Christmas 2013: Our First Tree

Probably the most exciting thing about moving into our house was that it was the first time we would EVER have a full-size Christmas tree. And real one at that! Until last year we'd only had a foot-and-a-half tall artificial tree. We only even got that because it was given to us by a special Secret Santa (our bishop's family) in our BYU days when Seth was the EQP in the 201st ward. That was when Hannah was a year old, and we used it every holiday until last year. I think we'll continue using it on the side when we have space for two trees, because it's a special reminder of the days when we had so little but life was so simple.

We continued our traditions of gingerbread house making, gumdrop-cookie baking, visiting the temple grounds, seeing the Christmas lights on Garrison, and having a Shepherd's dinner on Christmas Eve (this time withe a tiny teddy bear in the role of Baby Jesus). That is always such a special evening. I think there are just no words to describe the feeling of Christmas with small children. There's just so much anticipation and magic and Christmas spirit (until someone picks a fight or throws a tantrum about something, but at least for a few moments in there somewhere, it's magical).

I'm sure our family looked like goons to the Santa we visited at Sea World's Snow World. Most kids, I expect, sit on Santa's lap and give him fairly common gift requests in relatively general terms, but our kids are a little unique. Joshua asked for a jetpack. Eli told Santa he wanted cereal. ("A stereo?" Santa asked. "No no, he said cereal"  the slightly embarrassed parents clarified.) Hannah plopped herself right on Santa's lap and gave this discourse: "I want a Little Miracles Zebra Gift Set. It has a big blanket, a big stuffed zebra, and a little stuffed zebra attached to a little blanket. It's at Costco and it costs $14." Santa looked like he thought we were all crazy at that point as he used his foot to shove us down the slide. (Not really, but that's the image that came to mind as we left the workshop).

Another special gift came to us at Christmastime: the landscaping in our backyard! We hired a man from our previous ward, Morgan Goff, to do the work for us. Eli loved watching brother Goff work and would work alongside him any chance he got through the whole process. It was such a wonderful climax of the project see my whole family out there helping to lay the much-anticipated sod in our backyard on Christmas Eve.