The Young and the Restless

Merry Christmas!

Another wonderful Christmas come and gone....it was definately a fun one, though. The week before Christmas was a mad rush like always and I was feeling discouraged that we couldn't take the time to just enjoy the Christmas spirit. But we got everything finished on the last day of school and after that we did nothing but hang out and relax as a family, just like it should be. Jason's sister, Jessica, flew in from China where she was doing a study abroad with BYU. She had an incredible experience and it was cool to hear all about her trip. I was surprised to find out that the Great Wall of China is a tad bit taller (more like a hundred times taller) then the cinder block fence in our back yard. Ha, ha, that just goes to show how clueless I am. It was also really cool to learn more about Jason's family. His mom's relatives are a well known family there. Her Grandfather Wu was a general in the army and she was showing us current newspaper articles involving the communists trying to take their family's home (which is a beautiful 3 story home that they built themselves) and turn it into a museum. I hope I'm getting all the facts right, if not you'll have to correct me Jessica. I just think it's so neat that my kids come from such an amazing heritage and I hope that when they're older they'll have a desire to learn more about their ancestors and culture. One of the other perks of going to China is that she got to indulge in all of the wonderfully cheap knock-offs and she was kind enough to share some of her treasures. She got me a totally cute "Chanel" purse and Kylie got a Disney Love Song CD (or as it says: "Disney Love of Songs"), which features such classic hits as, "Two World", "Ka kwna matata", "Go the distanc", "Ture to you heart", "Flying without wing", "Bibbidi bobbidi bod" and "The time of you life". Whoever said knock-offs aren't as good as the originals? Thanks so much, Jessica! So she flew in on Thursday, her boyfriend came in on Friday and then Jason's mom came in on Saturday. It was so nice having family here to celebrate the holidays. We enjoyed going out for Pho, walking around the temple to see the lights,

watching movies each night, picking oranges at the park (grandma's favorite :) and they were

even nice enough to watch the kids while Jason and I did some last minute shopping on Christmas eve. After we came home we had dinner then the kids had fun tracking Santa on the internet. After that we did the "open first present" which happened to be pajama's--surprise! Then the nativity and a chance for everyone to write a goal for the next year as a present for Jesus. Of course the night ended with a plate of cookies for Santa and a trip outside to see if we could spot the jolly old fellow.
I don't know how we lucked out, but the kids didn't wake up until 8:30 Christmas morning, it was great. Well, they did come in our room at 5:00 because Kylie said she heard Santa's sleigh bells, but we convinced them to go back to sleep. They were so excited to wake up and see that all their good behavior had payed off and that Santa hadn't forgotten about them (the picture to the right is of the great descent down the stairs to discover the loot). Jayden scored a bike and Kylie got the pink radio she's been dying to have. She also got a camera and interactive doll that hasn't left her side. We even took our dolls for a walk around the neighborhood and she insisted on bringing it to the temple lights as well (along with her camera where she took about 30 pictures of blackness with an occasional blur of Christmas lights). Jayden also got some pirate gear and legos.

Jason has until Jan. 3rd off and it has just been soooo nice to hang out as a family. Here is my list

of the top 5 favorites (in no particular order) of this Christmas (I stole your idea, Tara :)

1) Sleepovers- every night Jayden and Kylie have wanted to have a sleepover. Jason finally brought the futon mattress up to Jayden's room so that they would have something soft to sleep on, it's so cute to hear them whispering in there as they fall asleep. I love that they are best friends and want to do everything together, I hope that never changes.
2) Innocence-One sad thing happened this year. Kylie is beginning to question Santa and it is so sad. I'm not sure what sparked her doubt, but she was sitting on the couch looking sad and when I asked her what was wrong she said, "I don't know if there's really a Santa". It was so sad. I told her stories of when I saw Santa as a little girl and she had to call my sister to back up my stories because she thought that I was making it up. Hopefully we convinced her, she's too young to lose her innocence and the magic of Christma

s. I saw a Santa suit on clearance yesterday and thought about getting it for Jason to dress up and make a Santa house call next year, but I think that a Chinese Santa probably won't do much in the convincing department. I'm glad to know that she is still innocent in other ways, though, like when the kids were playing in the kitchen and Jason and I were "canoodling" on the couch and we noticed that Kylie was watching us. We thought we were busted when she got this big smile on her face and said "I know what you guys are doing", I was nervous, then relieved when she continued, "you guys were talking about my presents!" Phew!

3) Batteries- I finally got my supply of batteries up and I love that the kids are just as excited about their old toys that finally have batteries as they are about their new toys. Jayden seriously had a death grip on those Duracell's all through Target and the whole way home because he was so excited that his train would finally work. Maybe next year I'll forgo the toys and just give them batteries!

4) Dance parties- Kylie got a Hannah Montana CD and we've had some pretty intense dance parties ever since. Grandma even got in on a few and we've got some great video footage of her workin it!

5)Webkinz- Kylie has been asking for a Webkinz and so we used the money Grandpa Young sent to buy her one. It's this stuffed animal that comes with an on-line code and becomes a virtual pet that you have to play games to earn "money" to buy it pretend stuff on-line. She loves her little pet kitty, but she's a little too young to navigate the site and play all of the games. I'm very concerned that if we don't keep earning points to feed this darn cat then she is going to die. So I've been spending too much of my free time mastering "Pinata Bash" and "Banana Bonanza". Not to mention the woes of the website experiencing an overload of traffic. Chelsea shares in my pain as we've had many phone conversations discussing the ins and outs of theWebkinz world.

6) Giving- Jayden's school had a little store for the kids to buy gifts for their family. Jayden worked so hard doing chores so that he could earn money to buy a present for Kylie. I was helping out at the store when his class came in and it was so cute because he ran straight to this pink feathery, sprakley princess pen. He was so excited to give it to her and didn't want to wait until Christmas so I let him give her a little sneak peak. He carried it around wrapped up for days and now we can't find it anywhere. The kids are convinced that Santa took it. Kylie also did chores and earned money to buy Jayden a little tool set. It was so cute to see them so excited about giving. But yes, they still are excited about getting presents too and each time Jayden does something naughty he immediately gets this sweet little smile on his face and asks "I get presents still?" Some things never change, but atleast they're working on it...

But most of all I'm grateful for the birth of our Savior and the greatest gift that was given. I'm grateful to be able to teach my children more about his life during the Christmas season and hope that my actions throughout the next year can better reflect my appreciation for all that he has done. Merry Christmas!