Christmas Pictures

Um... what happened to the Christmas countdown?!

Well... I forgot to post the past two countdown days - sorry! I remembered last night when we were going to bed - but it was too late!  Dang!  So I'm going to post for this last day before Christmas - but it is not really a Christmas memory, it is actually a tradition that I just started this year.  I decided that since the book of Luke has 24 chapters I would read one every day as a kind of Christmas countdown.  It has been so much fun to read Luke throughout the month and it has really helped me feel the spirit of Christmas!  Yesterday as I was reading about the Crucifixion I just felt the Spirit so strong and I felt so grateful for everything the Savior did for us.  And today, Christmas Eve, it was just neat to read the last chapter and think about the Saviors birth, life, death & resurrection.  I just feel so happy celebrating this season, and I'm just so thankful that because of Jesus Christ I can feel this happiness forever.  I'm thankful that He lived, suffered and died for us and that because of Him, things are going to be okay - even when it seems like they won't.  I love Him and just feel so grateful for Him - I wish I could express it better in words!

We hope that all of you have a Very Merry Christmas!!  We have some fun pictures and stories  from our time in Missouri (and I'm sure we'll have more before we head back home!) - so I'll have a lot to post when we get home!  Until then - have a Merry Merry Christmas!!! :) 

Christmas Countdown - 4 days!

Let me just first say that we made it to Missouri just fine!  Scooter slept almost the entire flight & he did really well in the car!  Yay!  We were really blessed!

And now for a Christmas memory... This morning in church they did a Christmas program and they were reading Christmas scriptures and it reminded me of when I was in "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever."  When I tried out for the play I really wanted to be Imogene Herdman - but the director said I was "too nice to be Imogene."  So I got the part of Maxine, and several of my lines were scriptures!  It was such a fun play, and when they read those scriptures this morning in church it reminded me of that! :) 

Christmas Countdown- 5 days!

Checking stuff out with Dad - last Christmas! So my mom has this fleece jacket that Lins loves to wear! She is always trying to talk my mom into letting her take it home. But my mom really likes the jacket, too, so she always tells Lins no! It has become kind of a joke that Lins always asks for the fleece! A few years ago on Christmas day we were unwrapping presents & Lindsay opened this one that said: "To Lins from Mom." My mom was a little confused -and couldn't remember what present it was. Boy was she surprised when Lindsay opened it and there was the fleece!! Tee hee! Even though that was pretty good thinking on Lindsays part... my mom still didn't let her take it home! :)

Christmas Countdown- 6 days!

Opening presents! Last Christmas. I remember when I was little our ward had a really neat Christmas party. It was a Christmas party that took place at the time of Jesus' birth. So everyone came dressed up as people of that time ( I remember wearing a robe & something, probably a towel, on my head!). They had "roman guards," and a whole bunch of little booths that had food and activities. It was a such a neat Christmas party. We had a member in our ward who grew up Jewish, so he really helped them make the activities authentic! I remember playing the dreidel at one of the booths, and I just remember it was really neat to go to a party that took place during Jesus' time!

Christmas Countdown- 7 days!

Ryan, Grandpa Miyake & Derek (and Aubs in the background!). Ryan's Grandparents sent these shirts last year for Christmas! They say "Big Guy" & "Little Guy." Cute! When I was on my mission - I played the piano a lot! I usually played every week at district meeting, and when I was serving on the Navy base I played every week in both of our branches. It was a great learning experience for me - and it helped me be unafraid to play while people are singing. That is not to say my playing was perfect by any means. When it was Christmas time, every district was performing a Christmas song at zone conference. Our district was assigned the song "Good Christian Men Rejoice," and yours truly was accompanying (sp?) the district.... Or trying to! I had never even heard of that song before, so it was terribly tricky trying to figure out how to play it! We practiced several times before zone conf. but I just could not get the hang of it. I kept practicing, though, and I knew I would do my best on the day of zone conf. Well... the time came for our district to sing - and let me just say everyone had done great up to this point - well we get up in front of everyone and I started playing, but something just happened when everyone started singing. I can't remember exactly, but one of the elders started singing louder or something, and it just hit my funny bone. I started chuckling to myself, which is not the best idea when you are trying to accompany people. I made a few mistakes, but everyone in the district was used to that since that's what happened in all of our practices. Then, I lost my place and stopped playing all together. Most of the elders and sisters kept plugging along, singing without the piano. I tried to pick up where they were singing but I got a bad, bad case of the giggles. For some reason it was hilarious to me that I was sitting there, in zone conf, trying to play this song that I had never heard (so even by this point I still didn't really know how it was supposed to sound!). I just started laughing harder, and harder and harder. A few people in my district were laughing by this point too. So you can imagine that the singers finished the song without the piano. Oh my! Still to this day I can't help but giggle every time I even think of "Good Christian Men Rejoice!"

Christmas Countodown - 8 Days!

More Christmas Jammies from last year! I had always heard the stories about people really thinking of others at Christmas and how that made a huge impact on them. I really believed the stories were true, but I didn't know HOW true until a few years ago. My mom knew a family that we could help at Christmas - so all of us gave money to buy them what we could. It was such a neat experience as a family for everyone to give money - even the little kids helped! (Aubs, Erica & Myke were little at the time!) We had so much fun thinking of the things we could buy them and how excited and surprised they would be. The night came for us to drop off the surprises - so we borrowed my Granny's car and me, Lins, my mom & dad went to deliver the stuff. It was so exciting as we quietly sneaked onto the porch and arranged the things we had brought. We then rang the doorbell and sprinted to the getaway car! We were parked close enough that we could hear them when they opened the door - and it was honestly one of the sweetest sounds I've ever heard!! The kids were so excited about all of the goodies on the porch. And I just remember my eyes filled with tears as I listened to them - and I knew that it really is better to give than to receive!!

Christmas Countdown - 9 days!

This isn't a memory, but just a really good quote by President Hinckley:
"Christmas means giving. The Father gave His Son, and the Son gave His life. Without giving there is no true Christmas, without sacrifice there is no true worship."
I just thought that was so good!

Christmas Countdown - 10 days!

Me & Lins - Christmas 2005 Picture this in your mind... It is Christmas time & Lins & I are little kids... Probably elementary school age. Lins has a friend over to play and everything is going swell. (don't ya love that word? swell!) Then Lindsay's friend, (who shall remain anonymous), starts singing the "Grandma got ran over by a reindeer" song. She made quite a mistake, though, when she started singing: "Amber got ran over by a reindeer." Lins grabbed her by her shirt and pushed her up against the wall saying: "What did you say?!? What did you say?!..... Get out!" She pointed to the door and made her friend leave. We have laughed about this story over and over and over again! And somehow, if one our siblings is getting picked on or something, this story is always pulled out of the archives. We always say we should warn people that if they pick on one of us - they pick on all of us!
(ok -so this isn't a very "Christmasey" memory... But it does involve a Christmas song, so that counts... right?!)

Travel Tips- Anyone?!

We are getting ready to go and visit Ryan's parents in Missouri. We are leaving on Saturday and are really excited to spend Christmas with his family. The only thing we're nervous about is the traveling time. We have a 3 hour flight and then a 3 hour drive to get to their house. So - I was just wondering if any of you are "travel experts" and have some fun ideas about how to keep a one and a half year old entertained when he can't get down & run around?! ("Anyone? Anyone?" ... ha ha! Name the movie!)

Christmas Countdown - 11 days!

Scooter playing with a Christmas ornament! I always love going to Temple Square to see the lights at Christmas. Temple Square is beautiful at all times, but it is especially beautiful at Christmas. Since my birthday is close to Christmas, one year we went to Temple Square on my birthday and then went to eat at the Old Spagetti Factory. I love memories - and I love making new memories every year. Yesterday we were planning on going to Temple Square with Lins, Glendon, Mauri, Myke, Aubrey and her friend Tyler. But there was a snowstorm that we didn't want to drive that far in - not to mention that walking around in the snow and wind wouldn't have been much fun! So we ended up hanging out at my moms and eating yummy soup that Lins & Glendon brought. Then we made a short drive to Spanish Fork to the "Festival of Lights." It was really fun. The lights were really well done - I especially liked the ones that moved (they had a frog that "hopped" into the water, and some figure skaters among others). Scooter really liked all of the lights, and he was happy that we saw Santa (when he sees Sanat he says: "Oh ho ho! Meeeeerry Christmas! The merry is really clear & he even holds it out for a while. Christmas is not as clear - we usually hear "is mus" - but its dang cute!!). It was a great night - and actually worked out well that we still got to see lots of Christmas lights, but we were able to stay in our warm car!

Christmas Countdown - 12 days!

New Years Eve last year - I couldn't find a picture from Christmas with all 3 of us together! A few days ago I was reading one of my old journals - something that I like to do for fun- and I read this from when I was 19. It was Christmas Eve and my Granny was sleeping over at our house: "We watched a movie of the Christmas story and went to bed. All of the kids (except Aubrey, she didn't feel good)slept on Mikeys floor and Gran slept in my bed. I kept waking up in the night - just like a little kid! I decided it's a good thing I'm the oldest and not the youngest, because I would look pretty silly waking up at 5:30 if I was the yougest kid at home. But since I have little siblings it's perfectly acceptable." :)
I still get so excited about Christmas - and it so SO much fun to share that fun and excitement with Scooter and to teach him all of the wonderful things about Christmas!

Christmas Countdown- 13 days!

Nana, Scooter & Zoe! (and Erica in the background!!) (This one is a day late... woops!)
When we were kids we always went to my Grandma Mecham's house for Christmas Eve dinner. The street my Grandma lives on is Carousel Street, so at Christmas time every one would put a carousel animal out in front of their house. Before we drove home we would always drive down the street and admire everyone's carousel animals! It was so fun to see the carousel animals and all of the Christmas lights and decoartions. I also remember our van was full of a feeling of excitement because we knew that we were heading home and that meant that Santa Claus was coming soon!

Christmas Countdown- 14 days!

Isn't she darling?! This is Mauri - Christmas of 2005. What a sweetie! Today's Christmas memory is another movie: The Muppets Christmas Carol. This is another one that I love to watch every year! And one year one of my good friends gave me the CD for my birthday - and I still love to listen to it!!

Book Club!

This month we read "3 Weeks With My Brother" by Nicholas & Micah Sparks. This is one of my Favorite books - and I would reccomend it to everyone! It is just a fun, fun book that is totally enjoyable to read. The story is about these 2 brothers taking a trip around the world - but you also read about their childhood too. And there are some pretty fun stories in there!! It is one of those books that made me laugh so hard my stomach hurt - but then at other parts it made me cry.
One of my favorite quotes is Nicholas talking about his brother: "We don't only love each other, but like each other as well. My brother and I haven't had an argument - or even a disagreement- since we were little kids. He is, along with my wife, my best friend in the world. And if you asked him, he would say the same thing about me."
I LOVE that quote because that is the same kind of relationship I'm lucky enough to have with my siblings!

Christmas Countdown - 15 days!

The Ghost of Christmas Past.... Ha ha! This is me & Ry getting ready to take our family Christmas Picture in 2005. Ryan was really thrilled! Tee hee! Another one of my favorite memories of Christmas is that on Christmas Eve, all of us kids would sleep in the same room. We had so much fun talking and telling stories while we waited to fall asleep. And the first one awake in the morning would always wake everyone else up. If it wasn't late enough yet that we could wake up our parents, we would play a game or read a story or just talk. It was so much fun. I'm so lucky that my sisters and my brother are also some of my best friends!

Christmas Countdown - 16 days!

A Christmas Nap! When I was pregnant with Derek, 2 years ago, I couldn't help but think about Mary as Christmas was approaching. I have always loved reading the Christmas story, but so many elements of it really came to life for me that year. I couldn't imagine having a baby in a stable - I was nervous enough about having a baby in a hospital! And as I thought about Derek and how much love I felt for him even before he was born, I pictured Mary with her new little baby - and I just had to wonder how she felt knowing that her sweet little baby was the Savior of the world and would give His life for all of mankind. It makes me feel so grateful to know of the Saviors love for us - I just can't even express in words how happy it makes me feel to know that He loves and cares about me and each of us! I'm so grateful that we get to celebrate His birth - and His whole life!

Christmas Countdown - 17 Days!

Scooter in his Christmas Jammies last year!
So this morning while Scooter and I were listening to "Christmas with the Chipmunks" I was singing along (however you sing with chipmunks, ha ha!) and it totally reminded me of being in 4th and 5th grade when we would do a Christmas program at the mall. I just remember it was such a blast to practice all of those Christmas songs and then perform for our parents (and random shoppers!!). I really remember that singing those songs just made me feel so good that I had to smile - and its still that way today! Christmas songs just make me happy!! There are really few things better than good music that makes you feel good!

Christmas Countdown- 18 days!

Katelynn, Alli & Scooter One of my favorite Christmas traditions, is that our family gets to open one present on Christmas Eve - and it is always new P.J.'s! There is just something fun and cozy about getting new jammies and wearing them on Christmas Eve & Christmas. This is a tradition that Ryan's family has as well - so last year when our families were together it was fun to see everyones Christmas Eve Jammies!

Christmas Countdown - 19 days!

Lins & Mauri - last Christmas One year for Christmas Lins & I decided to be Santa's helpers and surprise our parents with stockings from Santa. We had a lot of fun helping Santa pick out fun things for their stockings. And it was so awesome on Christmas morning when our mom & dad saw the stockings and they were each looking at each other and mouthing the words: "Did you do this?" "No - it wasn't me - was it you?" Christmas surprises are just the best!

Christmas Countdown - 20 days!

Scooter & Grandpa Miyake - last Christmas. A few years ago - I'm pretty sure it was when I was pregnant with Scooter- we went to Missouri for Christmas. Ryan's dad had helped to wrap some of the presents, and there was a little mix up: some of the presents were labeled wrong. We had laughed about it and the few presents that had been mislabeled were re-directed - after opening- to the correct owners. The best though was when Ryan's mom opened one of her presents and it was actually shoes for Ryan's dad. I just remember she was cracking up - ok, we all were - and she was saying "These are for you!!" Don't you love Christmas memories?!

Christmas Countdown - 21 days

One of my favorite things about Christmas morning is that my mom always makes scones for breakfast! They are so yummy - and this is a tradition that our whole family looks forward too!!

Christmas Countdown - 22 days!

This is not a memory - but just a really good quote about Christmas!

"True happiness comes only by making others happy - the practical application of the Savior's doctrine of losing one's life to gain it. In short, the Christmas spirit is the Christ spirit, that makes our hearts glow in brotherly love and friendship and prompts us to kind deeds of service." -David O. McKay

(the picture is Scooter last December! I can't believe how much he's grown in a year!!)

Christmas Countdown - 23 days!

When I was a kiddo, my Sister Lins and our cousin Nat would always watch "Nutcracker Fantasy" at our Granny's house. It is a little clay-mation (however you spell that!) show about the Nutcracker - with a few twists including a 2 headed rat queen and an incredibly cool Uncle Drosselmeyer. It was one of our favorite holiday movies. And actually.... I have the VHS copy at my house - so come on over girls & we'll have some "Tick tock tee - tick tock tee! Tick tock click clock fantasy!" (if you haven't seen it -but would like to - just let me know & you can borrow it! tee hee!)

Oh Christmas Tree

We put up our Christmas tree over the weekend and Derek thinks it is great that we have a tree in our house. I have to agree with him - it is pretty fun!
He really had fun putting ornaments on the tree..... and taking them off..... and putting them back on! He also really loves climbing underneath the tree - but I don't have a picture of that yet. Happy boy!

Helping Dad get the tree out. He really is a great helper!

Christmas Countdown - 24 Days!

I love Christmas! I love the way that I feel as I listen to Christmas music, decorate the tree, read the Christmas Story in Luke & bake some favorite goodies to share with family & friends. I have a lot of really happy Christmas memories, so I decided to do a Christmas countdown with some of my favorites. :)

24 Days Left until Christmas:
When I was little we always had Christmas dinner at my Granny's house. All of the adults would sit at the kitchen table, while the kids got to sit at a card table (or 2) in the front room. I remember that I always thought it was Sooooooo cool that they let us eat in the front room. I also remember us kids talking about how it was funny that we were eating in the room where there was carpet - something that wasn't usually allowed. We had a blast eating our yummy dinner and talking about all of the great gifts Santa had brought us. Now that I am an adult, (in theory at least!), I'm guessing that the grown ups enjoyed their "big kid" dinner & conversation as much as we enjoyed our little kid one!