Merry Christmas!

We've enjoyed a nice, relaxing holiday around here.  Santa came the night before last because he knew Megan would be here the next morning.  We opened gifts and just had a low-key day.  In the afternoon we went to see Eris Sessions (Pelletier)'s Christmas Village that she does each year.  It was really neat!  Then we walked over to Scott and Missy's to invite them over for dinner that night.  That afternoon, Mom Cooper came over for a little while, and then Scott, Missy, Jonas, Haley, Brigham, Jesie and Grace came over for supper.  We had a great time just visiting, while Dan did all the work:-)  He made ham, potatoes, corn, peas, and rolls.  I made chocolate chip cookies in the afternoon for dessert.   Scott and Missy are always fun to hang out with.  Scott is such a riot.  My stomach hurt after a while because I was laughing so hard.  He cracks me up. 

This morning, we slept in.  Well, I slept in, I should say.  We went down to Mom and Dad's around 4:00 for presents and supper with Mike, Hilda, and the girls.  We had a really nice time.  Everyone seemed to really like their presents.  I made a lot of mine this year, and I was anxious to see how everyone liked them.  I think the one that was most excited was my mom wtih her frog blanket.  I bought some really cute, soft frog material, and then just put binding around it.  She loved it.  After we ate, we all sat around and visited while Felicia and Nathan put his new Lego set together.  My mom and dad gave him a set from the Monster Fighters series and he was so excited! I love the presents my mom bought for me.  She gave me a new 31 purse, 2 muffin tins, and stuff for Project Life!  

I've been thinking about New Year's Resolutions lately.  I've been doing a lot of work recently on my Personal Progress since I'm in the YW presidency in our ward.  I never earned it when I was a youth because it was a lot different back then.  You used to have to make up your own goals and I was always setting the same ones, and failing.  I think the program is set up so much better now.  As a leader, we only have to do 3 projects, including Virtue, and all the required value experiences, which total 25.  I've recently completed two projects (one was to memorize "The Living Christ" and the other was to make all my Christmas presents).  I've done about 5 or 6 value experiences, so I just need to do about 20 more.  Okay, so here's my list of resolutions that I've thought of so far:

• Earn the YW medallion
• Pay my mom back $200 per month for my Masters'
• Do my visiting teaching each month
• Do a better job of planning healthy meals and sticking to the menu
• Talk more with Amber and Ashley
• Exercise regularly

 

Great quote

This is a quote that President Call used in a talk he gave in our ward recently.  I loved it, and asked about it, so he gave me his copy:-)

"If the veil were rolled back and you could just see one glimpse of God's great eternal plan concerning you and who you are, it would not be hard for you to love Him, keep His commandments, and live to be worthy of every blessing that He has had for you since before the foundations of the world were laid."
                                     -LeGrand Richards

So inspiring!

Two snow days!

We've had two snow days in a row!  It's been really nice just being able to get stuff done around the house.  I've done a few hours of work for school, too.  Nathan has had a blast playing with Branson and Kacie.  I finally made him do some homework tonight because he hadn't done anything for a couple of days.  Unfortunately, he got sick shortly afterwards (hope it wasn't the homework:-)  He's hanging out on the couch right now watching A Flintstones' Christmas Carol and playing with his iTouch.  In a little bit I'm going to read to him.  We've been reading a book lately that contains short Christmas stories, so we read one or two every day.  Then we read a chapter or two of a Titanic book that he wanted to hear again. 

Dan surprised me this afternoon by buying me a new stove!  I am super excited because I've been wanting a new stove for ages.  I hate the one we have, which has the old coils that are impossible to keep totally clean.  Anyway, I'm so happy!  It's going to be delivered on the 28th.  I can't wait!

Last night, Nathan and I had Family Home Evening just the two of us because Dan was out shoveling the roof.  We have a little poster from the Friend magazine that has little spaces on it.  In each present-shaped space is a scripture and a suggestion for an act of service you can do.  Nathan read the one for last night, which was to "Secretly do a service for a family member"  He left out the "secretly" and asked me what I wanted.  I said, "A stove."  He said, "No, I mean tonight."  Then, he thought of something, which was a massage.  Evidently, Megan and Taylor taught him to do massages, complete with lotion.  So I sat in my rocking chair and he put lotion on my bakc, arms, hands, feet, and my legs (from my knees down).  It was the cutest thing ever. 

I can't stop thinking about those sweet little children from Newtown, Connecticut and the staff members, too.  When I heard about it on Friday, I almost felt sick to my stomach, thinking of the parents of those little children, and how devastated they must be.  My heart goes out to them and the family members of the adults who died, also.  They sounded just like people in my school, people who love children and would put them first in an emergency.    

YW Handout

This is a cute handout I made for my Young Women last week.  I just love the owl!  Isn't he adorable? And I just love this quote.

Christmas

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Definitely hot chocolate.  My hubby would pick egg nog
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? He wraps them, of course!
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? We have blue lights and blue lights only. 
4. Do you hang mistletoe? No, I thought that was just in the movies.
5. When do you put your decorations up? We (or Dan, I should say) puts up the tree on Thanksgiving.  The rest of the decorations varies.  This year, we put them up on Thanksgiving day. 
6. What is your favorite holiday dish?  Oh, man.  Where do I start?  I have to say clam dip and meat pie (not together).  They are two dishes from my mom's side of the fam. 
7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? Getting a doll every year from my LaFlamme grandparents 
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?  Another child on the bus told me.  As soon as I got home, I asked my mom if it was true. 
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? We do all of our presents on Christmas Eve because that's the day we have Megan.  Santa comes one night early around here.  Of course, Nathan doesn't mind.
10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree?  My husband puts up the tree every year, the same way every year, with the same decorations every year...blue lights, blue candy canes, red bows, gold bells, gold balls, and gold garland. It's actually beautiful, and he does all the work, so I really shouldn't complain. I'm ready to try something new, though.
11. Snow! Love it or Dread it?  I love it until February or so, then I'm ready for Spring.
12. Can you ice skate? No, I remember going once when I was a child, and really enjoying it, but I think that's about it.  I did learn to roller skate when I was a teenager, though.
13. Do you remember your favorite gift?  My favorite gift, other than the dolls when I was young, was probably my violin case when I was 16 or 17.  I wanted that case so badly.  I loved it!
14. What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you?  Seeing the excitement in the kids' faces when they open their gifts.  I love watching them.
15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert?  Hmmm, I don't know.  Anything chocolatey, I guess.
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Dan and I started giving gifts to a needy family each year.  This is our fourth year doing it. 
17. What tops your tree? An angel
18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving? Definitely giving.  This year I made a whole bunch of my gifts, so I'm extra excited to see how people like them. 
19. Candy Canes: Yuck or Yum? Yum!  I've always loved peppermint candy. 
20. Favorite Christmas show?  It's a Wonderful Life
21. Saddest Christmas Song? I have no idea.  Are there any sad ones?
22. What is your favorite Christmas song?Away in a Manger (the one in the hymnbook) because of the harmony

Christmas season

Boy, I have really got to write more often on this blog.  I realized I did really well until October.  I was writing 3 or 4 posts per month all year up until then, but then I slacked off.  Ugh!

We've been enjoying the Christmas season so far.  Dan put our tree up on Thanksgiving, so we've been basking in the blue lights since then.  We have all of our presents wrapped and under the tree (Santa will bring a few others on Christmas Eve, of course).  We've had a few holiday gatherings so far, which have been really fun.  We had our Cooper family party this weekend and Dan and I went to his company dinner at Marco's Restaurant last night.  At church, the RS had a Cocoa, Cards, and Cookies activity and the First Presidency Christmas Devotional was last Sunday.   We've also had lots of other activities that are not Christmas related.  Yesterday, I went to a baby shower for Eliza Tufts and a housewarming party for Olivia and Chris.  It was a really busy day, but fun, too.

Nathan got a model of the Titanic to put together when we were at the Cooper party.  He's done as much as he can on his own, and he's been so anxious for me to help him do the rest.  I promised him we'd work on it tomorrow.  He was so fascinated with the Titanic for such a big part of his second grade year.  I saw the model in Walmart, and thought it would be a perfect present, even though he hasn't been talking much about it recently.  He was really excited about it, so I guess I made the right choice.  For Cub Scouts, he started a collection of Titanic books.  We collected them throughout the year last year, and he ended up with about 10.

Speaking of Cub Scouts, Nathan is part way through his Wolf book.  They had a pack meeting on Wednesday night, where they had pizza and cupcakes.  They also made a Christmas ornament and a compass (with a needle, some cork and a magnet.)  I just love the Scouting progrm because it teaches them so much.  Sister Lilly, the cub scout leader, made a group on Facebook called, "Eagle Scouts Here we Come!"  We have so many little boys in our ward right now, and we're hoping they will all become Eagle Scouts!  I'm so glad Nathan has a chance to be in a group with lots of other little boys from church.  That doesn't happen often in little towns in Maine!

We celebrated Megan's 14th birthday today!  Her birthday is actually on December 16th, but we won't see her again until after that.  We just had my mom, and gram up  because we had just gotten together with the Cooper side on Friday night.  We didn't plan ahead much, so we kept it small.  She got several things that she was really excited about, so it was a success.  She got Justin Bieber perfume (which was her favorite), a Justin Bieber book, a poster book of baby animals, a YW cd, and a big package of Mentos.         

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