but we definitely missed all the family and found it strangely "quiet" sometimes. However, the boys made up for the rare moments of silence with all out wars using their semi-auto dart guns that dad bought for everyone! We kept a lot of the same traditions like taking poppy seed bread to many friends & neighbors, doing a Christmas "service" for a family in need, going to see a movie on Christmas Eve Day (Tangled--a new favorite of mine!) and eating WAY too much food. We added a few new ones like eating El Salvadorian (is that a word?) & German food with friends on Christmas Eve, hosting a "Polar Express" party for several families in our ward with hot chocolate, cookies, pjs, bells and even the kid's very own ticket which we punched when they walked in the door. We even upheld a tradition from Kingman--surprising I know--an Ugly Sweater Christmas Party. The outfits were atrocious--as expected--and set a pretty high standard for next year. We did a few things which we hope will NEVER become tradition--like being in charge of the food for the Ward Christmas Party--or taking our kids sledding with a 45 min drive to and from for only 20 minutes of tolerable snow time. Jason even got angry that there was snow in his show so he chucked it a good 10 yards away where it sunk and we never could find it. He left Mount Charleston wet, cold and shoeless. We are learning to simplify and decide when our family needs to be a priority over our demanding work/church/social schedules. But aside from the business of the season and realising that life is going to feel out of control for the next 20 years, we enjoyed ourselves. We witnessed outpourings of service, love and faith. We gave and received and were left feeling very grateful; grateful to be employed, grateful to be healthy, grateful for friends and family who open their homes to us when we feel so far from ours. Especially grateful for a knowledge and testimony of our Savior, the blessings of the temple, and the ability to live together as a family for eternity. It has been a great start to our New Year--gym memberships, healthy cookbooks etc :-) Hopefully this year will prove to be as abundant and memorable as the last!