MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!! "GOD BLESS US, EVERY ONE." ~Tiny Tim, "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens
This has been such a wonderful Christmas. It's my first that I've spent away from my family, and so it was with mixed feelings that I greeted the season. I was sad to be away from so many people I love, but also so happy to be with so many wonderful loved ones, right here.
Christmas Eve was fun. During the day, we cleaned, we shopped, we did the general scurry to prepare ourselves for the evening. Diane and I sweet-talked our wonderful Dungeon Master (Rachel) into playing for a while. We had some good laughs (our characters are elven sister and we act...well, like sisters!!).
In the evening, Mary, James, and the girls came. We each got to open one gift. Mom Olsen read the Christmas Story, we prayed and sang Christmas songs. We ate a delicious spaghetti dinner and played games late into the night, well, at least, Diane and the girls played late into the night. I fell asleep pretty quickly (I stayed up a bit too late the night before and I was beat!). Mary, James, and Jenny usually go home and come back on Christmas morning, but because of the weather, Mary and Jenny stayed with us, as well as Molly and Alyssa. It made for an interesting evening.
This morning, we were awakened by a very insistent and excited Jenny. She said, and I quote, "Guys, you have to get up RIGHT NOW. Santa came and that means it's time to get up!!! I mean it. NOW!!! RIGHT NOW!" It was exactly 7am. We gradually dragged ourselves downstairs and opened our stockings. Then we ate breakfast and the girls became our Christmas elves, or "elfses," as Jenny said. They passed out presents and we all enjoyed ourselves and our gifts. After presents several of us, myself included, took naps while the kids (and Diane and Rachel) played with they're new goodies. Eventually, I joined them in the fun, but only after a good long nap!
Mom Olsen made a delicious Turkey dinner and we watched some TV together (and I blogged). Mary and family are now debating going home or staying here (the weather outside truly is frightful) and I'm making plans about what I'm doing for t
onight and tomorrow. I was supposed to work tomorrow morning, therefore, I was going to go home tonight, but the snow isn't supposed to stop until at least midnight, so I called Teresa and let her know I wouldn't be able to make it for the morning shift. I have to make it back down to Pocatello by 4pm tomorrow because there is no one to cover my shift at the shelter (I'm the sub for the day!!). Then it's back up to Rexburg on Saturday for the Olsen family's first whole family Christmas celebration in a bunch of years (since Dave and family moved to Oklahoma. They're back now, hurray!!)
I got to talk to all of my family in Maine and Kentucky last night and today. I miss them and they miss me, but it's a good Christmas and we're together in spirit, if not body.
There are many people who I won't get to talk to this Christmas, and I hope they read this, so they know how much I love them and miss them and appreciate the role they play or have played in my life
It's been such a wonderful Christmas. A Christmas of changes, both good and bad, real and imagined. A Christmas of first and lasts, starts and finishes, happiness and sadness. But even with all of the changes, one thing stays the same: The spirit, the reason for the season; the birth of the Savior. It's such a magical time, a celebration of life, of salvation. May we all remember the truth, the reason why we celebrate. It's not all about the gifts, the food, the parties. It's about the Savior, Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, born in a manger in Bethlehem. May the Lord bless you and keep you through this Holiday season and all throughout the year.
This has been such a wonderful Christmas. It's my first that I've spent away from my family, and so it was with mixed feelings that I greeted the season. I was sad to be away from so many people I love, but also so happy to be with so many wonderful loved ones, right here.
Christmas Eve was fun. During the day, we cleaned, we shopped, we did the general scurry to prepare ourselves for the evening. Diane and I sweet-talked our wonderful Dungeon Master (Rachel) into playing for a while. We had some good laughs (our characters are elven sister and we act...well, like sisters!!).
In the evening, Mary, James, and the girls came. We each got to open one gift. Mom Olsen read the Christmas Story, we prayed and sang Christmas songs. We ate a delicious spaghetti dinner and played games late into the night, well, at least, Diane and the girls played late into the night. I fell asleep pretty quickly (I stayed up a bit too late the night before and I was beat!). Mary, James, and Jenny usually go home and come back on Christmas morning, but because of the weather, Mary and Jenny stayed with us, as well as Molly and Alyssa. It made for an interesting evening.
This morning, we were awakened by a very insistent and excited Jenny. She said, and I quote, "Guys, you have to get up RIGHT NOW. Santa came and that means it's time to get up!!! I mean it. NOW!!! RIGHT NOW!" It was exactly 7am. We gradually dragged ourselves downstairs and opened our stockings. Then we ate breakfast and the girls became our Christmas elves, or "elfses," as Jenny said. They passed out presents and we all enjoyed ourselves and our gifts. After presents several of us, myself included, took naps while the kids (and Diane and Rachel) played with they're new goodies. Eventually, I joined them in the fun, but only after a good long nap!
Mom Olsen made a delicious Turkey dinner and we watched some TV together (and I blogged). Mary and family are now debating going home or staying here (the weather outside truly is frightful) and I'm making plans about what I'm doing for t
onight and tomorrow. I was supposed to work tomorrow morning, therefore, I was going to go home tonight, but the snow isn't supposed to stop until at least midnight, so I called Teresa and let her know I wouldn't be able to make it for the morning shift. I have to make it back down to Pocatello by 4pm tomorrow because there is no one to cover my shift at the shelter (I'm the sub for the day!!). Then it's back up to Rexburg on Saturday for the Olsen family's first whole family Christmas celebration in a bunch of years (since Dave and family moved to Oklahoma. They're back now, hurray!!)
I got to talk to all of my family in Maine and Kentucky last night and today. I miss them and they miss me, but it's a good Christmas and we're together in spirit, if not body.
There are many people who I won't get to talk to this Christmas, and I hope they read this, so they know how much I love them and miss them and appreciate the role they play or have played in my life
It's been such a wonderful Christmas. A Christmas of changes, both good and bad, real and imagined. A Christmas of first and lasts, starts and finishes, happiness and sadness. But even with all of the changes, one thing stays the same: The spirit, the reason for the season; the birth of the Savior. It's such a magical time, a celebration of life, of salvation. May we all remember the truth, the reason why we celebrate. It's not all about the gifts, the food, the parties. It's about the Savior, Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, born in a manger in Bethlehem. May the Lord bless you and keep you through this Holiday season and all throughout the year.
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