Love Weighs More Than Gold

Not much has been going on around here the past few weeks. We've been doing a lot of relaxing...

Except for Jake who was pretty busy at work and had long days.

Christmas Eve we went to the temple to see the lights. I am still not used to seeing palm trees decorated with lights. It just doesn't seem like Christmas to me.
the boys seemed to enjoy themselves. This was Xander's face pretty much the whole time. He does have rather large eyes.
This was a fun family outing and I think it could become a very nice tradition. It made it even better that we accidentally met some of our friends there so we were able to enjoy walking around the grounds with them.
We wanted to get ice cream afterward at one of our favorite places but it was closed so we opted instead for stopping by the grocery store. a bowl of ice cream and a movie was our entertainment of the evening.
I was having a bit of a hard time this first Christmas Eve away from home. My families tradition is to have a big Christmas Eve dinner. Picture, at least 25 people (half of that kids) shrimp, crackers, chips, dips, at least 3 different meats, salads, and more. You can, I'm sure, imagine the fun, chaos, and full bellies. After dinner everyone finds a spare bed, couch, or bit of floor to sleep. The adults finish wrapping presents and the next morning a big breakfast is served before anyone can open presents (much to the annoyance of the kids). It is always a lot of chaotic fun.
We weren't able to get a tree this year so this was what our Christmas corner looked like. In fact, the only decoration we had was a piece of ribbon thumb tacked to the wall with Christmas cards we received hanging on it by clothes pins.

We were able to talk to the Stevens family via Skype Christmas morning.
Kaleb really didn't care about opening any presents so I ended up unwrapping everything I had wrapped.
Thank you Grandma Stevens for the boys presents. They loved them. I still need to go shopping for Grandma Scofield to get presents from her for the boys (I swear that made sense). I find it funny that Kaleb's favorite present is the simplest one. He got these barrels that stack inside each other and he will sit and play with those for a long time. It is so amazing to see how quickly Kaleb has grown and developed. How much easier it is for him to figure things out now, stack things, creative imaginative play, pretend to use a phone, etc. (BTW random, but he is getting another tooth on the bottom, YIPEE! although it has made for a very cranky boy who doesn't sleep very well)
Despite our quiet Christmas it was a really good day. I am excited for the next few years when Kaleb will be old enough to finally get it and then I know Christmas will be more of a magical time.


















Despite our not giving presents to each other I was able to give Jake a quilt I have been working on for awhile. About three years ago Jake went to the fabric store (I'll let the shock sink in) He chose fabric and asked me to make him a quilt. He drew a tweaked design on some graph paper and I got to work. Well, as you know babies came, we've moved 4 times, 3 different cities. Life just kind of moved quicker than I could quilt and this quilt got majorly pushed to the back burner. I was so excited to finally have it done.
This is a close-up of the border.
And our bed is finally complete. The quilt is cream, plum purple, black, and ruby red. Boy colors if you ask me. I really like it though and I think Jake can pick out my fabric anytime.
Christmas night we were able to take our dinner to some friends who were unable to go visit family at the last minute. We were grateful to have them share our dinner. Christmas is always better with more people.
The day after Christmas we were supposed to have some friends over for another nice dinner but one of them got sick last minute. We went ahead anyway and made it a date night for us. After the boys went to bed we sat down to our table. Candlesticks, china plates, crystal goblets, even a tablecloth! Jake prepared a delicious herb crusted roast, I made rolls, and we had other such things. It was a really enjoyable evening being together.
It has been a nice Christmas time despite being away from family. I am so grateful I had my three boys to share in this special time of year as we celebrate the birth of our Savior.

The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other. ~Burton Hillis