I should probably break this up into two posts. Otherwise it is going to be super long. But I've already added all the pics to this post and I am much to lazy to take them out and re do it.
Anywho - you have been warned that this post is going to be kinda long and have a ton of pictures.
So, Christmas time is one of my favorite times of the year. I enjoy spending time with my Verdugo family and my Bigelow family. We always have such a good time.
The boys decorated the tree this year. This was the first year that I didn't even direct them. They did a pretty good job.
We had a good time making sugar cookies and decorating them.
We spent Christmas Eve at the Noto's. The kids made us laugh and of course we had a ton of good food.
Thomas picked out Tata's gift all on his own. He thought it was hilarious.
And if you leave your phone by Maya - you find that she hijacks it and fills your photo stream with selfies.
We came home and the boys opened up their Christmas pajamas.
Christmas morning we woke up and opened our presents with the Penrods.
Nate received a video game that he has had his eye on for about a year.
Thomas received his own set of Hardcover Harry Potter books and an Airsoft gun.
And as you can tell, Nathan was super excited to get deoderant in his stocking.
Oh, and a iTunes gift card.
And then, just as we have done for the past five years, we cleaned up, packed up and headed down to Rocky Point.
Some of you know that we have a tradition of going to Rocky Point for Christmas with several families from our ward. We hang out and do a couple of service projects. I love this tradition and we plan to do it for as long as we can.
One of the service projects that we do is a hot dog dinner in the streets. We head over to a poorer section of town and grill hot dogs and serve them to the people who live there. We had a super huge group with us this year. As always we bring the missionaries and it turns out to be kind of a party-ish atmosphere. The people we serve are all very gracious. I love getting to meet them and talk with them. Some of them just break your heart. But, it is a good reminder that we have been greatly blessed.
Thomas asked us how long we've been doing this. And when I told him this was our sixth year, he said, "Wow. Mom. I love this tradition. I am so glad that we do this. Just think, we used to sit around and be selfish and greedy. Now we go out and learn how to love people we don't even know just by feeding them."
I love that my boys are okay with getting just one gift from Jared and I so that we can do this trip every year. And I am greatful that they enjoy this trip and look forward to it every year.
This year we had some new faces. Tyson joined our family and brought his brothers along. I think they had fun.
So - I know this picture is a little awkward....but we were cracking up because apparently Reagan has a bony butt and since she sat on Tyson's lap most of the time, his legs were asleep when we got to the dinner site.
For the first time ever, we ran out of food! It was crazy.
This little girl loved Cassidy. She didn't want to leave her side.
Our group!
The other service project we do is taking Christmas to families. In the past we would get a family from the missionaries and go and by them some food and gifts so that they could have a Christmas. This year was very eye-opening and humbling for me. When we met with the Branch President to ask him about families who we could buy gifts for, he told us that if we were interested, he had some families who hadn't eaten that day. And if we could just buy them some food that would be the best gift we could give.
I felt so bad.
To think that I wanted to buy some clothes or toys and all these families wanted was a meal.
It was with a humble heart that we all went grocery shopping and bought food for six families.
That night as we went and delivered them to the families, it was such a tender experience. They invited us in their homes and told us about themselves. They all expressed such gratitude that we would come to them and bring them food. It was hard to imagine and very emotional.
I mean food! All they got was food!
But - we all believe that Heavenly Father leads us here every year and leads us to these families.
It is a feeling that I try to remember all year long.
So those are our Christmas traditions and celebrations. I love my family and the time we spend together.
No comments:
Post a Comment