First we started things off Friday evening(Christmas Eve) by going to Daniel and Carly's stake center for a big Erickson dinner and a nativity put on by the children, and a piñata later on. The dinner was awesome! We had ham, funeral potatoes, salad, rolls, green-been casserole and more! The beverage was the Erickson party beverage of choice: apple juice, and 7-up! It really is a brilliant combination! We all chowed down as the little ones watched Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and then Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Then we did the little ones nativity! Jacob was designated as the donkey that Mary had ridden on to Bethlehem but he had had a slight operation that morning due to a cist near his knee. So I filled in for him and played the part of the donkey! I think I did a decent job especially on very short notice! Mary was played by Kaitlynn and J.D. played Joseph! All the others filled in as wise men, shepherds, or sheep! It was very cute and definitely memorable. Then the others watched The Nativity film put on by the church, but Kristen and I had to jet in order to make it to my parents place for the rest of the proceedings that evening.We arrived at the McLaws residence to find everyone watching Jingle All the Way and cleaning up dinner and putting out desserts! Kristen and I were in charge of the program that evening and so we had put together quite an arrangement of performances and stories and such! We started things off with the candy bar game! A silly game where you all gather in a circle and everyone has a wrapped candy bar. When the narrator says the word "right", everyone passes their bar one to the right. When the narrator says the word "left", everyone passes their bar one to the left. It was fun and started things off nicely! Then Dad told a few memories of Christmas as a child. He talked about one Christmas where his Dad had asked him to help fix up a go-kart for his brother Andrew, in exchange for getting a cool old truck that he and Aaron would work on and fix up. He said that was a great memory and probably one of the most memorable. Then I shared the story of the littlest jingle bell! If you haven't heard that one before, I guess you will have to come to our activities next Christmas eve to hear it for yourself. It is a fun story that involves the participation of many to help jingle the jingle bell props. Then Esther shared a story of Christmas that she had borrowed from the library and it was really good and she bore her testimony about how she believes that part of the reason the Shepherds were sent to Mary and Joseph was so that they could have the much needed supplies that they didn't have because they had traveled such a great distance. Faith shared a tissue paper cut out design that she made of the stable and Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus. It was really nice! J.R. played "What Child is This?" on the guitar and he did an excellent job! Kristen and Julia performed the song "Mary did you Know?" Kristen sang it as Julia played it on the piano. Kristen did an excellent job of singing it and it sounded great! Julia played wonderfully on the piano and I am very proud and impressed that she has progressed so much on the piano. Then Mom shared a spiritual thought/testimony on gratitude and the importance of always being thankful for what the Heavenly Father has given us. She gave us all a little pack of thank you cards so that we can make sure to send out thank yous to those who gave us gifts and also to others as the Holy Ghost impresses it on our minds. We then watched The Nativity with the song of "Breath of Heaven" done by Amy Grant. It was wonderful and it was a great way to spend Christmas Eve!
Then we opened up our sibling present: I gave to Cheryl and she loved getting her fashion bug gift card and her Eclipse(from the Twilight saga) board game! J.R. gave to me for our sibling exchange. He gave me a box of Andes mints as well as a homemade knife from old files and a real wooden hammer! It really is a cool gift and definitely something very unique and special! Cheryl then introduced the desserts she had made and we dug in! Then we drove home through some neighborhoods with a lot of Christmas lights on display! Great evening!
Christmas morning, Kristen and I opened up our presents to each other and then drove to my parents place for a Christmas breakfast that Cheryl had prepared and then opened up presents with everybody! All the gifts we got were awesome and many were very needed! It was fun to see Barbara and baby John having so much fun opening gifts and helping others open their gifts! Barbara loved both of her pink presents that she got from us, and played with them so much that one of them was broken after just about an hour or so. Baby John gave us all lots of hugs and brightened the atmosphere the whole day! He really is such a blessing!
Then we headed over to Mom Erickson and the clan to open presents and talk with Robert who was making his Christmas call from Uruguay! That was fun to talk to him in Spanish and he seems to be picking up a very good accent and it sounds like things are going fantastic for him! We got to see all the Erickson side of the family again and then opened up presents with everyone! The main present we got from Mom Erickson was the Christus statue that we will have to find a place for! It is very beautiful and it's kind of a tradition of hers to give it to all the couples when they are newly married. It was fun to see all the nieces and nephews as well as Stephen! He seems to be doing well and I'm sure it helped to have so much loving family around! Robert we love and miss you! You are serving where you are needed most!
The rest of the day was just kind of laziness and playing games and watching movies and going to visit grandma and grandpa McLaws. It was a great Christmas!
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