Nielsen Christmas Party

We decided for the first time ever to have a Nielsen Family Christmas party this year. It was at our house and we decided to have dinner and then to re-enact the Nativity because Sean's family grew up doing that.

We had spaghetti, salad, rolls, and dessert and then proceeded to get all of the "actors" in costume. After finding enough bath towels, we proceeded to the living room for Grandpa LaMarr to read the story while we sang and had the kids re-enact the story. My kids are so much older than the rest, it looked like we had giant wisemen. Trevin and Alexis were Joseph and Mary and we had a couple of little rabbits instead of sheep, but it was cute! Travis and Tyrel tried their hardest to stay out of camera range.

This is a picture of Diane and LaMarr in front of our tree.

This was a fun family tradition that I hope we can continue.

Constructing the Houses

Our gingerbread house activity was a little strange this year. Travis and Tyrel wanted to make their houses so they could eat them and Trevin has 2 teachers so he had to make two houses (he doesn't get to eat one). I had some leftover dough, so while we constructed the houses, we had Sean roll out the dough and then Travis and Tyrel cut into cookies and baked. They put them in the oven and didn't set the timer until a few minutes later. I didn't pay attention and they had set it for the full time after they had already been in there for 3 or 4 minutes. So, needless to say, our cookies were a little overbaked. They insisted they were not burnt and tried them, we had boys spitting and spewing and looking for a sink and some thing to drink. It was kind of funny!

Trevin got both of his houses made and delivered to his teachers. Didn't he do a great job? This is Mrs. McKee with her house.

This is Mrs. Turner and her house. I went to high school with her and her husband and all three of my boys have had her as a 4th grade teacher. She was so excited to get her house because she has kept the houses the other boys made and she said her kids have picked most of the candy off of them, so she was excited for a new pretty house.

Scrooge and Jacob Marley

Trevin came home from school all excited because his school class was going to do a program where they acted out Dickens "A Christmas Carol". I asked him if he had a part and he said he was going to be Jacob Marley. I assumed the teacher would be narrating and they would just walk around the stage for their parts, but I asked him if he had any lines and he said, "Mom, I have a whole scene!" It was so cute. So every evening while I was makng dinner, he and I would run lines while I cooked. It is all he talked about for two or three weeks.

They did the play in their classroom and had scenery and costumes and everything. Scrooge did very well at being grouchy (can you see the scowl on his face) and Trevin remembered all of his lines and did a great job as Marley. Don't you love his chains? The little girl in Trevin's class that was the ghost of Christmas present was hilarious. She kept waving her wand and twirling around in her dress and she even talked with a British accent. It was so funny! They all did a great job and Trevin was excited that both sets of his grandparents could be there. He made Grandpa LaMarr (the actor) very proud!

Christmas Guitar Concert

We got to enjoy a Christmas concert at the Jr. High. It included the choir, orchestra and guitar class. We had quite a few kids we knew from our ward in the choir and there are three boys from our ward in Travis' guitar class. The guitarists played Silent Night, Jingle Bells, O Come O Come Emmanuel and What Child is This. After everyone finished their parts, they all played and sang We Wish You A Merry Christmas together. I'm so proud of Travis and all that he has learned this year in his guitar class. He loves it and I love listening to him play while I make dinner in the evenings.

Sub For Santa Translation

My wonderful brother in law Ken was able to translate our Thank You cards from our Sub for Santa Family. Thanks Ken

Translation:

For Santa Clause
From Daniela
Thank you
For bringing me
Shoes

For Santa Clause
From Daniela
Thank you for the toys and I hope
That you have a merry Christmas

For Santa Clause
From Alfredo
Thank you for the toys and I hope
That you have a merry Christmas

Sub For Santa

I had to share the neat experience we had with Sub For Santa this year. This is a tradition we have every year. For the past 8 or 9 years we have gone through the United Way sub for Santa program because I like the way they screen the families and have them go to classes on how to interview for a job, how to prepare a resume, etc, to help them get back on the right track so they don't need Sub for Santa the next year hopefully. They also have very specific rules so that each family is treated fairly, 2 clothing items, 2 toys and a book (I am a proponent of reading, so I especially like the book part). Then, they suggest you sponsor more families if your budget allows instead of just buying more extra stuff for the family you got. We try to get a larger family (5-6 kids) because we have always budgeted the money to do so.

With the lack of work this past year at our household, we almost didn't do it, but Sean and I discussed it and still thought we should do it because we wanted to continue the tradition and also show the boys that even though we don't have a lot of money this year, we are still better off than a lot of people. Also, my Young Women had helped with that baby blanket with my lesson a couple of months ago, and sub for santa is where they wanted the blanket to be given. When I requested our family this year, I specifically asked for a family with a baby boy and 2 children max. The guy on the phone didn't think I could request something that specific but took the information anyway. I received our sponsor family and it was a woman that is recently separated from her husband with a 2 month old baby boy and a little girl that is 6. Perfect!!! One problem, they don't speak English very well and we don't speak Spanish very well (okay, we don't speak Spanish at all). I was very impressed with the list of things they asked for. Lots of times we get lists with very specific, sometimes large ticket items on it and it is hard to find the stuff. I could sense the humility in this family as I read the list, clothes, snowboots, coat, nursery rhyme book, Barbie. I guess a baby can't really need any big ticket items, but I was still impressed.

Monday for family night we took our list and the blanket made by my young women and this year I handed the list to the boys and had them make all of the decisions. It was kind of fun to see what they put together. We got a full outfit for the baby (pants, shirt, jacket, socks, and shoes) and also a pair of pajamas. They picked out a little spinning toy and we got a board book for him to go along with the fleece blanket. For the little girl we got a Sleeping Beauty princess Barbie, a princess microphone and play cell phone. Sean picked out a Disney princess activity/story book and the boys picked out the cutest pair of jeans with a silver sparkly belt and a pink long sleeved shirt with sequins on it. I should have taken a picture because it was the cutest outfit. The only disappointment was that we couldn't find princess or pink boots in her size so we had to get black ones but I'm sure she won't mind, I'm sure that warmth is more important and they looked like really warm boots.

We transferred the stuff to two white garbage bags when we got to the car and I called and told her we were on our way to the house. She is living in the basement with either a friend or relative but met us upstairs at the main door. The boys carried in the bags and we presented them to her. Tears welled up in her eyes as she struggled with her English to tell us thank you and that she didn't know what she would have done without us to get gifts for her babies as she had no money. You could really feel how grateful and humbled she was by this experience and it really made an impact on all of us. She gave us these cards that they had made and apologized for them being in Spanish. We assured her it was okay and she broke down again and gave all of us hugs. Here are our cards. I think we figured out the main gist of what she was saying, but if anyone can translate for us, that would be great.

I'm so glad we decided to go ahead and do it this year because this was one of our greatest Sub for Santa experiences and I know it made a great impact on the boys.

Getting Ready for Christmas

So are you sick of posts from me today yet? So much has happened that I haven't had a chance to blog about so sorry. You don't have to read it all if you don't want to but since this is my journal, I had to add it all.

Are you ready for Christmas? I think we are close. The tree is decorated and Sean even volunteered to hang lights on the trees out front (that has never happened before). I didn't get out all of my decorations this year because I think it looks too cluttery if I get it all out. So we just got out the tree, wreath, stockings and hangar, nativity, and put garland around the stair bannister. Trevin pulled out a couple more things to put in the basement, but it should be easy cleanup after Christmas is over.

I sent out all of my Christmas cards and my gift for my grandparents.

We made our gingerbread houses and delivered to Trevin's teachers.

I got my 2 major projects done and back from the publisher.

I got almost everything wrapped this weekend, but I ran out of paper, so I have a few to finish up today.

We got the stocking stuffers bought and Travis' gift finally arrived (we were getting worried because he is really only getting 1 thing and it took over a month to get here) I was afraid it was lost in the mail.

We are doing our sub for Santa family gift shopping and delivery tonight.

I still have to do neighbor gifts and our Ward party is Saturday morning.

We are close!