Merry Christmas

We're so grateful for all our many blessings.

The Valley

Mike and I drove to the valley so we could visit the boys and their families for the holidays. John and Kelly will be in Utah for Christmas and Mike has to work Christmas Eve and Christmas Day so we decided to go down a couple days early and just have a brief visit.

We had planned to get to the valley a bit earlier than our actual arrival time...Kelly had invited us for dinner. Fortunately she had plenty of leftovers to feed us when we actually arrived. Kelly is such a good cook! Mike really liked the pot roast she had prepared and he told her it was one of the best he's ever had. It really was good.

Quentin and Philip were at John's when we arrived. They had been there for dinner, too. Baylee and TJei gave one another enthusiastic Cuz Hugz and then dashed off to the bedroom to play.

We stayed there at John and Kelly's place during our visit to the valley. It was fun being there again and they went the extra mile to make us at home in their home.

Christmas Program

The kindergarten class did their Christmas music program today and it was so sweet to watch TJei and the other little kids perform a series of holiday songs. Mike and I both were able to go, it was so much fun and I know TJei loved having grandma and grandpa there for her. You can't really see her individually in the picture - she is second from left in the middle row. Her friend Peja is next to her. :)

Visit With Santa

TJei enjoyed a visit with Santa during the Ward Christmas Party this evening. She told Santa she wants a dress, slippers, and a ring for Christmas.

I made and framed a collage picture of Santa with all the little Primary kids and gave it to him on Sunday. He loved the gift!

The Gift

A couple weeks ago Jacob had given hints about the gift he had gotten for Mike and I. I'd venture a guess that he could have given me an additional half dozen clues and I still wouldn't have correctly guessed what the gift was. He was right though, Mike will love it ... and I'll be glad that he does.

Jacob and Maria gave us a TomTom GPS navigational device. Mike loves to tinker with such tools and he loves to turn off on unknown roads and head into unfamiliar turf. I am sure he'll have a great time figuring out this device and putting it to use. That pleases me, sort of. I am such a worrier. I know I am. Now when Mike heads off I'll be worrying and wondering what off-road path he is venturing onto. And he will venture, always has. It's good he'll now have a GPS device when making those turns into the unknown.

Christmas Morning

Jodie and TJei both seem thrilled that TJei received her own little skateboard from Uncle Quentin.
TJei helps open baby sister Mia's Christmas gifts. This one is a "CD" player from Grandma & Grandpa.
Sweet little Mia. :-)

TJei had a *wonderful* time playing with her karaoke machine and watching/hearing herself on their little TV.
TJei is all dressed up for going to breakfast. Yes, we're deadbeats ... we went out to eat on Christmas Day. The brunch for lunch was tasty though!
And, of course, I was *thrilled* to have *my* baby home for the holidays, too. This is Quentin's first Christmas home from his mission. I love him bunches - red hair and all.

Gift Exchange & Dinner

On Sunday, December 23rd all of us who were in town got together at Jacob & Maria's condo and enjoyed an evening of food, fun and gifts. Jacob and Maria have a delightfully tall and skinny artificial tree that tucks away nicely into any corner of their condo living room.

Maria had prepared a meal of spiraled glazed ham, mashed potatoes, salad, sauteed winter squash, rolls, and a cranberry ginger-ale drink. They had a pecan pie and pumpkin pie for dessert. It was quite a feast ... we all enjoyed the meal and the company.

Pictures: Top left is Jacob holding Nacho, his Jack Terrier youngster. That little guy is a bundle of energy and he did his part to tire out TJei in the grassy area outside the condo. Center is Jodie holding little Mia. Right is TJei with her tiny little ironing board and iron.




Left is Mike and Quentin. Center is Quentin, sniffing the gift? Right is Mike when he was working on unpackaging and assembling TJei's little ironing board.


Quentin and Maria, she is looking over a book on Boyle Ancestors we gave each of the kids for Christmas.

Rodney (left) and Rob are quite anxious to try out their new urinal ... maybe a bit over anxious, in fact.

Teasers

Jacob called last night. It was oh so obvious he was delighting in taunting me about the Christmas gift he and Maria had gotten for Mike & I. He was wrapping the gift as he talked! He'd call to Maria for help with this or that ... she had been the last to use scissors, he couldn't find the scissors. She was the last one to wrap a gift, he couldn't find the tape. "Maria, hold this" as the snip, snip, snip of cutting paper echos into the phone. He's commenting and muttering the entire while. "Maria and I decided..." and "not square" and "sharp edges" peppered throughout the conversation.

I'm not sure it really was a conversation, just a teaser.

Teasing was fun when they were little. That's when I could do the teasing. I'd play that little guessing game, encouraging the teasing maybe, pretending not to know what the little gift was they'd brought home from school. You know the kind, the little gifts that weren't really wrapped completely. The gifts that came home a week before Christmas and were handled and prodded on a regular basis by little hands playing that teasing game of Guess What I Got You Mommy.

Then the teasing was a game. Usually it was all too clear what the gift was. The game was to not let on I knew. This is a whole new world of teasing.

Mike & I have been content to not give much thought to Christmas gifts. We decided a while back what we were doing for our grown kids this year. We had made a list and have been picking up gifts for the past while and have them all fully sorted and identified for wrapping. We have planned but not really thought, or is that worried, about Christmas gifts.

Then along comes this late evening long distance teaser and it all changes. I am consumed with wonder and guessing. What could it be? Something Mike would probably use and I'd enjoy that he uses it. (Okay, it isn't Viagra, and yes, I asked although I do "not" know why. Oh, Jacob, you baited me into asking that question! You know you did.) Something packaged in plastic with sharp edges, it isn't square packaging. hmmm I really don't know much else about The Gift. I do know what Jacob & Maria (did she really have a hand in this?) are giving Rod, Rodney and Robert for Christmas - a urinal.

Yes, that's right. They are giving the guys a urinal and the porcelain prize now holds a place of prominence near their Christmas tree, adding to the festive ambiance* by serving as a plant stand for the mandatory seasonal Poinsettia.

Just knowing they're giving friends a urinal adds to the anxiety of guessing The Gift but alas a person does have to get a bit of sleep at times. I did eventually shake thoughts of The Gift and trying to recall each of the teasers he put out there for identifying The Gift and slept peacefully until receiving an early morning (6:30, thanks TJei ;-)) phone call. After the call I listened to a bit more of the news then meandered into my office and started downloading email without any real thought of last night's conversations.

There it was ... a picture of The Gift!

It's going to be a long wait for Christmas.

*that one's for you, Mike ;-)

Got a Fire Going

Mike was heading off to Show Low this morning to take care of a couple errands. I flip-flopped all morning on whether I wanted to go and finally decided that I'd not go. Mike went down and started a fire in the wood stove to ward off a chill in the air. The weather has been wonderful all week but is expected to drop substantially over the weekend. The wind has picked up and it is chilly.

Mike came upstairs and began telling me that he had stoked the fire and closed down the air so it would likely burn down to a good bed of coals. I commented that it stinks and Mike quickly corrected me, "It doesn't stink. It smells like burning wood." He continued, "It smells like Christmas. The ambiance of Christmas."

Mike was walking away from me, into the living room as he talked. He had a huge smile when he turned my direction as I said, "Ambiance? I never thought the day would come when you'd talk of ambiance!"

I am so grateful to have Mike in my life. I hope he has a great - and safe - trip to Show Low this morning.