Christmas in Louisiana

Christmas is always such a wonderful time of year when we remember our Savior Jesus Christ and his gift to the world. It is a time of expressing love and spreading joy to others. This Christmas was such a joy and one we will always remember. We had the opportunity to visit my parents in Louisiana on their mission during the Holiday Season. We made many memories and had total blast. Here are a few highlights from the trip;

Christmas Eve-
As we were driving to Louisiana, we got a call from my Dad saying that the clubhouse at their apartment complex didn't put the tree up like they had said they would. Since my parents are on their mission, they are staying in a tiny one bedroom apartment. Thus, Christmas Eve and Christmas day were spent in the club house. Worried that my kids would be devastated not to have a Christmas tree, they offered to go and get one last minute. I urged them not to and we agreed on no tree. I didn't want any more of their precious mission money wasted when we would live just fine without a tree. My brother Joel and his wife Marie came up with the great idea to build a tree out of poster paper. It was a brilliant idea! The boys loved it and it was the most beautiful tree I will remember for a long time.The boys had a blast coloring ornaments and taping them to the tree. My mom made a star out of a paper plate and tinfoil. I made a chain out of wrapping paper. Here are the results.

Christmas Day was just perfect! The boys slept in, I got a shower (finally after two days on the road), and we finally got around to meandering down to the clubhouse around 10:30 am to open presents. It was actually a little weird that the boys weren't going crazy bugging us to get to the clubhouse. They knew that that was where Santa was coming, but anyway, it was weird but nice. We just figured we'd let them lead the way. I think we went a little overboard this year but it was fun anyway. Rob and I really put alot of effort into really getting to know our kids to get the perfect gifts. It was our first year where our kids are old enough to really get what is going on. I was so touched by Adam who reminded us all that Christmas is about Jesus being born. He is such a sweet tender boy and took just as much interest in what others were getting as himself. In fact, both the boys took so long opening their presents that we didn't finish until well after lunch! They'd open a gift and look at it, play with it for a long time before being interested in anything else. This provided a nice laid back atmosphere where the adults could enjoy gift exchanges while the kids played. I especially loved it when Lincoln would open something and say in surprise, "What?!". I was reminded of how precious these years are and how fast they are flying by.