Christmas is Love

I love Christmas trees, and I especially love my Christmas tree. It is a beautiful, fake, flocked tree with big huge lights. Some may say fake trees are not good -- to them I say...yes, they are!
I love hearing my boys play and sing on Christmas eve. And reading the scriptural account of the prophets testifying of Jesus' birth. And having pancakes for dinner. Awesome.
I love seeing stockings hung over my fireplace, and sitting by that fireplace drinking hot chocolate or herbal tea. Yes, it's a "fake" fireplace, not a real wood burning one, and I love it. No mess, no soot, just warmth and coziness.
I love seeing my boys still get excited over what gifts they might receive, even though they are so grown up and mature now.
I love seeing Christmas through the eyes of a child, or in our case, beautiful twins! The looks on their faces were priceless as they rode their toy cars and horses. So precious!
I love our new family tradition of a talent show on Christmas night. Kinsley and Jessica started us off with a cute poem.
Kyson and Bryce handed out reindeer poop to all of us, with Kyson dressed up as Rudolph. Love!
Our family did a silly rendition of "Hot Potato" by The Wiggles. We decided next year we will perform a very spiritual talent that will bring everyone to tears instead of making them wonder what planet we came from!
Nikki and Stephen read the story of the Grinch, with Jocelyn helping by playing Cindi Loo Who.
Kenny and Megan provided entertainment and a commercial break all at the same time!
Danny performed a piece he has been working on for quite some time on Guitar Hero. It was beautiful!
I love the newest addition to our little family -- our soon to be daughter, Corinne. She brings such joy and happiness to all of us. What a great blessing to have her in our lives!
I love relaxing and visiting with my family after all the presents have been opened, dinner has been cleaned up, and the so called "hustle and bustle" are over.
I love the wonder of Christmas, and all of the magic it brings to us.
I love holding the babies, feeding the babies, changing the babies, rocking the babies, playing with the babies, and everything else about the babies. They remind me of the precious Christ child, so small and innocent and full of love.

I love Christmas because if only for a short time, the world is full of peace, and we remember the greatest gift that was ever given to the world -- Love.

White Christmas and 25 Years!

This year we were so excited to go see Pioneer Theater's production of White Christmas. We weren't disappointed, the show was awesome!




It was our 25th anniversary this month, and the boys and Corinne decided to surprise us with a delicious dinner. This is what my kitchen looked like when they were done -- not too bad!
Michael made steaks, Corinne made rice, Devin made green salad, and Jaron brought Chocolate Satin pie.
Dinner was served in the formal dining room (aka living room) by romantic candle light and the lights from the tree.
Jaron was in charge of decorations for the night, and he did a terrific job! They gave us a framed picture of us on our wedding day and some lovely candles. How sweet is that?
David gave me a ring and 25 roses, 5 of them being white for each member of our family. What a wonderful 25 years it has been, and I am so thankful to have such thoughtful sons who went to all that effort for us!

Crazy Christmas Caroling

Jaron's job is working as a caroler at the Little America Hotel in Salt Lake, so we went down to hear him sing.
While we were there, Devin met Santa in the lobby and gave him his wish list.
The carolers: Jaron, Shalee, Gretchen(?), and Branndon.
The Barney boys. Aren't they cute?
Devin and Michael wanted to try caroling too, they did really well....

Lucky for us, the people at the hotel were very patient and didn't kick us out! Jaron did a great job caroling and we had tons of fun watching him. So much Christmas fun!