Christmas 2012

I was just a little nervous about Christmas this year because it was the first Christmas without my mom and Kim's dad.  I wasn't sure if our traditions would be altered in big ways, or if we could still do things the same without them.  I really didn't need to worry!  Celebrations and traditions continued this year - yes we felt the absence of mom and Ross, but it felt natural to go on celebrating Christ's birth knowing that they were there with us, in spirit only.
The Christmas celebrations began for me with Sacrament Meeting on December 23rd.  That was the day that our ward choir shared their talents in celebrating the birth of Christ.  "My" choir was absolutely wonderful!  And the day was even better because Shandra, Tasha, and Zane were all there to hear it!

Kim's sisters and nieces provided great amounts of service to ensure that the traditional Christmas decorations were in place, especially Joan's Christmas village under her tree.  Hours and hours were spent making candy and treats for us all.  Doug and family arrived from California to spend a few days before Christmas, and we gathered together for good times and loads of laughter.

The Duerden family made all of the plans for our traditional Christmas Eve dinner by communicating on our facebook page - social networking made communication much easier!  Roxane and Jeff provided a scrumptious turkey, I picked up yummy Idle Isle rolls, Robin made the traditional pistachio pudding, and Ashley provided the Stove Top Stuffing (much to Jeff's dismay!)  It turned out perfectly - except that no one remembered that we needed to have vegetables!  Ooops! 
Robin and I provided some games, drawing snowmen without looking, tandem gift wrapping, marshmallow decorating, and Christmas Family Feud.  Everyone seemed to have a good time.

 After dinner I read the Christmas Story from Luke while the kids provided the animation with mom's pictures.  I'll admit - the story didn't go over nearly as well this year, it was a lot better when mom read it.  Then all of the kids, Tristan, Kalel, Corbin, Oakley, and Kadance gathered together to sing "Santa Claus is Coming to Town".  They had practiced all month to sing for us and did a great job!
 For our gift exchange this year, dad said that he wanted us to slow down and make it more meaningful, so he asked that the person giving the gift should personally hand the gift to the recipient and then tell them something nice.  It was a good change.  I'm glad that dad came up with the idea.  The gifts this year seemed to be all well thought out and appreciated.  Dad gave each person a roll that contained money, it was really nice.  The sisters all got together and are giving dad a plane trip to visit Bob and Kate this summer, and since he doesn't want to go alone, I will go with him.  

Tasha made these wonderful Mario and Luigi hats for Tristan and Kalel - they were the hit of the night!  The boys whooped and hollered with excitement and wore them all night long!
 Kalel decided that he wanted to make stockings for our whole family this year, so Kim and Shandra helped him.  He did one for each one of us and then we left them on the sofa for Santa to fill.
Opening our Christmas PJ's on Christmas Eve is something we always look forward to!
 What a bunch of CRAZIES!
 We decided to decorate BJ's tree corner with a Christmas village this year.  We haven't had the village out for many years, and I think that it looks nice.
 Tasha made the perfect hat for Kim - a Grinch hat!  He LOVES it!
 Tasha also made a beautiful rag quilt blanket for Shandra out of denim and flannel.  Perfect!
 Santa brought me a Nook!  Shandra gave me a certificate for a pedicure at Sego Lilly, and Kim gave season tickets to Heritage Theater - YEA!
 Shandra got a great coffee table/dinner tray/storage box for Tasha and Zane - perfect for their little apartment.
 Of course, Christmas would cease to be a holiday if we didn't spend time playing games - here we are playing "Ooga" a crazy children's game that we adults love to play!
Christmas turned out to be wonderful!  It was so nice having they whole family here, neither Kim or I had to work so we had tons of time just hanging out with friends and family - a great way to celebrate our Savior's birth.  I am grateful that we didn't miss mom and Ross in a way that put a dark shadow on our family traditions.  Although we didn't have their physical presence there, we could feel their spirit there celebrating with us.  

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