Christmas 2009

Every Christmas wish came true...

Cousins played together...

Daisy found a comfy place to nap and hide...


Clint fixed one computer after another...

Dinner was yummy (although this little one would rather eat a banana)...


Grandpa got a rockin' new hat (that freaked out the cat)...


We had a big, loud, houseful of family...

Family pictures were taken outside in smile-freezing-17-degree-weather (think we'll try again in the Spring)...




I received three mentionable gifts, a new laptop (that I haven't figured out how to use yet), a cookbook compiled by my dad of my Grandma Roesner's recipes (including some of my dad's memories and pictures of my Grandma), and a written history of childhood Christmas memories from my Grandma Edwards...

And, Clint and I had our second totally debt-free Christmas (thanks, Dave Ramsey)...

All in all, a very Merry Christmas!

What’s Been Keeping Us Up at Nights

Our family has been busy this month…

We took the kids to the Festival of Trees

To Temple Square

A Voice Male Concert

Jon Schmidt’s Concert

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXtVBJDPs6k&feature=player_embedded

The Symphony

And then we cancelled the rest of our plans because we’re exhausted! Maybe we’ll venture out again after Christmas.

Just a Question

If you are too tired to finish your last minute Christmas shopping and decide to go get a pedicure instead, can it be counted as decorating?

I chose red with white/silver snowflakes. Merry Christmas to me, hee hee!

A Special Tradition

For the past seven years, our family has attended the LDS church services on the Sunday before Christmas, in the hospital were Caitlin has received treatment. It is a simple, short, humble, and sweet version of our normal Sacrament Meeting and the Spirit is obvious and strong. Today we sang Christmas hymns and listened to passages of scripture about the birth of our Savior, it was perfect.
I loved the closing prayer where a special blessing was asked for the patients, families, doctors, and caregivers. I would like to imagine a prayer like this being offered almost eight years ago when Caitlin was diagnosed at Christmas.
Vicky and Lauren, we are so happy you could join us. Terry Family, we are praying for you and are so sorry for your loss.

It's Beginning to Look (more or less) Like Christmas

Our family lives in a community full of cute and colorful houses. Ours is beige, inside and out (sigh...) If it were up to me, our house would be red, or light green, or a cool shade of blue, maybe yellow, I'm really not sure. What I do know is that our house looks best when decorated for Christmas, it's like adding jewelry to a T-shirt and jeans outfit. It makes my little beige house look happier and helps give it some personality. So, we added the lights (they went up in October before the weather turned bad). The fresh evergreen garland and vintage sleds, skis, and ice skates go up after Thanksgiving. And, as I find new things, those are added as the days grow closer to Christmas.


Inside the house, decorating for Christmas really doesn't take that much effort or time because our decorations are few, but meaningful. In our early married years I collected Eddie Walker Nativities, Santa's, and ornaments- I love them. It's a good thing we got them when we did because she is no longer making them (sad).





Another thing I love is our Christmas art. Caitlin sketched "The Grinch" in her Fourth grade art class and did such a great job. This year she is giving copies as gifts to some lucky people who have blessed her life.



The Santa sketch is my uncle Rob's work from several years ago. When I saw the original, I really wanted it. He found a printing company that could make copies without losing the amazing detail and shading and now I have my very own.



Some of the other things that we get excited about bringing out this time of year are our many Christmas books, music, photos, and toys. There is something special about decorating for Christmas and displaying collections that have meaning and memories.

The Spirit of Christmas

"The Christmases we remember best usually have little to do with worldly goods but a lot to do with the spirit of caring, the spirit of love, and the spirit of compassion."

-President Thomas S. Monson

Caleb (almost 8) and Caitlin (4 years old and on chemotherapy)

I was reading the Ensign the other day and came across this quote. It made me think of the year I experienced the true meaning of Christmas.

Caitlin was diagnosed with a brain tumor on December 28, 2001 and then relapsed 10 months later, in early November 2002. The relapse was even harder than the initial diagnosis due to knowing more about Caitlin's type of cancer and how a relapse lessened her chances of survival. As the holidays approached I felt hopeless and scared. We were up to our eyeballs in chemotherapy and I just didn't care about gifts, decorations, or anything else that required effort or cheerfulness. I wanted a miracle for my daughter and our family.

The miracle didn't come in the form of healing, but in the form of caring, love, and compassion- those very things President Monson mentioned. These sweet acts of service and love came from my husband and children, from my extended family, from our neighbors, friends, and church members, from our medical team, and from our community. I realized in our trial we were given the best gifts of the season.

This Christmas we are aware of several close friends who are hurting and struggling with trials far larger than what our family has experienced. It is my hope that I can find many opportunities to serve, show love, and lighten a burden, making this another Christmas to remember.

The Most Inspired Christmas Gift

A little over five years ago something rather strange happened. Out of the blue, I had a strong feeling we should get a dog. I played with the idea in my head for awhile before mentioning it to Clint, because out of the two of us, I am definitely the picky one. Once we had talked about it and he seemed to be open to the idea, I started looking at online classifieds for our new family member. Another strange thing is that I knew what kind of dog we should get, a Shih Tzu, even though I didn't know a thing about this breed of dog, or any other for that matter.

A few weeks into the search, we went to my parents house for Thanksgiving as we usually do. Shortly after arriving, my mom mentioned to me that she and my sister had visited a pet store earlier in the week and there were the cutest puppies for sale. I instantly knew our dog was sitting in that pet store, waiting for us.

The day after Thanksgiving, we left Caleb and Caitlin with my dad and the rest of us went in search of "our dog". We found her in a big cardboard box with a whole litter of Chiwawa's, not very nice Chiwawa's I might add. She was a fluffy black and white ball of pure cuteness and I fell in love with her on sight.

My parents bought her for us as a family Christmas gift and to this day, she is the best gift we've ever received.

Daisy came into our lives after being abused by her former owners. She was filled with love and sweetness, but had some fears and insecurities that resulted in some odd behaviors. Our family came into Daisy's life with some fears and insecurities of our own. We were putting our lives back together after a battle with cancer. I believe we were meant to heal and love each other. She was a gift to us, we were a gift to her. We love our Daisy.

My Christmas Fear

Christmas is coming and I know what my kids want to see under the tree. I also know it is all on sale at Walmart, the day after Thanksgiving- you know, the Black Friday Sale...

Can I just say I am terrified of those sales?!? I've heard stories of pushing, shoving, being run over by shopping carts, etc... Does that sound like Christmas to you? If you have participated in this madness and more importantly, survived it, will you let me know? Oh, and if a store opens at 5 am, what time do you have to be there?