Christmas 2008

This year our Christmas was a little quieter than most. We had decided back in November that instead of the usual Christmas we wanted to do something different. So one night for FHE we talked to the kids about choosing a family in our ward that needed some extra help for Christmas and that we would use the money for them to have Christmas instead of ourselves. The kids agreed & were pretty excited, I had anticipated them to be a little upset, but I have amazing kids, and they could see this was a great idea. We spoke with our bishop & was given a family...a large family at that! So we enlisted the help of our neighbors because they also wanted to be a part of it. The kids were so excited, they helped pick out most of the gifts & then put some stockings together for them. We were able to secretly deliver everything to them & hopefully it was a neat thing for the family to be surprised. So for our kids this year they each got one gift from Todd & I, then we did a gift exchange between all of us by drawing names. So they only got 2 presents to open Christmas morning. Santa did come & give them a few more and thankfully Gma & Gpa were at our house for Christmas Eve & Christmas morning, that gave them a few more to open. We never heard the kids complain about not getting enough, even though I have wondered if they felt a little bad when they didn't get even half as much as some cousins & friends did, but I know they understood what we did was important & was done in the true spirit of Christmas. I am so thankful to have kids who are giving & understand that they don't need all the cool stuff to survive and that Christmas is really about our Savior and not how many presents are under the tree. We have decided this will probably be something we do regularly if we are able to. It was a great experience for us all to have a lesson on service & giving.

We spent Christmas Eve doing nothing much, just enjoying each other. The kids made a gingerbread house, I was quite impressed with their creation! We played some Guitar Hero World Tour, for the record...I am the champ in the Hall household! The kiddos went to bed around 10ish and were back up at 330 to see what Santa brought. We told them to get back in bed, it was way to early! They did go back to sleep, but not for long. At 530 they were back in our bedroom begging us to get up so we could open presents! So we finally gave in and got up. We opened presents and then had breakfast. We kind of cleaned things up & then my parents left to head to Pats house and we went to Todds parents house for Christmas Dinner. Gma Pat & Papa Tito were there from Bisbee & Aunt Katie. Uncle Kelly & Aunt Becky showed up after dinner to visit for awhile. Todds parents bought themselves a Wii for Christmas, so we spent most of the time playing wii. After dinner over there we came home & just enjoyed being together as a family. I would have to say it was one of our most quiet Christmas' that I can remember, it was good though. Next day the tree was out the door & all the Christmas stuff was boxed up & out the door! I had enough, I needed the clutter out!