I love the statement, "Christ is the real gift of Christmas." What would we do without Christ in our lives? To have no direction? To have no example? To not have the Savior's Atonement at work in our lives? We have so much to be thankful for, and the Christmas season is such a beautiful time to remind us of our love for the Savior and for family and friends.
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were special as we spent the time with Kevin and Angie's family. I just wish we could have had everyone together for this special time.
Christmas Eve. This isn't a tradition that our Copeland family had, but many of our daughters-in-law must have brought it into the family with them--opening Christmas jammies on Christmas Eve. I think it is such a fun idea!
Kade kept us entertained by showing us all the tricks he has taught Koda. It was really amazing!
The kids thanking their mom . . .
and their dad for the new Christmas pajamas and fuzzy socks.
Even mom and dad got new pajamas!
Of course, they are B.Y.U. pajamas for Kevin . . .
as well as Connor! These family members are true, blue Brigham Young University fans!
Modeling the pajamas with Koda, who is definitely part of the family.
Why the "Colts" for Kade? Because Austin Collie, a former Brigham Young player and Kade's football hero, now plays for the Colts.
Kade, Hannah, Lauren, Connor, and Koda (peeking out).
The girls put out Christmas crackers and candy for Santa--and then it was off to bed for all of them.
Christmas Day. The next morning, the kids were waiting on the stairway with great anticipation until their parents told them it was time to go down.
And yes, definitely Santa had visited the Copeland house and there were plenty of gifts for everyone.
Checking out their stockings.
This was one of the most special gifts of all. Kevin had put together a book about their family's experience of going to Brazil a couple of years ago. Their reason for going--a man in Curitiba had called Kevin and requested that he make a trip there for a very important reason. He wanted "Elder Copeland" to baptize him just as he had baptized his wife 17 years ago when Kevin served a mission there! What a beautiful occasion that was--plus, they were able to attend the Curitiba Brazil Temple Open House.
Kevin gave each of the family members one of these special books, plus his testimony inside.
He even gave George and me one of these special books. Here we are holding the book (me, in my huge flannel pajamas--I never could get warm while we were out in Utah) and a little snowman that Lauren made for us.
This brought the biggest smile to Kade's face. This was the gift he requested most of all--a children's indoor basketball hoop. They had one before, and all the kids loved it. After awhile, it was so hammered, they had to get rid of it. So, Kade asked for a new one.
It become one of the most popular gifts of the entire Christmas. Everyone that came to the house had to try it out. In fact, when Kade and Ethan were playing on it, they were having so much fun, they ran into the wall and made a huge (probably two feet in diameter) hole in the wall! Oh, dear! They had already fixed the wall at least three times from the other basketball hoop!
This is what Hannah wanted most . . .
A guitar! She now needs her Uncle Cameron to teach her how to play it!
And what did Lauren request?
An I-pod, which she was pretty excited about!
These were some little purses which George and I brought all the granddaughters from Italy.
Mom and Dad received presents, too!
This was actually a present that Hannah received, but Koda was really eyeing it, so I guess you could say, it would probably become his soon enough.
After a beautiful Christmas morning, we all helped with the clean-up, then got ready for church. How appropriate that Christmas fell on Sunday this year. As we entered the chapel, a young lady who had just returned from a mission to Canada, was playing the harp. It absolutely set such a beautiful tone for the meeting.
After church, Kent and Natalie and the kids arrived, as well as Angie's parents. We were all so excited to see them. We enjoyed a wonderful Christmas dinner together and felt the joy of a beautiful Christmas Day with family.
3 comments:
I love the Christmas jammies tradition too, but our boys wouldn't know what to do if they actually had "jammies" Looks like Christmas day was perfectly relaxing!!
I love your new blog "entry page," or whatever the name is! You and George are such a wonderful, handsome couple! So glad that you were able to spend Christmas with Kevin, Angie and their children. I, like you, wish we could be together with all of our children, but that one-on-one time is pretty special also.
I also love your new blow header. Like Joyce said, it is a great photo of you and George. You both radiate happiness and look so good together. It was fun to see Christmas at Kevin and Angie's home and so good that you could be with them. They are a neat family and we loved seeing and being with them at the bingo party, also.
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