Dec 2009

We drove down to Casa Grande for Christmas (I liked the 5 hour drive we used to have much better than the 10 we now have....but the kiddos were pretty good). We rolled in at about 2 AM on the 23rd and stayed until Sunday morning (the 27th). Caelan and Ben and Megan have been playing with our little plastic Nativity set all month. On a couple of occasions they wanted to be the characters ("I'll be Mary," and "I want to be the Shepherd," etc). I mentioned something about acting out the Nativity story, and they just thought that was the greatest idea. Ben talked about it several times from that moment until Christmas Eve. So, we decided it would be fun to have all the little kids play the different parts in the Nativity. We were with all of Dad's family as well as Great Grammy Dick and Uncle Garry and Aunt Jera. Jenny and I and Grandma Dick pulled together some costumes and the kids acted out our very BRIEF version of the Nativity....and loved it. Caelan played Mary, Ben and Logan played the Wisemen, Megan and Hailey were Angels, Corbin was a Shepherd, Brooklyn was the Star, and Nathy was supposed to be Joseph (but he pretty much wouldn't cooperate at all). It turned out really cute - I think we might start making this a regular Christmas Eve tradition.

Our Christmas Vacation
Our Christmas vacation to Casa Grande, AZ consisted of:
*Last minute errand running
*Re-enacting the Nativity
*Dad reading the story of the Boy Who Laughed at Santa Claus
*Kids finding it hard to sleep on Christmas Eve (and therefore parents staying up LATE too)
*Wearing matching pajama pants on Christmas Eve night (finished in the knick of time)
*Waking up to a very excited 6 year old on Christmas morning
*Balloons left by Santa Claus covering the floor
*Exploring the stockings (fruit and Peanut M&Ms)and opening presents all at the same time
*Christmas breakfast casserole (DELISH)and homemade scones
*Playing with our spoils (riding trikes, making glasses with Bendaroos, playing with barbie dolls, transforming our Transformer figurines, etc). Caelan was especially excited about her set of cooking supplies complete with an apron and oven mitt.
*Playing outside in sunny December AZ weather
*Enjoying time with family
*Eating and cooking and eating and cooking
*Singing Christmas carols around the piano
*Watching the Muppet Christmas Carol
*Going to the movies: The Princess and the Frog
*Going to church all together as a family
*Lots of pictures
*Celebrating the Savior, Jesus Christ.