this christmas eve was a special one. there was no pageantry and little to do. my parents opened the gifts rod and i had both prepared for them. i made a book of photos for my dad from his 75th birthday. i also made my mom a small soft sided photo book of just her children and their families so that she could take it with her on her mission. she loved the book!
i opened the one gift that rod had been teasing me with all month. he created a book of 400 days of writing each day of things he was thankful that i did that day. it is a treasure to me. it is an amazing gift! he wrote something each day for 400 days that i either did or am that made him grateful! i had no idea he was watching me that closely. i love him for noticing all the good things because i know there were plenty of days he probably struggled to find something positive! i could not believe the amount of work that went into that book. it was a very humbling gift to get! he blew me away with it. his gift was so meaningful and not very monetary--ful. it meant more than it cost which are the very best gifts to get ever! i got him good last year with my gift of new couches that i paid for with my photography money. this year he spent time and a ton of it putting down on paper all the things he noticed about me each day that he was appreciative of. that was a huge feat! the book is hard bound and full of photos he pulled off my computer of me and our family. what a treasure!
jack and morgan got matching pajamas as well as sam. i didn't bother this year with taking many photos. i had my phone with me and took a few photos that night. it had been a stressful few days and i just resigned myself to let go of my big camera and take what i could muster energy to take with my phone. so i don't have the usual spread of photos from this year. but this year i felt so much of the "real" christmas spirit. there were so many gifts that were done for us of service and blessings that came to our family. those are things you can't really capture on film anyway--only in your heart.
christmas morning was relaxed at our home. jack and morgan opened gifts and then discovered that santa had left a note with a puzzle to solve that would led them to the garage where they found their santa gifts. they each got a big mountain bike and sam got them bike helmets. each boy was thrilled with his bike! now they can keep up with their dad on the hills. they have 21 gears to learn.
we took the morning easy and cared for sam. rod wasn't feeling well (stomach flu) and so he stayed home from church and i went with the boys. we only had the sacrament meeting 1 hour of church since it was christmas day. i just felt like having been so blessed i should attend in a way to say thanks for the blessings. the rest of the day we relaxed at my parents home and let rod sleep at home. i was hoping to keep sam as healthy as possible.
that next week we went on bike rides and walks and even went ice-skating for the first time for jack and morgan. the boys did great ice-skating! we need to go do that again! by the end of the week on thursday i was sick with the stomach flu. it was heading into the end of 2011 and i was flat out with a super duper bout of stomach flu. our year ended with even more service being done on our behalf by very kind friends at church and my parents. this was a humbling two weeks for our family!
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