Emily & Seth: Christmas 2009

It has been a long time since I've blogged, so this will be random posts from the last year or so:

We had a wonderful Christmas in 2009. Below is our beautiful Christmas tree. Even though it's more of a pain, and more money, Seth lets me get a real Christmas tree every year because I love it!!! The real tree is one of my favorite parts of Christmas and I love to decorate it.

This is the new Christmas decoration I made this year. (I'm making it a tradition to make a new on each year).

We got to spend Christmas with a lot of the Wagner's. The Magelby's, Seth's sister Kristina, her husband Curt and their 2 girls, Felicity and Eva came from Washington D.C.; Seth's brother Ricky came from Salt Lake, and of course Seth's Mom Jeena was with us, as were the Brimhall's, Seth's sister Angie, her husband Jeff and their two kids, Hadley and Hyrum. I didn't take many pictures on Christmas (does anybody else have more pics) but, I did get the video of us singing We wish you a merry Christmas.

Of course I made pies for Christmas dessert. (Apple, berry, strawberry-rhubarb, and peach-berry)

Memorable events from Christmas Eve and Christmas Day:
~the Brimhall's got a Wii (see above);
~I had a disaster haircut that ended up in me getting it cut short to fix it;
~we got to talk to Seth's younger brother Jacob who is serving a mission in Manchester, England, ~we left the second turkey roasting in our oven while we went to the Brimhall's for Jacob's call, and when we came back, drippings from the turkey had gotten out of the pan and were on fire in the oven, thus our house was filled with smoke! We are lucky it didn't burn down the house. Let this be a lesson to us all, never leave anything roasting in the oven while you're gone.
~We went caroling
~we had a wonderful Christmas pageant that I helped put together. It was so fun; we expanded it this year, and even added Samuel the Lamanite, which Jeff bravely played. The rest of us wicked Nephites threw balls at him (which were supposed to miss him, but most hit him anyway).
~We went to Kirtland, OH to see the Nativity Exhibit. There are hundreds of Nativity sets they put up at Christmas time

*~Seth and I started our new tradition "The Gift of Gratitude." You wrap up a small box like a present, and put a slit in the top. Then from Thanksgiving until Christmas, you write down things you are thankful for and put it in the box. On Christmas morning, before you open any other presents, you read all the pieces of paper from the box. This was my favorite thing this Christmas. Our box was full to overflowing. We have so much to be thankful for. I am grateful The Lord Jesus Christ came to the Earth and sacrificed all for us, even His life, so that we can live again with Him and Heavenly Father, and with our families.

Seth got to go with a few of his siblings and his mom to visit his Grandpa, Robert M. Wager, who is about 95 years old. He lives in Indiana.

We also drove to Chicago for a few days at New Years time and celebrated Christmas with my whole family. These pics are from opening presents.

(Me, Seth, and my bro. Jacob)

The Dimonds (my sis. Hannah and her husband, Michael)

(Me, and my sis.' Martha, Claire and Ashley)

(Above: Dad; Below: My bro.s Trey and Jacob)

(My Mom and her Joy blocks I made her for Christmas)

I really wanted to give my parents a gift that would mean a lot to them because they mean a lot to me. I spent a lot of time over the past year collecting pics. from relatives so that I could put this gift together. My parents were very surprised and my mom did cry, a lot. That meant that she really loved it. :)

The gift was that I got together over 200 pictures of my parents and our family, and I scanned all of them, digitally fixed them up and put them all on CD so that we won't ever loose them to damage. Then I printed doubles out and put them in a photo album for my parents, and (for the finally) I put some of my favorites in a collage frame to hang in my parents' home. Click on the picture to get a closer look.