Christmas Letters

Christmas was so much fun this year. Last year and this year have been the best so far because my kids are such perfect ages. They get so excited and believe in all of the magic of Christmas. It's GREAT! They both kept track of the amount of days until Christmas by themselves thanks to a cute countdown calendar Megan made in kindergarten and some chocolate advent calendars my mom gave them. Megan's countdown calendar was a picture of Santa where you cut off part of his beard every day.

Normally Luke is the most patient one. My side of the family always opens at least one present on Christmas Eve and now they open all of their presents on Christmas Eve because that is when we are all together. It drives Keith nuts because he thinks all of the gifts should be opened on Christmas only. Last year Luke was offered presents to open at my parent's house on Christmas Eve and he didn't even want to open it! He said he wanted to wait, but soon changed his mind. This year he wasn't nearly as patient. He was so excited to go to my parent's and start opening presents he almost started crying when he found out we had to eat dinner first. Hahaha.

When we got home Christmas Eve night I have never seen Luke so anxious. We have a tradition (Keith insists on) to make cookies for Santa and write letters to Santa. Luke also had some reindeer food he made in cub scouts that he wanted to sprinkle on the lawn. I have NEVER seen Luke move so fast. He was so worried he wouldn't get in bed on time if he didn't move quickly. he wrote his letter to Santa in a few seconds, then without even asking (totally out of character for Luke) he ran outside by himself to sprinkle the reindeer food on the lawn. It threw me off guard to see the front door open and my cute little 8 year old outside in the dark by himself. It was so fun to watch! Before I knew it Luke was totally ready for bed and in his covers. A while after saying prayers with the kids I went back in to help quiet Megan down (cute little chatterbox) and rub Luke's head to help him fall asleep. Luke said to me in the most stressed out voice, "Mom, will you just go!". Hahaha! I thought I was helping!

Christmas morning was great except I kept waking up before everyone. So far this has happened every year. I got up at 4, then 5, then 6 and then I couldn't sleep anymore. At 7:15 I was so excited to see Megan wake up and come in our room. She got in bed and put her head on a pillow. I asked if she knew what day it was and she said, "Christmas" with such a cute little smile. Then she went to sleep AGAIN!!! I couldn't believe it! Finally about that time it was light enough to start reading, so I read for a half hour until Luke finally woke up and I got him to wake everyone else up. Traditionally on Christmas morning Keith tries to get us all to go back to sleep, then teases us for a while that he is too tired to get up. Finally he gets up, goes and checks on the front room, sets up the video camera and lets us come out in line (oldest to youngest). We have been lining up oldest to youngest ever since the first year Keith and I were married. Haha. This year while he was teasing us that he was too tired he let the kids go out and peek at the toys. We told them they couldn't go into the front room, but they could peak from the stairs. They were very obedient and only peeked for a second.

Ahhh! It was so much fun. Santa spoiled the kids for sure. I can't wait until next year.

About the letters at the top of this post... Cute Luke is always extremely thoughtful. He is always thinking of his sister. At the beginning of December when we would ask what he wanted all he would say is that he wanted a DS for Megan. Isn't that crazy? He is so nice!! We told him Megan should ask for that and he should ask for something else. He finally decided he wanted the New Super Mario Bros. for Wii. Still though, if anyone ever asked what he wanted he would always say he wanted a DS for his sister and Super Mario for himself. Megan is the opposite usually. She is super nice too, but she is more "normal" wanting everything under the sun. The list below is the list she wrote at the beginning of December. I love how she spells things. This list is one of her very first attempts to write words on her own. I think she did a GREAT job, but I translated for you just in case you can't read it.

The letters up at the top were written Christmas Eve to leave by the kids stockings. Keith and I weren't surprised by Luke's letter, but we were with Megan's. Both kids wrote their letters without any help. Megan is a sweet girl, but we thought she would ask for a million things. I love that she asked for something for Luke and said she was happy with whatever she got. Ahhh! Maybe we are teaching her right. Cute girl!

ETA: Megan says the bottom item is an Electronic Bug.

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Kind of Funny (and then a little deep)

Megan and Luke were talking to each other the other day. As I was listening, Megan was talking about only having one hand and what that would be like. Luke then started to explain to her, why God would allow people to be severely handicapped. He explained that Satan can't tempt those people as easy and so even though it's really hard to be handicapped they are really lucky not to have to worry about being tempted.

Megan understood this to some extent, but not the full extent. She cracked me up when she started asking Luke questions. My favorite was this one, "So does that mean that people that only have one hand would have a harder time drinking coffee? And is that why Heavenly Father took his hand away?" She also went on to talk about a girl she saw on TV that didn't have a neck and how that would make it a lot harder to drink coffee too.

Hahaha. Looks like I need to keep working on this topic.



If you aren't a member of my church and you are curious what in the world I'm teaching my kids, you are welcome to ask. In short, we teach our kids not to smoke or drink coffee, tea and alcohol. We always follow that discussion up with the fact that you don't have to believe the same way as we do to be a good person. I really emphasize that because its hard for little kids to understand why something is wrong for one but ok for another.

Regarding seriously handicapped; this is a subject that is too hard to explain in a couple sentences, but I'll try. We believe God loves everyone so much. We are sent to Earth to gain a body, to be tried and tested. Some of the spirits that lived in Heaven were (possibly) so good that they don't need to be tested like the rest of us. Although some may view God as a horrible creature when he allows bad things like this to happen, we believe that it may be one of his most loving acts because these people can't be tempted by Satan the way the rest of us are. They will have a place in the highest part of heaven after they die. What greater reward could there be?

Wow!!

Isn't this picture incredible? I've said it before, and I'm sure I'll say it again... I LOVE the picture slideshows on msnbc.com!

Reed Payne

My uncle, Reed Payne, passed away last week. He was my Grandma Park's only brother. I got teary at times during the funeral thinking of their original family together again. I'll really miss Reed. He is such an incredible man and I loved the times I was able to be with him. He will always have a special part in my heart. He played the piano at my wedding which meant so much to me. I wanted him to play at my wedding since I was a little girl and he played at my one of my aunt or uncles weddings. I think it was Aunt Andi's. Besides my wedding, my favorite time with him and my aunt Ruth was in Oregon. Keith and I were driving down the coast and stopped at a beautiful beach near California. I wanted to get our picture taken so I started walking towards the only other couple on the beach. Keith told me not to, but I went anyway. I'm so glad I did because it turned out to be Reed and Ruth!!! It was so much fun to see them there. We went to lunch at Pizza Hut and had a great time before we were on our way again.

My Uncle Reed wrote the music to the song, "When Joseph Went to Bethleham". It's published in the LDS Children's Songbook and is sung all over the world each Christmas. At his funeral, his son said that their family wondered if he had to a chance to meet and talk with Joseph yet and ask him if the words of the songs portrayed his true feelings. It gave me chills thinking of that because the idea of him doing that is so exciting. I love you Uncle Reed. I'll miss you. Give my Grandma a hug and kiss for me. I miss her so much.

You can listen to the song here. Also, I found out during the funeral that Reed's cousin (which would be my Grandma's cousin) composed the song, "Lord, I Would Follow Thee". Now that song has extra meaning for me.

Snowflakes

Beautiful snowflakes are just another reason to love winter. Sure, winter has its drawbacks, but if you look for things to enjoy you could love winter too. When I saw these crystals on my car this morning, I hoped I could get a good picture to capture the beauty. I've really got to invest in a macro lens one day.

Hummm...

Just not in the mood to blog lately. Hope you all are doing well! I do have a fun idea for a picture I want to take soon though... we'll see how quick I get it up.