Merry Christmas!

Chris and I are so excited for a long weekend! We started out by getting off work at noon Christmas Eve! We met up with the the rest of the family at Grandma and Grandpa Wilson's to visit a bit before we decided to have a late lunch around 3pm at Macaroni Grill in Orem where Aaron was working since he had a double shift on Xmas Eve, bla... It was fun to still see him since he could not join us till 9pm that night. We thought while we are all together (Sara was up for Christmas break as well) and knowing that this is our last year at their home that we would have a sleepover at Chris' parents place. So afterwords, we all went to our place to hang out a bit before getting in the Expedition to drive through the Thanksgiving Point Christmas lights at 6pm! Then they dropped Chris and I back off to take a quick nap and pack for the sleepover! Once everyone was together, we had our Christmas Eve feast at 9pm which meant that the night was just beginning haha! After dinner James read the Polar Express story (another tradition), we did our gift exchange from when we picked the names out of the bowl and than Fran had to read her book that she read to the siblings when they were little, shed some tender tears, played pool, card games, and watched the new movie I got from Aaron that night (Confessions of a Shopaholic!!!) and probably crashed around 4am! Surprisingly we all still woke up early enough to call it morning! I want to say it was around 8am that we gathered together to have James read the Christmas story out of the scriptures which is done every year before we gather at the Christmas tree and unwrap the gifts that had been given.

This was such a special year for me at least! Chris and I are getting anxious to add to our family and experience the memorable traditions with our little ones! Hopefully we can soon bring in the joys that children bring into a home and a family. Chris and I then chose to go home and clean up while we have our own little Christmas! To my surprise as I entered the house, I saw that lights on and thought oh no, I thought I turned everything off but then quickly saw that Santa also came to our new home!!! I continue to be in ah over the things Chris does for me to try and makes things special for us. He must have snuck out somehow when I was asleep or something to have gotten away with this! The stockings were filled and displayed ever so nicely on the couch and the tree was lit up :) He couldn't wait any longer so before we put everything away and cleaned up for the day, we opened up the gifts that my family gave us and what we gave each other! It was not much which was perfect after everything that we have been blessed with the only thing we wanted was to be surrounded by family and each other. I love Chris dearly and I am so grateful for all that he does for me and his efforts to have a happy wife :)

We then got cleaned up and went back to finish the day with Chris' family! I got to chat with my family at home, visit Grandpa Mitchell, Aunt Cyndi and her son Ashton for a couple hours before we went up to visit Grandma Whitchurch to see her in all smiles surrounded by her lovely family! Chris' family was at Grandma Whitchurch's as well so afterwords, we all went to the movies at Jordan Commons! All in all it was a long fun filled 2 days and I am so sad to know that Christmas is over :( This is where after a month and half of excitement ends till next year...

Family time well spent!

This weekend Chris and I did a little bit of last minute Christmas shopping for his parents and the sibling we were assigned from when we picked names out of the bowl. It was nice to get out into the crazy lines and crowds of people since this year I purchased the gifts I got for Chris online. It was nice but I also like getting out in the mix of people.

Sunday after having dinner at Chris' parents place I thought I would bring Mr. Kruger's Christmas! This is what my family starts the December FHE's with and I wanted to keep it going in my home each Christmas season. It made me feel good when I received a text from Fran asking me if I had it and if I could bring it over! I did not get the text till we were already at their house since I was already on the same page, I had it with us! I love those moments that Fran and I are on the same train of thought :) I love the movie, it is a sweet and tender movie that should be watched in every home at this time of year.

Tonight for FHE, James was able to be with the family! In fact he now gets to spend 2 weeks at home!!! We have not seen him for a couple weeks since he could not come out last weekend so this is going to be so nice for him to take this short break from travel/work. We went to Desert Star like we do every other year only this time we were split up :( So I sat with the boys (Aaron, Josh and Chris) while the girls sat with James and Fran. It was still fun! I like ordering/eating pizza while watching a comedy play at the same time :)

My Grinch~

This year HIT the company Chris and I work for put on a Christmas party for all the in house employees. I am a proud wife who can honestly say, married a very talented person! Chris was by far the highlight of the party as he dressed up as the Grinch! I was all smiles as I watched the Grinch interact with the people/children. In preparation of this event, Chris and I watched the Grinch the night before. Chris wrote down some of the common one liners in the movie, repeated them over and over as we got ready for work the day of. The company rented out a full Grinch body costume so between the two, Chris was amazing! We had sandwich subs, drinks and cookies. Santa came and our friend Autumn sang a song while playing the guitar! It was fun and thankfully not too long as Chris quickly discovered how hot the Grinch costume made him :( Once, Santa left and all the attention moved to the area that they were playing the movie How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Chris was able to get out of character and eat some dinner. It was so sad to see him soaking wet and near purple :( The poor guy was dying in the costume.... So this shows how amazing Chris is! He will do whatever takes and he will prepare to do the best he can in all that is asked of him. Even if it means that there is a possible run to the emergency room to rehydrate his body :/

In remembrance~

Yesterday after church, we joined the rest of the Whitchurch family in a drive up to Chris' older brother Daniel's grave. Every Christmas we go up to put a Christmas wreath on his grave, talk about memories of him and sing Daniel a couple Christmas carols. Never have I seen them leave without shedding some tears as he is very much missed in their home. Each time we go, I am reminded of the beautiful blessing of the atonement and for the opportunity we have to see him again and for me to meet Daniel. I am so so grateful for the knowledge that I and Chris' family has of the Gospel. To know that this time on earth is not the end and that we can all if we choose to be in a better place after this mortal life ends.

We then returned for a lovely dinner as always prepared by Fran. We continued that night and watched Home Alone 2 that was placed in NY which we loved and I loved now that I have actually been to NY and could recognize several places that were in the film! I love spending all this time with the family! Not that we do not see them weekly anyway but there is something different about it around this time of year. Maybe it is the knowledge that James, Fran and Britt are going to be in California and that we do not get to see James nearly as often as we did. Now that they are selling their home, it is sad to think that it will be our last Christmas in this home. I am however really excited to have Aaron, Josh and Annie in our neighborhood! James and Fran have all their selections picked out and McArthur should started building next month.

In preparation for today's FHE, Fran was slaving away in the Kitchen so that we can all make Christmas treats for our friends! We had a couple options of caramel popcorn and assorted cookies. We frosted cookies and put the popcorn in little Santa bags and gingerbread men bags. Put them on Christmas plates and then Chris and I went around our neighborhood passing them out while they were fresh! Not sure what we are going to do if the neighborhood continues to double! While we were passing them out we had run into Dayna and Nate Checketts that decided to do caramel dipped apples which I thought was a great idea!

PARTY PARTY!

The neighbor girls have been so so sweet and inviting of everyone as we slowing build more homes therefore adding more neighbors. October we all met up at Erika's in our pajamas and slippers to go on a late night run to JCW's for some ice cream and social interaction! November, we met up at Brooke's place to do a craft of the Christmas day countdown. I did not purchase a kit since there was so much going on with having my family over the Thanksgiving holiday and then the fact that I have one already but I did make some treats to socialize with the other women which was great fun! We have 12-14 of us that show up which = good times! We decided to all go to Chili's yesterday before everyone gets carried away with the Christmas festivities and even then only 10 of us could make it. We talked for hours as usual and just enjoyed the time of being with one another. More than half of the women in the neighborhood have children which are under the age of 6 so it is their cure to have adult interaction ;) It is still weired to not be with Chris for the 3-4 hours that we usually spend chatting, eating or whatever but he really enjoys having me come home updating him on all the latest lol! It's funny because Chris and I spend every waking moment together which does not give us much to talk about when it comes to daily activity so these "GNO's" spices things up a bit ;) After we were done with Chili's, I road back with Stephanie because we needed to paint our sweaters for the party!Chris and I had purchased a pink and then a white sweater from the DI Thursday night and then Stephanie and Derek purchased a plain red and white one at Walmart. They all turned out great! Chris and I did candy can stripes on ours :)

Friday night was our neighborhood party night! Amanda and her husband Jared planned a Ugly Sweater Christmas party which of course the whole neighborhood came to and participated in which was fantastic! There was GREAT food/treats and games! We did white elephant gag gifts! Chris and I wrapped up a semi useful computer parts and then I wrapped up an extra toaster that we got as a wedding gift. We voted on the best/worst ugly sweaters and etc. The exchange was by far my favorite! Chris ended up with a men's extra large thong and then I got some "Man Hunter" piece with a zebra print hand bag! Well, we were so "excited" for our gifts that when we and Stephanie/Derek let Amanda's party we took them right over to Sara and Cody's Vintage Gingerbread Party which to had a white elephant exchange! I have to say that between the four of our gifts, that they were major hits and we left the party with more "useful" gifts haha! I had some cute pictures for a kitchen and then Chris ended up with some lotion's from VS that he passed over to me lol! Around 1am we felt partied out and ended the night with a Christmas movie!

We woke up Saturday morning so so tiered because we had our Whitchurch family pictures scheduled :/ They did however turn out great! We just used Chris' camera/tripod so that he could be in them. We barely mad it before the light rainfall came our way. Enough turned out that Fran and James were able to pick one for the Christmas cards that were ordered through Costco online! I am so doing our own next year! I had no idea it was so inexpensive and fast! Fran was able to order 50 for $14 and have them ready the following business day.

Feeling the Christmas Spirit

In preparation of the Christmas festivities, I have been listening to Christmas music at home and work, baking cookies and breads for the smell and the pleasure of eating them, leaving the Christmas tree lights on and watching Christmas movies which will continue throughout the month to bring in the feeling of Christmas! So Saturday Chris and I had our ward Christmas Party which was not the best ward Christmas party I have ever been to. Maybe it was the food? The theme was a Mexican fiesta? We had taco salads and or burritos which is good food but not what I have in mind for a Christmas meal.... Non the less we had a nice time making small talk with the other members of our ward. We did however call it an early night by leaving after we all ate before Santa came for the young children and etc. We decided to talk our neighbors in to joining us in a "adult" activity since we did not have any children. Stephanie, Derek, Chris and myself went up to the Sandy Expo Center for the last day of the Festival of Trees!!! This was my first time going and I really enjoyed it a lot!!! It was the last day so most everything had been bought out with the Sold sign in front of the displays which was amazing for me to see considering all of them were for the Primary Children's fund! It was so touching to see all the work and creativity that goes into each display and than to have so many purchased!

Sunday was of course the day that Chris and I went over to his parents place, this time for an earlier dinner than the norm for the reason that the First Presidency Christmas Devotional was on at 6pm. This if nothing else ALWAYS gets me into the Christmas spirit! I love the spirit that comes into the room and feels our hearts with love and peace as the family gathers to hear the words of the prophet and his apostles. I love hearing the stories of families around the world and some of their childhood memories at Christmas time. It puts me in my place to remember the true meaning of Christmas before we get to far into the season and gives me the feeling of true gratitude for my family, trials and blessings.

In the month of December, Chris and I have for the last 4 years (including the year we dated in 2006) spent all of our family home evenings on Mondays with his family! I love it because we spend more time with family and that is what I treasure most :) We start it off with the first Monday after the Christmas devotional as our service project. In 2006 and 2007 we shopped for missionaries that Josh would recommend while on his mission in NY. I guess Aaron and Chris did that as well. I thought it was very sweet because there was always that missionary that did not receive the support from his family either it be that they were of different religion and or they did not stay in contact therefore they would have not received anything for Christmas. After that the Whitchurch boys had all went on and returned from missions so 2008 we took care of a family that we new could not afford the extra expenses Christmas brings if you were to do gifts for one other. Today, Chris and I joined the Whitchurch family to assist at a near bye Angel Tree. This was harder than I thought it would be. The details were so vague that it was hard to know what the children really had in mind. Non the less, it felt good to help!