Dice

This was the year of the dice game for us!  We received three different dice games for Christmas.

 

This one is called Left Center Right.  Each person starts with three tokens.  The dice has a  left, center, right and a dot on it.  There are three dice.  If you a roll "left" give a token to the person on your left, if you roll "right" you give to the person on your right, if you roll "center" it goes in the middle and is out of play.  The  best is the dot, because you get to keep your token.  The last person with any tokens win.  This game was fun and was a fast play.

Moose Spotting (Mike collects moose, thus the game) was fun too.  You get so many points for finding a moose when you roll.  This was fun and went fast also and is great for those times you just want a quick little game.

Farkle is such a funny word!!!  This game involves both risk and chance.  You roll dice to get points,  but if you roll and can't count any dice you get a Farkle and have to give up your turn!  This game was fast and fun too!!

Okay, so let's roll!!

Our Christmas in Pictures

In one weeks time we celebrated Christmas, two birthdays and a baptism. They say a picture speaks a thousand words so here is a book!!

Aiden the Birthday boy!

Mr. Monkey Cake

Let's Sing

Andrew with his Daddy right before his baptism

Andrew and his monkey comforter.

 

 Rachel and Joey

Amy, John and One Year Old Aiden

Brad, Kyle and Katie

Katie with embroidery from her Grandma Virginia

Rachel with embroidery from her Grandma Virginia

High tech paper shredder!!  The real one was at home!

 

Master Jedi Evan!

Homemade Aprons

Aiden all cuddled up in his monkey blankie!

More aprons!

A family of aprons, there was even one for Leah's dolly!!

 Spencer chillin' with Grandpa

There is nothing like reading books together

Leah cruising with Evan.

Happy 31st Birthday, John!!

Sledding Central Coast style!!  No snow, no problem!

How do you empty a birdbath??  You get Kyle!!  Leah is not too sure what had gotten into Kyle.

Cousin hugs!

April, Matteo, Thomas and Corbin we love you bunches and dearly missed you! 

Christmas Music

I love the music of  Christmas!! I really truly do!!  So, I thought I would share some of my favorite Christmas albums. My love of Christmas music comes from my mom.  I still have many of her old Christmas records,  (you know those big black disks, that play on archaic phonograph  machines or record players).

The Messiah is one of my all time favorites. I love that it is all scriptural and gets right to the heart of what Christmas is truly about, our Messiah, Jesus Christ.  Listening to the Messiah brings back such sweet memories of singing at the Mission in San Luis Obispo. I wrote about the experience here.

Breath of Heaven (Mary's Song) is my favorite song on this album. One year at Christmas time I was asked to sing this song in our church service.  Solo!!  I was scared, but the beautiful words got me through.

My favorite version ever of "The Little Drummer Boy" is on this album.  It is upbeat and very fun.  You can just picture that sweet little boy playing his drum for the sweet baby Jesus.

Charlotte Church plain and simple has the voice of an angel.  

Neil Diamond is just fun!! I love all the arrangements on here.

These last three albums belonged to my mom.  This is what we listened to while growing up! I think she got the first two from a Readers Digest special or something like that. 

 This was a set of several records.  It has a lot of the old fashioned Christmas carols, that I love.

I love the children's voices on this album.  The cover picture makes me giggle because if you look closely children it's the same four children over and over again.

Whenever I see this album I think...July.  I know that sounds weird, but my mom like to play this on hot July days. It is a fun instrumental album and just the thing to cool off!!

What Christmas music do you like??

Sights and Sounds of Christmas

Here are some of the sights and sounds we experienced this Christmas Season.

Little baby Leah was the most precious present under the tree this year!!





She touched her Grandma's heart with a smile!!

Enjoying "Papa's" stories at a young age. Or, maybe Leah is trying to figure out who is that guy with the weird hat and tie!!!

Spencer loves pumpkin pie and sang this song to prove it!!

Spencer and Andrew showing off their Christmas Eve PJ's.






We woke up Christmas morning to newly fallen snow and the moon still shining in the sky!!






Sariah, Leah, David, Andrew and Spencer, all bright eyed, Christmas morning!!

I know this video is sideways, I saved it right up and tried numerous times to download it right side up but it would not do it. David was trying to get all the presents from under the tree. I call this video, Attack of the Christmas Tree or Spencer and Andrew to the Rescue!! It's funny so just turn your head briefly!!

Here's a few of the presents rescued from under the tree!!

Just what Evan needs...another piece of Star War memorabilia!!

Getting ready to play in the snow!!






Mike is such a good sport!! Evan and Spencer had a great time pelting him with snowballs!!

Some of the campus wildlife!!

Snow tracks!

Out for a chilly walk!





The beautiful snow covered mountains!! This is much prettier than our brown hills.




Picnic Anyone??




Manger scene on Temple Square





Amy, John, David, Mike and I with Evan met up with one of our missionaries, Peter Barth, his wife Heather and family. More about this on a future post!! We had a great evening of dinner and a visit to Temple square!!

Christmas Ponderings

"But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart"

LUKE 2:19

PONDER

This Christmas season I have been pondering on a couple of things. I'm going to try and share.

SNOW

For some strange reason, this Christmas season I have had the song, "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" stuck in my head. Maybe that was because I knew I was going to be in the snow this year. I started wondering about white and what that had to do with the true meaning of Christmas and not just snow. White to me is the symbol of purity. If we truely have a Christ centered Christmas then we have found the ultimate White Christmas.

Gifts

We traveled far to bring gifts to a baby this Christmas. Babies are so sweet and innocence and dependent on others. My tiny little granddaughter Leah is perfect! She makes the cutest little faces and is totally adorable. She cries when she is hungry and tired or needs a diaper change. Leah was my best gift this Christmas season!! I love having a baby around at Christmas time. It helps to remind me that Jesus Christ, my Savior, came to earth as a baby too! He had to be taken care of by his loving mother, Mary, just like the rest of us. He was totally dependent on other human beings. I wonder if His grandparents came to visit him too, bearing gifts. I wonder if they felt the same JOY I do looking and holding my granddaughter, and watching my own first born child and his wonderful wife lovingly tend to their parently duties. Jesus was a marvelous gift given to us by our Heavenly Father. I'm so grateful for that gift!!

What Gifts can we bring to the Savior? He still lives to today! We should still come to Him and worhship HIM. I have decided on a couple of gifts to give to the Savior this year. First, I want to give Him more of my time. More of my time in service to Him, by being of service to others. That means giving less time to unimportant activities. Second, I'm going to take better care of my body. That will definitely help with my first gift. If I don't have a healthy body I won't be able to be of very good service to others. So, that means I need to eat healthier and exercise. I know I can do it!

Have you been pondering anything? Please share.

REJOICE!

Twelve Days of Christmas Like You Never Heard Before!!

Sunday Singing

Silent Night

Silent night! Holy night!
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon virgin mother and Child.
Holy Infant, so tender and mild,
Sleep in heavenly peace;
Sleep in heavenly peace.

Silent night! Holy night!
Shepherds quake at the sight!
Glories stream from heaven afar;
Heav’nly hosts sing Alleluia!
Christ, the Savior, is born!
Christ, the Savior, is born!

Silent night! Holy night!
Son of God, love’s pure light
Radiant beams from thy holy face,
With the dawn of redeeming grace,
Jesus, Lord, at thy birth;
Jesus, Lord, at thy birth.

Text: Joseph Mohr, 1792–1848; trans. by John F. Young, 1820–1885

Music: Franz Gruber, 1787–1863

I Love Santa Claus

Does Santa have place in a true Christians celebration of the birth of our Savior?? I believe he does!! I loved believing in Santa as a child, but I love it even more to be a Santa!!! What could you do better at Christmastime than to give to others anonymously without thought of return. Santa is a symbol of giving. Elder John A Widtsoe, a former general authority of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints said, "There are men who object to Santa Claus , because he does not exist! Such men need spectacles to see that Santa Claus is a symbol; a symbol of the love and joy of Christmas and the Christmas spirit. In the land of my birth there was no Santa Claus, but a little goat was shoved into the room, carrying with it a basket of Christmas toys and gifts. The goat of itself counted for nothing but the Christmas spirit, which it symbolized, counted for a tremendous lot,"
In our family, Santa would bring one gift for each child. When we felt they were old enough, we let them be Santa! On Christmas Eve we read the Christmas story, sang Christmas hymns and acted out the Nativity and read from Saint Luke. When the children were really little we had birthday cake for the baby Jesus. We wanted to make sure they knew that we were indeed celebrating the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. On Christmas morning, before we opened presents we always turned over the baby Jesus on the Advent Calendar first!!
We also do secret acts of kindness for others, such as a 12 day of Christmas and we go caroling to those who are lonely. We try to find someone we know who needs cheering up. I always come away from that experience feeling up lifted.
In my mind, the picture above says a lot. When we become Santa, we are only worshiping the Savior.
What do you think about Santa Claus? What have you done as a family to help bring the true meaning of Christmas into your home?