Merry Christmas 2008

This year was a good year at the Wilcox home. Mom went way over board as usual with the gift buying but that isn't what made it such a great year. I would say that the highlight of this Christmas season was spending time with our family and friends. What a wonderful gift snow was during our Holiday. It gave us so many opportunities to get out and have fun together.

We enjoyed having our friends the Huillets over for Christmas Scones after opening presents and then having our friends the Phillips family over for Christmas dinner. That whole day I felt so grateful that we have such wonderful "family" away from family! Entertaining always makes me wish for a little bigger of a house though. It would have been great to have invited the handful of other families we would have loved to share our Christmas with. I think that will be a New Years resolution for me. To not be so intimidated to meet new people and invite them into my home. With our new church schedule meeting at 9:00 there will be plenty of opportunities to have dinner with friends on Sundays.

My favorite gift that we gave the children was not the cat. That comes in a close second. It was a baby cradle for Sara. We left it unwrapped under the tree. It was the first thing she saw and after that it was the only thing she had eyes for. You can barely see he rocking her baby in it in the corner of the picture in the previous post as the kids are unwrapping the cat. It was so fulfilling in some way to see he role playing being a sweet little Mommy. She loves her baby. And all Christmas morning she rocked her in her new cradle, talking to her, taking her out for hugs and then tucking her back in under her covers.

There was a "cat" theme this Christmas. This is my first quilt! More to come...

Of course I can't deny the cat it's place in awesome Christmas history. It was so fun to have such a massive secret to keep safe for two weeks. And the looks on their face were so worth it. Kate is still walking around asking if the cat is really ours!

Dave always finds something thoughtful to do for me and this year he surprised me with an enlarged picture that I shot of Mt. Rainier. It is so great to have a husband that supports me in my hobbies and helps me to grow my talents.

Fairy gifts are still big for Emily. I saw this and knew it would be perfect. It plays "Close to you" by Karen Carpenter

We did a lot of outfitting our family for our first backpacking adventure. We are gearing up to go maybe in late Spring or early Summer on our first camping trip minus the car. I am very nervous. Tailgate camping has SOOO many perks (comfort, fire and good food). But living in this beautiful state, we have to take advantage of it more. We are eager to camp in the wilderness. Who knows maybe I will think trading comfort, fire and yummy food for peace, quiet and non-drinking camping mates will be a worth while trade!

On of the cool things about this Christmas season was that the kids for the first time actually showed some interest in doing their own share of the giving. Chase came home from his friend's house after seeing him buy presents for his siblings and wanted to do the same. (don't you just love good friends!) He actually used his own money to by great gifts for his sisters. This is my miser we are talking about. It made me so proud of him!

It was just a great Christmas! It just makes you so happy to be happy doesn't it.