The Christmas Spirit is alive and well at the Medeiros home

I wasn't quite sure where the Christmas Spirit was around our house and then....there it was! Right there on my pillow! Last week, as I was getting into bed, a cute little note full of flames and pizazz was waiting for me on my pillow. Maybe I had been particularly grumpy with the kids and Sarah thought I needed a little holiday encouragement. Maybe she just wanted to spread some holiday cheer. Either way, she felt it necessary to make sure I knew where the Christmas Spirit was...and it certainly filled Chad and I with holiday cheer and laughter. I have no doubt that there was even more Christmas Spirit in our house after it was found on my pillow.

Christmas Eve is always the pinnacle of the holiday season for me. This year, we kept with tradition and headed to Kaysville for the our fish dinner by candlelight and our little Nativity presentation.  I'm not sure that the Savior enjoyed salmon and shrimp cocktail, but they've been added to the menu nonetheless! This year, I contributed my marinated Tilapia and I think everyone enjoyed that. With some of the cousins getting older and others not old enough, we had to do some creative casting for the Nativity program. This year we had a cradle-robbing Joseph (Tyler) and a very young Mary (Jenna). New this year was the fabulous addition of a camel (Conner). After opening jammies, it was off to our own homes to tuck the kids in.

This year, brought new skepticism about Santa. We had quite the little tester in Sarah. On Christmas eve, she left out a box with small gifts and a little note requesting a signature from the big guy. The gifts were gone and the "signed" note was left behind in the morning. A Dorthy (from the Wizard of Oz) Barbie, a holiday Barbie, a school play-set, Wii Sports Resort, the Far World books, a wah pedal and guitar case were among some of the favorite gifts with the kids. Jenna gave me a big hint about my gift several weeks earlier and I was delighted to open a digital SLR camera (thanks Chad and Heather!). I have already had so much fun playing around with it....lots more to learn....lots more to learn. I was so proud of my parents, for the first time, they left Kaysville on Christmas day and headed our way to spend some with us. We had breakfast with them and they got to watch us open some gifts.  Definitely something different for them, but I think they really enjoyed!  Now I, on the other hand, pulled off the biggest Christmas surprise Chad had ever had. It's always the other way around, but this year, I got him good. With some help from the parents, I  was able to pool our efforts and get Chad a snow blower. We've resisted for years...bound and determined to shovel. One north-facing home, and two corner lots later, our backs hurt and we are ready for some relief....especially Chad. Several weeks ago, I purchased the much-researched snow blower and tucked it safely in the Fletcher's garage. After all the hoopla of Christmas morning, I mentioned to Chad that Fletcher's wanted us to come over to see what they got. When we got there, Dorick announced he wanted us to see a new gift in the garage. Chad said as we entered the garage, he just knew Dorick had gotten a new snow blower. Now while, he was happy for Dorick, his heart sank and he was a bit envious. As we were all surrounding the shiny new machine and Chad was fighting back envy, I announced, "It's yours!" Ohhh, you should have seen the look on his face!! I know it's just a snow blower, but my eyes got misty. I have never pulled off a surprise like this before. It was a "red ryder bb gun moment" for sure. Love it, love it, love it!!! He had a smile on his face the rest of the day. Since we stayed home for the whole day, it was so fun to have the Madsen's over for dinner. It was so wonderful to have someone to share our Honeybaked ham with. What a great way to end the day!