Christmas 2012

Christmas this year was pretty quiet. I stayed home this year and connected with family via skype and phone. When you have five sisters and ~20 nieces and nephews, that can take quite a while! I was excited to watch my niece and nephew (via skype) open their presents on Christmas Eve morning. He's an experimenter and she loves puzzles, so I gave him marbles, tape, straws, pipe cleaner, etc. and gave her a princess puzzle. I hear she played with the puzzle all day. My sister didn't want to make a mess and lose things, so she didn't let her little guy play with the experiment stuff until after Christmas. I'm excited to hear what he's tried.

Christmas Eve I went to the Rebentisch's for dinner and to hang out. It was fun to talk with their older daughters--I mostly just know their young kids through Primary.

I got a few things for Christmas. One of my favorites is this Nebraska hoody from one of my sisters.  her daughter picked out the beads for jewelry.

She also sent this hanging.

My parents gave me a book on the Mormon Battalion since they know I am studying that a lot right now, along with some fun socks, a beautiful scarf, and the traditional lotion and chapstick. They also gave me some money, which I think I will spend on some fancy Sunday boots.

Another sister compiled a book of favorite family recipes.

Another sister gave me this Advent calendar of Christmas traditions around the world. You read the text, and then find the matching picture. There were only 2 that I couldn't figure out (or maybe more, since I still had two pictures left, but they didn't seem to match). I'll try again next year. She also came out for my birthday, which was a great present!

I'm still working on the main gifts for my family. One is a picture book of a "day in the life" of me, requested by one of my sisters since my life is so different from theirs. It's been fun taking pictures of various aspects of my life. I still have one more to take and then I can finish them. This gift is more for the kids. The gift for the adults is to pull together all the genealogy files, family pictures (including from our reunions), movies, etc. There will be a few surprises too!