Christmas was fabulous!

What a blessing for me to have a wonderful Christmas. There was no sadness regarding my mom. I think that was a tender mercy from my Heavenly Father.  My Christmas gift!  I'm so grateful.  It was a wonderful, peaceful, laughing, singing, playing, eating, pajama type of day.  We got way to many wonderful gifts and we were so happy to be together as a family.  I'm truly grateful.  Here are some fun pictures of the holiday.  

Our Sunday best!  Aren't these three such cute kids?  I think they are the best!  

They just make me so happy.  

Ethan and his primary class acted out the nativity at church. 

Surprise, our twelve days of Christmas this year was for Thelma and Scott.  The 12th day we took Thelma to lunch, Scott was on the road.  In turn, she showered us with wonderful gifts.  

We love Thelma and we are grateful for her friendship and love in return. 

The wonderful Cottrell (Meik) family invited us over for Christmas Eve and it was great.  All of our children are wonderful friends, so while the kids played, the adults talked and talked and talked.  It was nice to be with such a great family.  

Colten, age 4, was baby Jesus! 

Here are the sheep and horses, along with Mary age 2 1/2, Joseph age 2 and once again sweet baby Jesus!  It was a fabulous night.  We are so grateful for good friends.   

As is tradition, Santa came to our home again this year!  And what treasures he brought...dolls, a batman cave, Donkey Kong, 100 pokemon cards, clothes, shoes, jewelry, dinosaurs, ninjas, legos and much more.  The kids were up just after 6am and played the rest of the day.  Such fun!

The only picture I got of the Christmas Eve PJ's!

Ethan and his stash.

Kedzie and her stash which included art supplies galore. 

Alex and his stash of toys and treats. 

It was so much fun to have Alex finally into Christmas!  It was all so magical for him.  It was really magical for all my kids.  I realized that Kedzie is getting older...we may not have many years left of the magic of Santa.  I hope it lasts a lot longer.  It is so much fun to hear their stories and ideas about Santa and his Elves.  Kedzie was up Christmas eve morning sweeping the floor and getting everyone to clean their rooms.  That never happens around here!  

It was a happy day at the Ravsten house. 

Alex even got a real, big boy bike from G&G Ravsten.  And, we happened to get a real white Christmas this year, so he's going to have to wait for the snow to melt to test it out.  He tried in the garage, it's just not the same!

We had the perfect Christmas season for our family.  I'm so grateful and now I'm looking forward to clean up the holiday decorations and prepare for a lot more celebrating to come.  We will attempt to celebrate my mom and her life on the 31st and then Ethan and Kedzie have birthdays in February.  Kedzie will be turning eight and is planning for her March baptism.  It's going to be a wonderful winter.  I'm truly grateful.  

'tis the season

Christmas...a lot of memories this month regarding my mom. 

It's hard to remember the dates of things that happened last year.  Like the 18th was our Christmas at home and then we drove the next day to bring my mom home from residential care to die in her own home. We had Christmas every day with her.  It was so much fun for the kids and we saw a lot of family and friends.  It was a good time, it's just hard to remember what happened on the 31st.  I miss her.  I miss her a lot, but I'm surrounding myself with wonderful things and wonderful people and making it work out.  It's not perfect, but my life is pretty good.    

I've also decided to fill this month up with opportunities to serve. It's the only way I'm surviving.  I'm not tooting my own horn, I'm making it to next year as happy as I possibly can. 

  It has been such a blessing to reach out to others.  We've been doing twelve days of Christmas which has been such a delight for all of us.  Every night is so entertaining!  Then, we have helped an 8 year old boy have a fun Christmas and we've made "cheer baskets" for two widows in our ward.  We even spent two evenings in local nursing homes participating in a program.  Kedzie was Mary and the boys were shepherds.  Travis did a wonderful reading of the Night Before Christmas.  We've had parties with good friends and we've watched Kedzie's holiday dance recital.  We've also been doing the twelve days of service in our home.  We've been making Christmas cards, Christmas bread, cookies, calling people, delivering goodies, serving each other and simply enjoying the season.  

My kids would say the best part of all has been the twelve days of Christmas that Grandma Kathy, Grandpa Joe and Uncle Reggie have provided them! Each morning they run downstairs and have so many things to do!  They find Eddie, our elf on the shelf, get candy out of our advent calendars and open a super gift from the Ravsten's.  Then, they can finally eat breakfast and get ready for school! This is all before 7:30am mind you!  They are thoroughly enjoying the season, for this I am grateful. 

I also have to mention that we went to the Nutcracker this year as a family.  It's a tradition that my mom started when Kedzie was three.  My children loved it.  They were so excited to go. It was a wonderful adventure.   

So, there you have it.  My children are enjoying the season and I am striving to enjoy the season.  I'm so grateful that my mom taught me to love service.  It is providing me with such comfort right now.  

Building our gingerbread house. 

The Nativity

Travis performing to the elderly

Carol's annual Christmas Cookie decorating party

Good bye Gabe Jensen.  Thanks for being such a great friend for 7 1/2 years.  

Kedzie, the mis-fit owl for her acrobat Christmas performance.  

She was an ice skater for her tap performance.  She loves dance. 

Gingerbread train from Grandma

Heading to the Nutcracker by the Colorado Ballet. 

Thanksgiving in Utah

(I've had to resort to using a different photo host, so if you'd like to see the photos bigger, just click on the picture. Until I figure it out a little better!)

We had a great trip to Utah for Thanksgiving. We were able to spend a great deal of time with Grandma Wood who is 92 years old. My kids love her and we love her. We're grateful for the time we have been able to make memories with her. She still gardens and can's all her own food. She's amazing.

We also went skiing. My dream came true of my entire family skiing! Alex took an hour and half lesson and became a skier. The teacher said that he hasn't had many three year olds take to skiing as quickly as Alex did. I dare say that Alex and Ethan were on the same level after their day on the slopes. It's exciting to me. Kedzie is off the bunny hill and everyone had a wonderful, beautiful day at Brighton.

We stayed a night with my aunt and uncle Vickie and Garth which was wonderful for the soul. And we also got to see "Aunt" Karen at the lights on Temple Square. It was a cold, packed night of fun for all.

We got to ride a four wheeler with Uncle Doug as well.

Good times with good family. Grateful for all our blessings.