Letter to Santa 2014

Hello again Santa! Welcome to our home. We hope you find the treats pleasing. Like always we have some questions for you:

Always look forward to the Brown’s AND the questions.

Do you have any kids? (Syd)

7,948,642,854,127,019 kids (or commonly called elves)

Have you ever been to Disneyland? (Syd)

Every year – I enjoyed seeing all of you this year during the parade ---

Do you hire/fire elves? (Syd)

They all volunteer. Awesome workers and super friends. Diegos is my right-hand man this year.

Does Mrs. Claus cook anything that you aren’t very fond of? (Karin)

1.      Warm egg nog

2.      Cold meat loaf (wouldn’t recommend it)

How long is your beard? (Camille/Parker)

January – March – 2-4 inches

April – June – 5-7 inches

July – Sept. – 8-10 inches

Oct. – Dec. – 12-22 inches and soft

Do you get present? (Camille)

1.      Cookies

2.      Warm milk

3.      Brownies

4.     Jelly bellies

Every year and it never gets old.

How many elves do you have? (Parker)

7,948,642,854,127,019 AND COUNTING!

How many cookies do you eat on Christmas Eve? (Bryce)

Infinity and beyond….

What is your favorite sport? Or, if you’re a nerd/geek, what is your favorite activity? (Camille/Syd)

1.      Braiding my beard

2.      Teasing the Tooth Fairy

3.      Carving whistles

4.     Frosting cookies

How big is your Christmas tree? (Camille)

This year both Donner and Comet located the tree while many of the elves cut it down and dragged it home – 21 feet, 4 inches.

How many dogs have chased you? (Camille)

None!

What do you do when your reindeer need to go … um … wee wee? (Parker)

I have a bucket. Then dump the bucket on the grass of the naughty kids.

Have a merry season! Ride safe!

Xoxo, the Browns

I love,

Rachel,

Sydney,

Parker,

Bryce and

Camille

You are beautiful, wonderful kids. You have a wonderful family. I never have to worry about any of you – always safely on my nice list.

Thank you for the cookies and the ‘monkey milk.’

Til next year,

SANTA

Christmas Day 2014

 

Christmas morning at the Browns.

Sometimes its hard to wake up at first. But a good hug from Dad usually fixes most anything.

 

Lots of fun presents. Not very many pictures because I was being present!

After a morning of mess-making fun, we headed to my parents home where we met many of my siblings. Sydney grabbed my camera and took a few pictures. I love these shots of my mom with a couple of my brothers.

And here are a couple of my mom's siblings. Gosh, I love those people!

Christmas this year was such a rewarding and relaxed celebration. With the help of my sweet husband, I was able to let go of things that didn't really matter, which is most things nowadays. And I focused on people and the relationship I have with them. I was overwhelmed with love for all the people who have influenced me in my life, past and present. I have been so blessed with wonderful experiences and beautiful people who influence me for good!

God Bless Us, Every One!

Christmas Eve 2014

By the time Christmas Eve rolled around, we had already eaten our first batch of sugar cookies so we had to make some more to give to Santa. We were busy little elves!

 

Then we marched right through our Christmas Eve Traditions.

We talked about what we wanted to give Christ this coming year. Then we wrapped our service chain around the tree.

 

Each link represented something someone did for someone else. 

Then we opened sibling gifts. We received very nice gifts from Clark and Deej. Then the kids gave to each other. Here is Rachel presenting her gift to Bryce. I really loved this tradition this year. It was so fun to go shopping with the kids and see them deliberate and really spend time and thought in picking out a present to buy with their own money. 

Then we watched Mr. Kruger's Christmas. My FAVORITE!!!!

As bedtime approached, the kids kept an eye on Santa's progress on the Santa Tracker website.

After much coercing and patient encouraging, the kids made it to bed. On the table, they left a snack for Santa, socks from their drawers and a letter of questions.

To Be Continued...

Preparing for Christmas 2

Continuing the lead up to Christmas, we had a family party at our house. Hash and Cooper had a great time together. They are busy little boys. It was hard to get a picture of Cooper that was not blurry.

 

And Sarah's the lucky girl that gets to keep up with, not only Cooper, but Milo as well. She's got a good husband by her side that helps her out when she needs it. Like when she really wants a piece of mom's famous red velvet cake!

During the party, which was a Monday, a group of carolers came to the door. These weren't just any carolers. They were some of our ward choir and they were there on a mission. The previous Sunday was our Christmas program and Ster gave a few comments at the end of his meeting. He mentioned that for almost 10 years, he has listened to the choir sing but never been able to see their faces. Sydney leaned over to me and said, "The choir should come carol to dad." That afternoon at choir, I mentioned it to the choir and they were all onboard without hesitation. It was really a sweet moment.

We also prepared for Christmas by doing some service. Earlier in the month, we invited friends (boys and girls, woot woot for Syd)and family over to help us make some snack packs for the Provo Food and Care Coalition. They give these packs out on the weekends to kids that usually have free school lunch during the week. With the help of those at the party, we filled 50 bags and then delivered them on Dec. 23rd. It was pretty sweet.



Preparing for Christmas

After the Disneyland trip, we had a lot to do to get ready for Christmas, beginning with putting up the Christmas tree.

 

 

And I'll tell you what. If you are in the market for doing gingerbread houses, make sure you do it at Aunt Bryn's house. Wowza. That's a lot of candy!

 

We also made sure we did our Bethlehem dinner. Some years are a little more authentic than others. Notice all the tinfoil on the table, as well as the snowmen s&p shakers. 

We also made sure to decorate with snowflakes, turning our family area into a winter wonderland!

To be continued....

Camille's ballet review

This is Camille's 3rd year in ballet. She takes a one hour class twice a week and is really progressing nicely. This year her teacher, Miss Carrie, is teaching the Royal Academy of Dance method from England. Every exercise is choreographed and must be done from memory. I love watching her classes. Camille will take a test in May to pass off her level and get a nationally recognized certificate from the Royal Academy of Dance. Yay.

 

Rachel's ballet review 2014

In December, Academy of Ballet invites parents to come watch the students dance. They start with an abbreviated class and then perform a dance. This was Rachel's first time and she did a great job.

 

 She was very excited to have her good friend, Lydia, in her class.