Christmas 2012

The week before Christmas Devin and I were able to be in the nativity. We ended up being Mary and Joseph. It was a very special nativity for me. It felt very reverent and the Spirit was definitely present. It helped me to remember the reason for the Christmas season. Mom and I didn't get everything done that we wanted to this year with Dad being in the hospital for November. That's when we usually do most of our baking and crafts and presents. But the nativity helped to put things into perspective and realize it doesn't matter about all the little things that do or do not get done.

http://www.reddeeradvocate.com/community/Live_nativity_pageant_2012_183964851.html

This year was Bennett year for Christmas. We drove down to Taber on Dec. 23 after I finished work. We spent the evening with family as they had just finished up Bennett Christmas at Aunt Mary's house. Christmas Eve the boys played basketball and we went to the West's for dinner. There were lots of people there. We sang Christmas carols and the kids acted out the nativity. We went to Saunders and visited for awhile there as well. Then we went home and opened our PJs!

I wore earplugs when I went to bed and so in the morning, Nathan had to come and jump on us to get us up...I hadn't heard anyone knocking and Devin was just ignoring them. We all went up to Mom and Dad's room and waited for Aunt Mary and Lisa and Chintan to come over and then we opened our stockings. Then the boys did chores and we talked to Diane on Skype! It was awesome to hear her voice. I called my family and talked to them for a bit. Then we FINALLY got to open presents. It took forever with so many of us! We all get a present and then at the same time open it and then go around in a circle and tell what we got from whom.

We stayed in Taber until the 26th and then I had to go back to work. That weekend we had Christmas with McCue's in Red Deer. We had Christmas dinner on Friday after I was done work and then we slept over and had Christmas the next day with Dad, Mom and Amber. We had a great time. We spent the weekend with my family playing games and having fun. It was a great Christmas. We also had New Years with them. Amber and I ended up being pretty hyper and we were a team in every game we played. It was a fun bonding time for us. We watched Mr. Bean Christmas...oooh! Pahty hat!