Family Night with a Christmas Touch

On the previous post Heather wrote about having the kids help decorate the tree, so tonight we had the Kearls come over and help us decorate the bottom three feet of the tree. Everybody helped, including little Caleb.

Some of the tree branches had five or six ornaments on them, but we had fun talking about how we got the alligator in the inner tube, and the accordion, and why the canoe with the writing about David was special. We talked about our first Christmas when Janene and I had only been married a month. We had no money, so we mail ordered a kit that included little wooden ornaments that we cut out ourselves out of mahogany and then hand painted every day until Christmas to make our first set of decorations. We were so proud of these cute little things.

After the kids went home, Janene did a little bit of adjusting (just to make sure the branches wouldn't be so overloaded that they broke)

I tried to get an idea of what a Christmas tree like ours looks like to a two year old kid. I realized that they can't even see the angel on top.

 The highlight of the evening was when Elsie turned off all the lights except the Christmas lights and then narrated the Christmas story complete with angelic visitations to Mary and Joseph using the children's nativity set that Brooke got us this year. The boys actually sat still for a few minutes and we had a small peaceful moment. There is something to be said about being old enough to be grandparents. They have all gone home now, and the house just a little too quiet. (nothing but little mice stirring under the couch.)

Only 41 Days Left Until Christmas

It's getting close to that time again. Christmas displays are out in the stores. Mindy said she heard a Christmas song on the radio today.

We always have lots of fun with the family around Christmastime. Janene and I both look forward to spending time together with our family.

Over the years we have done lots of fun things for the holidays. The other day, Brooke told us about one of her favorite Christmases. She said that we got together one Family Night and asked every child to write down his or her favorite Christmas traditions. Then, we did the things that year that the kids wanted to do.

Brooke said we had a ton of fun that year. It's kind of funny, but Janene and I don't really remember doing that with our kids. We thought we would do it again, though, because it sounded like such a good idea.

 So here it is - What was your favorite Christmas tradition? Did you have more than one? What should our family do together to celebrate the birth of our Savior?

 Give us your suggestions for fun family traditions and Janene and I will try to do some of them this year. Let us know what your favorite Christmas tradition was. Even if we don't do it as an extended family, maybe it will give you or someone else an idea for your own family. Of course, we look forward to Christmas Eve at Grandma and Grandpas home, but maybe we can do some other fun things together.

Good Morning, Bountiful !

Most mornings when I wake up, it is zero dark thirty, and I can't see anything out our bedroom door. We sleep with the door open every night. It makes for cool sleeping, with lots of fresh air, but most mornings, I just close the door on the darkness when I get up, and begin my morning routine. This morning, I got to sleep in (Saturday) and was awakened by the sight of the dawn light on the quakies next door. I know it is kind of weird to take a picture of what you see out your window from your bed, but I am a pretty lucky guy to be able to see this from my bed instead of some blank wall, or the side of the neighbor's house, or some other crazy sight. Now... we have a beautiful deck, comfortable chairs and nice view. It would be nice if I ever had time to sit out there and enjoy a minute or two. By the way - all those great autumn leaves? They blew away today.

Some people told me that I should have shown a picture of the fence that the two Phillips families put up last week. So here it is for all to see. It is wonderful to have such good neighbors. The guy who built the house next door, was the only guy I ever actually got into a fist fight with when I was in high school. At the time, we hated each other's guts. When he moved in next door, we had a kind of uneasy truce, but we hardly ever spoke to each other. The next guy to move in was OK, but we didn't really have much in common. When Brandon and Ashley moved in, it was good to have someone we sort of knew already. Brandon and his dad were the ones who played the bagpipes at David's graveside. Brandon's dad actually has the same name as our son - David Phillips. When our grandkids come over, they always run to the fence and ask if Jensen and Chessa can come over and play. Brandon and I have this thing we do whenever we see each other. One of us will say "Hey Brother Phillips, how are you?" The other will answer " Just fine, how are you, Brother Phillips? Then we laugh. We always laugh. Sometimes, you have to stop, stop and realize how blessed we are. It's not the big things. We aren't rich. We aren't poor, either. We are just rich in other ways.