Los Aldama

I cannot believe that Christmas has come and gone already. We took our tree down yesterday. We would have loved to keep it up until New Year's Day, but space is limited and the clutter (though good clutter) was driving us crazy in our tiny apartment. We had a wonderful Christmas. It was magical for many reasons. We began playing Christmas music around the clock around Thanksgiving and it never did stop. I am missing it already. I also felt more in the Spirit than I have in a long time. We had a paper chain counting down the days, loved looking at Christmas lights, had the tree lights on continuously, told the kids the story of the Night Before Christmas so much they had it memorized and did many Family Home Evening lessons on the Nativity. I made all of my gifts this year- an ambitious pursuit that left me both exhausted and fulfilled and made caramels and all sorts of goodies. We hosted Dan's parents the week before and celebrated Noelle's Birthday. The kids not only believe in Santa, but are at the age where nothing could be more exciting than seeing him in person, talking about him watching to see if they have been naughty or nice, and were thrilled when Aunt Gina sent them a personalized message from Santa via email. That sealed the deal- Santa officially knew them by name! As previously posted, our family and friends came to our aid to ensure that our family had a wonderful Christmas. I had been so worried about how we would provide a Christmas for our children this year being in school, and the gifts, packages, cards filled with money and treats just kept coming. It was testament to me that Heavenly Father is aware of our needs and sends relief in the form of loved ones assisting. This will indeed be a Christmas that I will tell my children about for years to come.
This is my first year celebrating Christmas outside of Sacramento and away from our California family. We missed them dearly. We kept ourselves busy to stay in the spirit. On Christmas Eve we celebrated Noelle's 5th Birthday and went to Grandma (Shirley) and Grandpa Strong's home with my Aunt and Uncle and cousins. We had a yummy dinner and a program. That night the kids fell asleep on the way home, but we woke Noelle up to write Santa a note and to make him a plate of cookies. Santa and Mrs. Claus had fun exchanging gifts and arranging presents for the children. The next morning the kids were up at the crack of dawn to see what Santa had brought. Corom got a Buzz Light Year and Noelle a Jessie the CowGirl from Santa. They then opened all of the gifts from the family! Elijah had gifts to open too, but paced around the living room, watching as other people opened their gifts. He seemed unsure about all of the festivities! We got so many fun, thoughtful gifts! The kids are still mesmerized by all of the new items in their toy room! That night we went down to Orem to celebrate Christmas with the Jessops. We had so much fun that Noelle asked me if we could stay there forever!
We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! We wish we could give each of you a hug and express our gratitude for your love and support.

We have a birthday girl! Our sweet Noelle Juliette is turning five today and it has been a week of celebration! I have some updating to do, but will save that for when I have time to write! We celebrated last week with Nana and Papa and on Tuesday with close friends Pinkalicious-style! I cannot express in words how much this beautiful girl has blessed our lives. She is creative, sweet, curious and energetic! I keep telling her the story of her birth- how 5 years ago today we were surprised to have a Christmas baby! She was 2 weeks early and the best Christmas present. We have a weekend of celebrating ahead of us...so we wish you a wonderful Christmas and are so blessed to have such dear family and friends in our lives. So many of you have come to our aid to ensure that our family has a wonderful Christmas. This will be a year we will always reflect on- for many have recognized the needs of a young student family and have presented us with such generous gifts. We love you all!

"ELIIIIIIIIIIIJAH!" "Here boy, here! Play with the red box! Not this box- the red box! I'm playing with this box not you. Play with the red box Elijah!" "MOOOOOOOM!" Its happening already. Noelle goes to school and Corom becomes this king of the toys and you got it, his little brother wants to do what he's doing. He's picked up some tricks from Noelle- 1st: you try to sub another toy to distract the younger sibling from what you are playing with. 2nd: You yell at them. Maybe this will make them go away. Finally: YELL for mom! (Mom steps in to officiate. Usually it ends up being that the older sibling needs to learn to share.) Such was the dialogue today and I couldn't stop laughing!

So, as I was typing the heading, I was singing "SCHOOL'S OUT FOR SUMMER!" but nope- forever is the word. Dan is done with classwork. We have been married students consecutively since 2002 when we got married. His internship begins in January and will still be studying for his national exam in April, but no more sitting in a classroom!!!!! We celebrated today by taking a family day and going on a drive. We went up to the Aerospace Museum at Hill Air Force Base. AMAZING! I am such a history junky and could have spent the whole day reading about each of the planes. We did spend quite a bit of time drooling over the machines and had a picnic lunch in the 40 degree weather. Nothing like eating peanut butter sandwiches under these monster airplanes. We then drove up to Logan to see the temple. This has been on my to-do list since we moved here. Noelle had tears in her eyes and told me that she felt the Spirit and that she wanted to stay there forever. The grounds are peaceful and I think I could stay there forever too. I tell you, that little girl is very in-tune. I took her into the lobby to use the restroom and she was giddy about being able to "Go inside of the temple." We topped the day off with a Costco take-in-bake pizza. A perfect day! Hope all is well with all of you. I sure would love to read some blogs- has everyone stopped blogging?

The boys weren't fans of Santa- but Noelle could not get enough of him. She was excited because Mrs. Claus made her candy bag with the help of Rudolph. Corom on the other hand keeps saying, "I don't like Santa, he's scary." On Saturday morning, I headed up a Stake Primary Breakfast...the perfect way to kick off our holiday season. It was a beautiful morning. We all wore our pajamas, had a yummy breakfast, a Nativity reading (acted out) and a surprise visit from Santa Claus. My counselors pulled an all-nighter the night before hanging snowflakes from the ceiling. We ate breakfast under twinkle lights. We had so much fun! That evening we accompanied Grandma and Grandpa Strong to their Christmas Dinner at their ward building. Again, a wonderful time. We explained to our observant daughter that Santa visits lots of places and usually has to change his suit. This week has been busy, but I'm not sure why. I feel like I'm a few steps behind the kids and can't seem to get ahead of them- they are so active! We love this time of year and are counting down the days until Noelle's birthday and Christmas on our paper chain. Last night the kids and I drove around looking at Christmas lights while Dan was at class- I love this time of year!
You've got to zoom in on this photo to get the full effect!

Anyone who has young children close together knows that often the children understand each other's languages better than parents. Such is the case with Noelle and Corom. Noelle often says, "No mom, that's not what Corom said, he said this..." Corom will smile his approving smile and I can tend to the request. Today the boys and I were eating lunch and my "Corom interpreter" was at school. Corom was trying to tell me something about a Christmas tree and pointing to the kitchen counter. I kept trying to guess what he was referring to and he started to cry in frustration. Finally I said, "Corom if you want me to help you, you have to stop crying so I can understand." He wiped his eyes and said, "I WANT RICE CHRISTMAS TREES!" Noelle had had Rice Krispies for breakfast and they hadn't made their way to the pantry. Needless to say, he got a bowl full of Rice Christmas Trees for an after-lunch dessert. If Noelle had been here, she would have guessed the request and there wouldn't have been any tears. Something tells me that Rice Krispies will have a new name at our house!