Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was so much fun! We ate "party food" which consisted of taquitos, shrimp roll-ups, little smokies, a cheese ball with crackers, veggies with dip and fruit.  It was delicious.  We were all hungry and ready for food by the time we returned from delivering presents.  Then we played some "minute to win-it" games.  The marshmallow shoot was the biggest hit.  All the kids, all the Dad's and Grandma Wyatt all played.  Guess who won...Grandpa!!  He beat everybody.  He had an awesome shot!

Kacey and Alex brought a bunch of sugar cookies and frosting so the kids (and adults) could frost them to eat for dessert. It was a full night but very fun!  

Christmas Miracle!

Several weeks before Christmas we started trying to decide what everyone wanted to do for Christmas Eve.  We came up with a lot of ideas, but one that stuck was to deliver Christmas presents that had been collected by a woman in Jenni's ward to a family in need.  We weren't supposed to buy the presents, she just needed some families to deliver what she had already gathered.  A few days before Jenni was given all that had been collected and the name of the woman and her children.  There were 4 children.  We were surprised to see that there were only a couple gifts for the three older children and nothing for the 3 year old.  Also, there were none of the "needs" that had been asked for, only a couple of the "wants".  Grandma and Jenni decided we needed to get some more information and fill in the gaps.  They came to our house on a Saturday morning so we could go shopping to get more.  Chris ended up calling the woman because she only spoke Spanish.  He found that she really did have quite a few needs that would go unmet unless we were able to help a little more.  Her kids needed clothes and snow boots badly.  We also found out that she and her children were here from Mexico because her oldest daughter has a tumor that grows constantly on the side of her face and they were here in the United States receiving medical care at Primary Children's.  The daughter will turn 18 next October and will no longer be able to receive care there, so they will return to Mexico at that time.  They have no family here.  They are all in Mexico.

It was a day that we will remember forever.  We took our kids to Jenni's so they could play with the cousins while Grandma, Jenni and I went shopping.  We shopped the entire day.  It was so awesome.  We found clothes, snow boots, hats,  and gloves for each of them including the mom.  We also made sure the 3 year old girl had some fun presents.  It filled our trunk and helped remind us all day of what Christmas is really all about.  We dropped it all off at Grandma's and planned to return at 3pm on Christmas Eve to wrap it all and deliver it to the family.

On Christmas Eve we had a huge wrapping party.  Everyone helped separate it into piles depending on who it was for and we got it all wrapped.  It was humbling to see the huge pile of presents and know the difference it would hopefully make for this family.  We left about 4:30 to drive to Ogden to deliver it.  The cute mom was sooo grateful and thanked us many times.  We got to meet the oldest daughter, but the youngest three were in the bathtub.  The mom said, in spanish with Chris interpreting, that her kids would be sooo excited when they got out of the tub and saw all the presents under the Christmas tree.  We visited with her for a while.  Kacey had brought a Book of Mormon to give to her.  She told us that she was a member of the Church but had not been active for awhile. She was the only one who had been baptized in her family.  I know that it left a lasting impression on every one of us.  It felt so great to be able to help even just a little.  It truly was a Christmas miracle...not only for that family but for each of us as I know we more fully felt the true meaning of Christmas that night. 

Gingerbread Houses

This is a favorite at our house!  Probably because there is so much candy involved!  We had a hard time this year finding the time to do all that we wanted to in the short time that Kylee was home from school before Christmas.  We had to squeeze making gingerbread houses in after church on Sunday before we went to Bill and Marci's house for dinner.  The kids managed to put out some great houses though!  This and the Birthday Party for Jesus were their top picks for Christmas activities this year.  

Birthday Party for Jesus!

Once again we had our "Birthday Party for Jesus".  This is probably one of my favorite Christmas traditions that we started a few years back.  We ate turkey steak, mashed potatoes and gravy, pretzel cream cheese jello, cooked carrots and had peppermint oreo ice cream pie with chocolate sauce for dessert!  We don't seem to stray too far with our menu.  We always love turkey steak!  It was delicious.

We had a little glitch in the evening when Kylee started feeling like she was getting sick.  She thought it felt a lot like strep so we ended up spending a couple hours in the doctors office making sure she didn't need an antibiotic.  It put us a little late starting and Dad had to finish making the meal, but it still all happened.

We talked about the things that we could do this year as our "gift" to the Savior and made a list of the things that He has blessed us with that we are grateful for.  

Christmas Letter for 2012

Southwick Family “TOP 10” for 2012!

1.      We have a Temple!!  Our Brigham City Temple was dedicated September 23^rd.  We can see it from our backyard!

2.      Emilee and Kade participated in the Temple Cultural Celebration “Harvest of Faith” – a once in a lifetime experience!

3.      We enjoyed an amazing family vacation to Palmyra, New York and Kirtland, Ohio to see the Church History sites.  Finished up with a great family reunion in Washington DC with the Southwick Family!

4.      Kylee moved to St. George to attend Dixie State College!!  We miss her but she is doing great!

5.      Brinley started 1^st grade in the Dual Immersion Chinese program!

6.      Quincy can play us beautiful Christmas songs on the piano this year!

7.      Michele is home for 6 hours a day ALONE – first time in 18 years!  Chris is still working hard for us at John Watson Chevrolet.  He never ages…he still teases us all like he’s 12!!

8.      Kade turned 12 this year and received the Priesthood and started passing the Sacrament.  We have a Deacon!!

9.      Emilee played on the 9^th grade Volleyball team and FINALLY (not soon enough for her) grew a couple inches this year!

10.   Kylee made it through finals week and is home for 31/2 weeks for Christmas!  We are all sooo excited!

Our family has received many blessings this year and we have much to be grateful for.  We are especially grateful for the reason we celebrate this Christmas Season…our Savior Jesus Christ.  We also cherish family and friends like you!

                                          MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!   

                  Love,

                                           The Southwick’s