Christmas Is A Wonderful Season

Isn't Christmas one of the most wonderful times of the year! I just love the lights and the sounds of this Holiday Season. It is the time of year to remember the birth of Christ. To remember his life and the miracles & blessings he has given all of us.

This year we spent Christmas with my family. It was so nice. Christmas Eve we all sat by the fireplace and listened to my Daddy read. I love it when my Dad reads to us. He read his favorite Christmas book... "How the Grinch Stole Christmas". He even did different voices for all the characters! We also read the Christmas story and a poem about the symbols and of Christmas.

In the morning my parents woke us up (I know, it pretty pathetic when your parents have to wake up the kids on Christmas morning - but that is the way it has always been in my family. We must all really like our sleep) and went up stairs to open our presents. I love Christmas morning when everyone is still groggy and trying to wake up! Their expressions are much more genuine. The tree was beautiful and the presents were all neatly wrapped.

There were not a lot of presents, but everyone was so grateful for what they had received. Brent & I received watches, cd's, movies, clothes, a beautiful picture that Cam drew, and a pair of ducks that my Dad had done for us. They are so beautiful! After the presents were opened we ate our traditional breakfast of blueberry waffles! So yummy!

The rest of the weekend we just played games and relaxed. We did however go sledding. It was so much fun. We got my dad's 2 four wheelers and hooked up sleds behind them. My friend Tim and his friend and Rachel came along too. We drove out to the farm lanes and had a blast. The guys had so much fun trying to dump each other into the snow. Brent got some awesome battle wounds. Paige and I had a great time making Tim fly off the sled we were pulling. We even managed to rip his nice pants. It was awesome!

Below are pictures of our Christmas morning and of Cameron and Paige breaking in their new game. It was truly a wonderful Christmas.

Decorating the house for the holidays!

Sorry I got this post out a little late but I wanted to let you all know about about how cute our little tree turned out. It looks so great on our end table. It was a little tricky getting the tree into the tree stand though. We had to "attach" some of the branches back onto the tree afterward. We bought some tiny ornaments and put a small strand of lights on it. We also put up our big fake tree in the computer room since we had to take it out for our ward Christmas party. Here are some pictures of our trees and decorations. Also I wanted to say thank you to my awesome cousin Savannah. I received the cutest card and pictures from her the other day. I loved it! Wish you all could see it!

Well hope you are all doing well. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Sinterklaas

Yesterday we celebrated the tradition of Sinterklaas. Since my maiden name (DeLeeuw) is Dutch, we have tried to incorporate some of their traditions to celebrate our heritage. Sinterklaas or Saint Nicolas, is a traditional holiday figure in the Netherlands. Sinterklaas has a long white beard, wears a red bishop's dress and red bishop's hat, and holds a long gold coloured staff with a fancy curled top. Sinterklaas carries a big book with all the children's names in it, which states whether they have been good or naughty in the past year. "Saint-Nicolas" traditionally rides a white horse. In the Netherlands this horse is often know as Amerigo. Before going to bed, children put their shoes next to the chimney of the coal fired stove or fireplace, with a carrot or some hay in it for Sinterklaas's horse, and will find some candy or a small present in their shoes the next day. Children are also told that if they are really really bad they would be put in the gunny sack in which Black Pete (Sinterklaas's helper) carries the presents, and be taken back to Spain, where Sinterklaas is said to spend the rest of the year.

We celebrated this holiday by making some delicious wassil (so so yummy!!!), ate shortbread cookies, watched some movies and played many games with our friends & cousins, the Sorensens and Brian White. It was so much fun. The wassil was the perfect drink on such a cold day!! We then decorated our christmas tree and the rest of the apartment. My favorite decoration by far are all of the lights! They make everything seem so magical! We set our shoes by the door and went to sleep. When we woke this morning we had presents! Brent got some yummy candy and a speaker-case for his mp3 player, and I got the new Narnia movie on Blu-Ray. I am so excited to watch it tonight!!!

What is going on in our life...

Well not too much has happened recently. Brent & I are both working 2 jobs. We joined Primerica in September. We are building a business with PFS and are working to help families. We work from contacts and referrals. Let us know if there is anyone you know that would be willing to sit down with us for a few minutes to learn more about what we do in helping families and showing people how to become financially independent! This business is truly amazing. We look forward to helping as many of our friends and family that will let us and also becoming business partners with those that see the same value in this business that we have! Brent is also done with another semester of school. He is now studying frantically for his finals. Brent I am so proud of you! This semester has been really busy and hard. You had a lot on your plate but you stuck with it. Good luck with your finals.