Christmas 2008

Christmas at the Dicks We had a wonderful Christmas this year. It was the first time in the 8 Christmases that we have been married that we have been at our very own home on Christmas morning. LOVED IT! Sean's family came to our house for the holiday. We had yummy ham and cheesy potatoes on Christmas Eve, along with a tasty trifle that I made. We read the Christmas story out of the bible (abbreviated version for all the little tots present) and then sent the kids to bed while the adults finished up all the necessary preparations for the next morning.

It's a tradition in the Dick home that the kids can't come out to see what Santa brought until Mom and Dad put on the "special music" in the morning. The kids were dancing all around - it was all they could do to stay back there. We finally turned on the tunes and out they came. It's a tradition from the Sorensen family to have balloons on the floor on Christmas morning, so not only was the room full of 15 peoples gifts and stockings but also a floor full of balloons. The kids loved it. We did all the gift giving and opening and then had our traditional breakfast casserole. We spent the rest of the day lounging around eating treats and spending time as a family. That night we had turkey and potatoes. I had made a pumpkin pie a couple days before, and as I was sitting on the couch on Christmas day thinking about eating my pie I suddenly thought, "did I put sugar in that pie?" I went out to have a little taste and realized that NO, I hadn't put any sugar in the pie. I checked the recipe I used (from a ward cook book) and felt a little relief in that sure enough the recipe did not even call for sugar. It didn't help the taste of the pie at all, but at least I wasn't a complete nut case. I was bummed (especially since I had cooked and blended our Halloween pumpkin just for the occasion). So, two days later I made another one (using another recipe, of course). It was delicious. I LOVE PUMPKIN PIE! All in all, the day was wonderful and we loved having Sean's family here to share it with us.

Santa Claus

Dad found out that his plant (the one he manages) was going to close in November, which means that about a month ago he lost his job. We've been doing fairly well, trying to make it on the severance pay and savings and other little income here and there, and so far have been fine. The kids got a great Christmas present this year with a personal visit from Santa Claus himself right to our front door. He came all dressed up with his bag of gifts. He gave each of the kids a special present: a bunch of lip glosses for Caelan, a noisy police car for Ben, a baby My Little Pony for Megan and a little outfit for Nathan. Even Mom and Dad got a $50 gift card to Walmart. What a treat. The kids were ecstatic when they saw Santa in their very own house, and then when he let them open a present days before Christmas they thought they had died and gone to heaven. Frankly, so did we. Some day, Ben

will understand the even greater magic that was behind this visit - what a Christmas miracle.

Snow

Arizona Snow We got a great snow storm (for Arizona). It really came down. There was enough to even make a small snowman. Bruno decided that the snowman freaked him out a little bit and as soon as we went in the house he tore it right down. The kids wanted to go right out and play in it. As you can see we are really equipped with snow attire around here. Ben went out in a little zip up sweatshirt and an old beenie of Dad's.