Good Tithings We Give...

The other day Ben was singing some Christmas carols to himself as we were walking along (which by the way, I love it when my kids sing to themselves). This is what I heard him sing:

We wish you a Merry Christmas
We wish you a Merry Christmas
We wish you a Merry Christmas
And a Happy New Year!

Good tithings we give
To you and your kin
Good tithings for Christmas
And a Happy New Year!

This is really what he thought the words were. It totally made me laugh! I guess he was listening during our family home evening lesson on tithing a few weeks ago.

Sightseeing with Grandma and Grandpa

We did some sightseeing while Grandma and Grandpa were here. One day while the kids were in school, Kate and I took Grandma and Grandpa to the National Cathedral.

I've decided this is one of my favorite places, and it was especially neat to visit around Christmas. I visited the National Cathedral for the first time this summer with David's niece Suzy and all the kids. We decided to stop by on our way home from the zoo. It was almost closing and the last tour group was so full that we couldn't hear the tour guide. Needless to say, we were all tired and kind of hurried through. This time, however, we had a guide almost all to ourselves (one other couple) and she gave us the greatest tour. She told us so much about the cathedral--the beautiful stain glass windows, the history of the building, modern upgrades and other fun stories.

I love going up to the 7th floor and seeing the view of the city from so far up. Even though it was winter and all the trees were bare, it was still a cool view.

Also, this time we visited the gift shop. If anyone is thinking about visiting the National Cathedral, make sure to go to the gift shop. It was one of the best gift shops around and we had fun looking at all the beautiful things. I got a wonderful limestone ornament that matches the limestone used in the cathedral.

Another stop we made with Grandma and Grandpa was to the National Air and Space Museum in Dulles. This is an extension of the museum on the mall, but one we had never been to yet. It has lots of the big airplanes that can't fit in the museum downtown.

Ben spent a long time looking at this plane--the SR 71 Blackbird. He has a toy version, and thought it was pretty cool to see the real thing.

My favorite was seeing the space shuttle Enterprise. This space shuttle has actually flown in space! It is so huge--it was amazing to stand next to it and see how big it really is.

This is Ben standing in front of one of the jet engines used for the space shuttle.

David told us lots of cool stories about the military planes--he made a pretty good tour guide.

Christmas Eve

We started out our Christmas Eve festivities early in the day. We made our traditional woven paper placemats to use for breakfast on Christmas morning.

On Christmas eve we always act out the Christmas story while reading it from the Bible and sing Christmas carols throughout. This year Kate insisted upon being baby Jesus. She has been into pretending to be a baby lately and so she knew just what to do to play this role perfectly. She laid on the ground (we couldn't find a "manger" big enough to fit her) wrapped in white blankets with her head on a yellow pompom (the hay) and sucked her thumb--when she thought no one was looking. Rachel was the angel, and Ben and Sarah wanted to be wisemen. They recruited Grandpa to be a shephard and Grandma offered to play the piano for our singing (probably so she wouldn't have to wear some ridiculous costume). That left David and I to be Joseph and Mary. It was good practice for us for later that night...

After our little pageant, Grandma read us a few Christmas stories and we watched a short Christmas movie. We made reindeer food (oatmeal and glitter mixed together) to spread out on the front lawn that evening, had dinner, and then headed to the Visitor's Center.

Our ward was assigned the responsibility of being Joseph and Mary at the live nativity at the Visitor's Center at the temple on Christmas Eve. So somehow David and I got tasked with the responsibility. We aren't really the best actors, but it turned out to be pretty fun, even though there was a lot to remember. It was a beautiful night and much warmer than it had been and so there were lots of people there to watch. Grandma and Grandpa took the kids to see the creche exhibit and the concert while we did our hour-long stint. David was on-call and ended up getting paged while we were up there, but luckily it was only a couple of minutes before our shift was over.

Afterwards, we hurried home to eat treats, sprinkle the reindeer food on the lawn, leave cookies for Santa and get the kids in bed so that Santa could come.

Christmas Fun

We've been busy with traditional Christmas activities.




Visiting Santa,


decorating the gingerbread house,


posing for Christmas portraits,

and decorating cookies.

We've also seen Christmas lights at the Temple Visitor Center and Seneca Creek State Park. We love having Grandma and Grandpa Hales here to share the festivities with us.

Christmas Season

I don't know why, but this Christmas season has been rough. I just haven't been able to get organized and get everything done. The days are flying by and I'm still not ready. I've been stressing about presents and what to buy for who and if the kids will like it, etc. I spent two hours on Saturday driving around to several stores looking for one particular item, only to find out it was sold out at every store. Ugh! I want the kids to have good memories and not just remember all the rushing about we do this time of year.


We have had some good moments. Some nights we have sat and cuddled together in blankets and read Christmas stories. We have some great books and a packet of stories--one for every night of the month in December. We haven't had time to read them every night, so we've read a few at a time. They are sweet, wonderful stories that teach us about the true meaning of Christmas. We've also been reading different scriptures each night on gifts that the Savior has given to us. It has been a wonderful way to remember our blessings this holiday season.


It is the times like this that I love. It is peaceful and quiet and everyone is full of the Spirit of Christmas. This is what I hope the children remember.

Decorating the Christmas Tree

I love decorating the Christmas tree. We always listen to the Carpenter's Christmas CD while we decorate the tree. It is one of my favorite Christmas traditions.

In our family we buy Christmas ornaments from all the places that we travel. So it is always fun to get out the ornaments and put them on the tree, remembering with each one the wonderful trip associated with it.

Here are a couple of new ones we got this year:

The Statue of Liberty


Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream Factory

All done!

35 Years

I'm 35 years old today! When I stop to think about it, the last 35 years have been amazing. I've had so many great opportunities to travel and experience new things. The world has changed a lot in the last 35 years and it is wonderful to be a part of it all!

This was a fun list that my friend Rachelle posted and so I decided to evaluate my 35 years as well. The things in red I have done and the things in black I haven't. It was fun to go through this list and realize all that I've done and all that I still want to do:

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis (I've held a Madagascar hissing cockroach!)
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped (I have no desire to fulfill that one)
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty--as far as they let you go.
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb (I've petted one)
26. Gone skinny dipping--like I would admit it even if I had...
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run - does wiffle ball in the backyard against my kids count?
32. Been on a cruise--dinner cruise on the Potomac
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors (some of them)
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job...
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London (I've seen it at Arlington)
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating.
88. Had chickenpox (and shingles)
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby (four!)
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100.Visited Italy
101. Smuggled Russian Rubles across the border into Finland (okay, so this wasn't on the list originally, but I decided to add it anyway.)

What have you done?!