Christmas Morning

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Well, the kids let us sleep until about 9:40 am before they started bugging us to get up. We felt lucky that they gave us that long to sleep. The kids couldn't wait to break through the paper and see what Santa left them. They gathered in the hallway and sang Christmas songs until we gave them permission to run through the paper. (Note: in Adam's family growing-up it was tradition to have wrapping paper taped up over the hall, stairway, or entrance to the living room so there was no way for little eyes to peek at the presents before the whole family could go in together. We like this tradition and so do the kids.)
The kids managed to make it on Santa's good list this year. Santa left a note reminding them to be good and giving them each a list of things he wants them to work on next year. The kids had lots of fun opening their presents and seeing what Santa brought them. Jaxton didn't want anything to do with opening his presents he got mad when Adam tried to show him how to open a present. The girls got Barbies from Santa. I gave them the dollhouse that Santa brought me when I was eight. I still had my furniture and Barbies too. Some of the furniture and old Barbies did come from Aunt Jenny, so that made it extra special. The girls played Barbies all day and are still playing with them. Austin nearly rounded out his collection of Disney Cars cars. Thanks to Santa he finally has Sally and Mater. Both cars are hard to find now. Jaxton (happy first Christmas son!) got a toy that blows air through a tunnel and pops little balls in the air. The first time he saw that happen he was so excited! He likes to push the balls back down. He also likes to feel the air in his face. He still gets so excited when he plays with that toy. Santa did a good job picking that one out considering Jaxton isn't one that really plays with toys. (He is more of an explorer.) Adam got a beard trimmer, some movies, and Brisingr on CD which he really wanted. I got two new dolls both of which are quite original to my porcelain doll collection. One is a tassel doll where the head and upper body of the doll are porcelain and the dress is a long tassel. The other doll doubles as a lamp. Adam picked them both out for me. My friend also embroidered a couple of towels. Both have a beautiful butterfly on them. (Thanks Betty, I love them!)
After the presents were all unwrapped we had breakfast and played the rest of the day. We watched a couple new movies while Adam took a nap and then later had a good Christmas meal. All in all we had a great day warm at home with our little family. We hope you all had a great day too!
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Kelseaism: Christmas Eve Kelsea kept telling me that we needed to "give Santa a credit card so that he coud get them gifts." She was so afraid that they wouldn't get anything unless we left a credit card out with the cookies. I told her not to worry that everthing would be okay and Santa would take care of things. I still laugh over this one!
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For those of you who didn't get a Christmas card from me I apologize I ran out of time and ink. So here is the Christmas letter I sent in the card (however if you have been following my blog then this letter could be boring):


Dear Family and Friends, December 2008

Greetings! This year has been a good one for us. We still live in Grand Junction, CO and have learned to love it here. On March 7th we added a new little member to the family: Jaxton Douglas he weighed 8lbs 2oz. He is now 9 months old and weighs 20lbs. I am doing my best to keep him in clothes that fit. He learned to crawl in October and also cut his first two teeth. He loves playing with his big sisters and brother. Jaxton likes to play the piano and take baths. He can’t stand it if someone is taking a bath and he is not there to splash in the water. Needless to say he sometimes get more than on bath a day sometimes with clothes on. We love his smiles and I personally love how he like to cuddle when he is sleepy.

Austin turned three in October. About twelve days later he gave the family a first by breaking his pinky finger between a ‘rock and a hard place’ literally. Thankfully, his finger has healed well with no problems. Austin loves cars, trains, airplanes, and superheroes. He loves flying around the house saying: “I’m a superhero!” He is very imaginative and sometimes says the funniest things. Like the other day when I was making biscuits and he asked me if they were ‘jelly beans‘. He is totally enthralled with Christmas this year by moving the ornaments around the tree, playing with the Christmas village and train, and asking if we can open presents yet. Also, for the first he has also made friends with a little boy his age (most kids we know his age are girls). The two of them have a blast playing and wrestling. It is so fun to watch how much Austin has grown and learned this year.

Kelseanja is four and goes to a preschool that some mothers in our ward and I have put together and take turns teaching. She loves school days and is usually ready to go with backpack on about two hours before school starts. She is very artistic and loves to color and draw (some of her artwork is still displayed on her bedroom wall.) She loves her baby brother and can keep him entertained probably longer than anyone else. When Jaxton was born she said: “I used to be a baby too then I grew into myself.” She loves going to the park and playing with her friends. Just yesterday she asked me if she could go swimming. She really didn’t care if the water was going to be ice cold she still wanted to go. Anyway, she is looking forward to going to Kindergarten next year so she can ride the school bus with Makayla.

Makayla is six years old now and is in first grade. She started the school year out in a brand new ‘green’ school. She loves school and her teacher. She has been learning to read and is doing very well. She has been getting 100% on all her spelling tests and is doing very well at math too. Her teacher has been very happy with her progress in reading and writing. She has made several friends and is a ‘social butterfly’. At our ward Christmas party a man in our ward was asking her questions to which she was ignoring. He asked if she was normally that quiet and she said: “I am NOT quiet!” Makayla is a big help and watches over her brothers and sister. She has even changed a few diapers. I don’t know what I would do without her around to help me with chores, meals, laundry, and her baby brother. She is sort of like a second mommy in the house. She loves Barbies and playing with her friends. Anything to keep her busy. She is not one to just sit still for long.


Adam is very busy with work. At the end of last year he finally ’broke-out’ as an Engineer working with Weatherford Wireline. He sometimes works days at a time which can be difficult, but he enjoys the work. In his free time he likes spending time with us and also playing on the computer. He took a week off in July and we went to Utah to visit family and friends. While there also went to the Hogle Zoo, the Children’s Museum, Bear Lake, Red Canyon overlook, the cabin, Vernal, and then home before Adam had to work again. We had so much fun and look forward to hopefully doing it again next year.

As a wife and mother, I keep myself busy with family and home. I teach preschool every five weeks and love to see the kids learn and grow. This year I have spent a lot of time getting to know new friends and helping them out whenever needed. I also have written a children’s story that I plan to get published next year sometime, we will see how things go. I am also working on a novel which is going slow, but I think I have a good story going. Eventually, I hope to get that published too. I love taking pictures and I also work hard on keeping the family blog up to date. If you are interested in staying caught up with our family you can visit our blog at: macphersonfamilylife.blogspot.com. There you can find a more detailed version of our past year complete with pictures, videos, and slideshows.

As we reflect on the past year it is difficult not to remember the hand that our Lord and Saviour has had in our lives. We feel like we have been extremely blessed this year and feel his love every day. We are eternally grateful for the sacrifice that the Lord has made for us. We hope that we can strive harder to be more like Him each day.

We wish everyone a very Happy Christmas Season. We hope the new year brings your family blessings and joy. We love you all and miss you!

Sincerely,

The MacPherson Family

Adam, Jennie, Makayla, Kelseanja, Austin, and Jaxton