Our Christmas

The day before Christmas and Christmas Eve was spent at the hospital with Bill's dad. He has pneumonia. That along with his age and dementia he is growing weaker every day. We were able to get him home for Christmas. That made everyone happy. The day after Christmas we had a Christmas party at his house. He sat with everyone and sang Christmas songs. It was wonderful to see and hear. He is such a big part of our lives. It is hard to see him go through all of this. But he is in no pain. This is a big blessing.
Christmas was a lot fun this year. It was our "practical" Christmas. We got alot of things we needed (clothes, socks, etc.) along with a few wants. I think it was our best Christmas ever. It made it that way because it wasnt all about the presents this year. It was about family. ALL of my children were home. Ashley and Josh came on Christmas eve and spent the night. With this house full of people we still got to sleep in until 8:00! I was excited about that! We opened our presents and then spent the morning in our pajamas playing games. Wayne and Malya Forsberg and their 3 youngest came over for lunch. It was so nice to be home with my family, talking and playing games. It snowed all day which made it even better.
I had to take down our Christmas tree Saturday. It was all dried out. But I left up all of the other decorations. They are just to pretty to take down. I think I may leave them up through January. January is such a boring time of the year. We could use a little festivity.

Cassandra Won!!!

Cassandra's basketball team took first place in their district tournament last night. They played Marsing. Marsing had not lost a game all year. Our girls played like their lives depended on it. Cassandra fouled out the last 30 seconds of the game. They played hard. They won 24-17. It was a close game the whole time.
When they got off the freeway they were met by our fire department. They escorted them back into town with their lights and sirens on. They did a little tour through the town. Fire department with their sirens and the girls screaming out the bus windows, and parents following behind honking their horns. People that have lived here a long time know what that means. Someone has won an important game. Usually State for the high school. But for the Middle School they dont have state. They only have districts. For those that havent lived here very long, they wonder if the world is coming to an end. All part of living in a small town. I love it!
So the girls will have their picture taken and put on a plaque. It will be hung in the trophy case right next to their trophy. They are super excited.

Our hunt for a Christmas Tree

It has always been our tradition to go to a Christmas tree farm in Fruitland. It is called Littles Christmas Tree Farm. My kids were so excited to go this year. I told them they had to do all of their chores and then we would go get our tree. So they pitched in and got everything done. Off we went to go pick out the perfect tree. This farm has about 5 acres of Christmas trees. You go pick out the tree you like and they cut it down for you. Then they put it on a machine that shakes all the dead needles off. They always have a sheep dog out there that my kids love to play with. When we got to the farm, all the trees were gone. We couldnt believe it. They sold the farm. No more Christmas trees. My children were crushed. They sat in silence the whole way home.
We went out again yesterday to hunt for the perfect tree. We were spoiled at Littles because we always got a 7 foot tree for 15.00. The first place we went to we found the perfect 7 foot tree. For 60.00!!!!!!! :( I couldnt bring myself to pay 60.00 for a tree that I would be throwing away in less than a month! So we ended up going to the Home Depot. We found a very pretty 6 foot douglas fir for 32.00.
Why are trees sooooo expensive!!!! I am going to leave this tree up through January just to get my moneys worth! :) That is my rant for the day!

Tagging

I was on a friends blog this morning. She had been tagged by a friend. I have never heard of tagging before! I loved reading about her likes, interests, and wishes. I would love to hear some of yours. I do not have 8 people that follow my site yet. So I cant tag 8 of you. But I will tag those that I know. For all those that look at my site that dont have a blog, please email me your tag. And then after you have written your tag please pass it on to others. Please share these things:
My 8 favorite shows:
1. The Doctors
2. Gilmore Girls
3. Oprah
4. The Biggest Looser
5. ER
6. The Waltons
7. Little House on the Prairie
8. The Today Show

8 Things I did yesterday:
1. Had prayer & scripture study with my children
2. Went to my Father in laws and did his laundry and watched some shows with him
3. Watched Cassey and Samuel (2 little boys I watch every day)
4. Washed and folded 5 loads of laundry at my house
5. Put up the rest of my Christmas decorations outside
6. I read a wonderful book called "The Christmas Box" by Richard Paul Evans
7. I exercised on my eliptical for 30 minutes
8. Relaxed in my bed while I finished reading the December Ensign

8 Favorite Restaurants:
1. Carrabas (best italian food ever!)
2. Golden Corral
3. Chuck a Rama (of course another all you can eat!)
4. Outback Steakhouse
5. Fudruckers (best hamburgers ever!)
6. Papa Murphys (I know its not a restaurant, but it has saved my life more than once)
7. Jimbo Restaurant ( A wonderful all you can eat chinese restaurant in Payette)
8. Any and All Mexican Restaurants

8 Things I'm looking forward to:
1. Snow
2. Christmas with all of our family home
3. My sister coming home from Idaho Falls
4. Ashley's baby shower in January
5. The twins being born
6. Kents State wrestling tournament
7. Kent graduating from High School
8. A summer vacation

8 Things on my Wish List:
1. I wish eating right and exercising wasn't a requirement to loose weight!
2. I wish I could delete everything in my life I have ever done wrong to others.
3. I wish I had a magical fairy living in my house that cleaned it while I was sleeping every night.
4. I wish I was the perfect wife and mother.
5. I wish all my Christmas shopping was done.
6. I wish I was at the Oregon coast on a warm sunny day.
7. I wish I had one full day alone with my Mother.
8. I wish all my bills were paid in full with money left over in the bank.

I Tag
1. Amberly
2. Brittany
3. Heather