Christmas Day

This year our family gift was a downstairs upgrade for the kids to have as a friend hang-out spot.  It fits perfectly with the teen/pre-teen age range we have going on in our family right now, and already today we've had friends over playing.  There's plenty to do down there.  This is a picture of the kids waiting to come upstairs to see what Santa brought.

Nate, who has been using Tim's 30 year old backpack for Scouts for the past 3 years, asked Santa for his own backpack.  Santa delivered.  Mom and Dad also gave him a new sleeping bag.  He's set.

Turns out Megan's favorite present wasn't from Santa.  It came from Mom and Dad in the form of a Perfect Brownie Pan Set.  Megan is the brownie queen at our house.  She asks to make brownies at least once a day.  Her other favorite present was her turquoise blue skinny jeans, a present from Nate, Jeran and Joie.

Jeran loves his BYU sweatshirt.  It's a good year to be wearing blue (even if you're the only member of the family who thinks so).  Jeran also got a snow shovel from Santa.  He also (kind of) got drums.  Santa and Jeran's parents reached a compromise that Jeran could have an electronic drum pad, complete with foot pedal and MP3 jack...real drum set pending after a year or two more of lessons.

Joie was super, super excited to get her Girl Power Password Journal.  It was a gift from Nate and Jeran, "so she will have somewhere to write 'I love Braxton C.' besides her dresser."  (And yes, I checked and she has been carving in her dresser so I've promised her a date with some sand paper sometime this holiday break.)  Meanwhile, the Girl Power Password Journal has provided hours of family entertainment since it was opened...turns out the REAL reason the boys bought the journal for Joie was to see if they could break into her journal.  The password is voice activated, meaning it technically only recognizes Joie's voice.  If anyone but Joie tries to speak the password to open the journal, sirens go off, sounding the intruder alert.  Nate, Jeran, and all the male cousins at the Jarman Christmas party were entertained for hours trying to speak in high pitched voices to unlock Joie's journal.  When they finally suceeded, they were more excited that they had beaten the voice recognition technology than they were about discovering what was on the inside of the journal.  Boys.

Another favorite were the beanie hats crocheted by Grandma Susan.  The hats arrived the day before the holiday parties at school, and the kids were supposed to wear hats and holiday colors to school the next day for singing-in-the-round, so I let them open the hats a few days early.  Fun!  We found a pretty purple flower to pin to Joie's hat and she's worn the hat every day since she got it, accessorizing every day with different flowers. 

For school the next day, Joie glued some holly to a hair clip for her hat, and Jeran, who was feeling the holiday love, attached a piece of holly to the tip of a Santa hat hoping girls would think it was mistletoe.  He also filled the brim of the hat with candy canes to pass out. 

Finding Light

A grumpy, difficult, tear-filled Wednesday lead us here on Thursday morning. 

A gift for Audrey (her own tiny jungle bell tree)

Wreaths for mom and dad.

An ornament made in school by a girl who can no longer see the smiles of loving parents as proudly presents them with her gift.

A ride home filled with chatter of Christmas memories, and a confession of sneaking out to see gifts in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve...  (Shhhh, don't tell mom and dad). 

A stop at a convenience store for a snack, a bag of jerky, the same kind she shared with her dad.  "I might act like a princess," she says, "But I can eat lke a man!"  That's what her dad  used to tell her when she'd eat jerky with him. 

Memories I've never heard before, a gift from a girl who lived for 8 years with parents who treasured her life. 

A journey that began with feeling sorry for myself, wishing for a "normal" Christmas Eve and ending in my heart being filled with joy at the blessing of being able to share the life of an amazing little girl.  Then spake Jesus again unto them saying, "I am the light of the world.  He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."  John 8:12  For the light that the birth of the Savior brings into the world, we are thankful.

Read about our loss here.

Snuggies

Every year for Christmas we get family pajamas.  This year we decided to be trendy and got matching Sunggies.

The children are nestled all snug in their beds...  Yeah, right!  They actually ditched the snuggies and are running around the house playing hide-n-seek and scaring eachother with the free booklights that came with the snuggies.

We got a kick out of the hospital gown effect...couldn't resist a back shot.

Tim, who was with me when we bought the Snuggies, and agreed with the purchase, declined wearing his (yet), so after he fell asleep...

The kids made sure he was wearing his snuggie!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Christmas Choir Concert

This is the only Christmas photo of Megan and Joie taken at their choir concert. It was taken with a cell phone because even though I remembered all the pieces of the Nativity costumes, got everyone there on time and dressed beautifullly, I somehow (always!) forget the camera. For Christmas my kids are getting me a camera to put in my purse, although sometimes that doesn't work either, because that's where it was for another school event, and I actually couldn't find it in my purse. Of course the girls did great and we have some wonderful family memories of the evening.

Christmas Cheer

We realized Christmas is getting closer and we still hadn't been to Temple Square so we made a spontaneous trip to see the lights and get a feel for the spirit of the season. It was a slushy, snowy night, but as you can see it didn't dampen spirits....or the crowds.

And on a fun note, Joie was spotted by Santa yesterday. Santa's timing could not have been better. At the time of this particular encounter, Joie had been having a day that was a teeny bit more naughty than nice and got stuck shopping with mom and dad...a day destined for boredom, or so she thought. If you've ever seen Joie in one of her moods, you've seen the face that can shoot daggars. Santa must have seen it too, because he walked right up to her and said hello. Now what's a kid to do if they're in the middle of a naughty mood when Santa says hello? Again, if you know Joie, you know she can turn on a dime, and she managed to be the right combination of shy but sweet. Tim and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to let Santa know that even though she was having a bad day, she was a pretty good kid. We also learned he did get the letters we left in the fireplace (and his whiskers were real, so we think this might have been Santa and not one of his helpers). We noticed a remarkable change in Joie's mood after that... You better watch out. You better not cry. You better not pout; I'm telling you why. Santa Claus is coming to town!

Dear Santa

At our house, Santa gives and receives his Santa mail through the fireplace.  His elves collect the mail at night while we are sleeping, and elves also return responses the same way.  I don't remember which brilliant child thought to contact Santa this way, but it worked, and has continued to work.  (No offense to the U.S. Post Office, but it's so much fun to wake up and check for responses from Santa.)  Sometimes it takes days for him to respond, but he always responds, and usually leaves a treat, so it's assuradely worth the wait. 

Every year the Jarman children go to new extremes to test the reality of Santa.  (Yes, we are aware we need to lay off Mythbusters for a season.)  This year, Joie wrote her letter in invisible ink and hid the magical ink-reading light with which such a note would be deciphered.  Then she just couldn't stand the anticipation of not revealing her letter to me, so she shared the invisible ink-reading light with me and let me read it also.  I hope Santa has one of those.  After writing what she wanted Santa to bring she wrote, "If you are not real, Santa, please say so in your letter back to me."  Can't wait to see how Santa responds to that one!  She also asked if she could also have a phone.  You can't blame her for trying. 

If you've been following our blog for longer than a year you know Santa surprised Nate with a phone last year.  Apparently the buzz in our house this year is:  When Mom and Dad say no, ask Santa.  Megan also asked for a phone.  Jeran just asked Santa for a snow shovel, and asked me if he could hand out flyers to start his own snow shoveling business so he can earn money for an iPhone.  Jeran first asked Santa for drums citing the phone incident of 2008 as justification for getting a gift to which parents have already said no.  "...You gave Nate a phone after the folks said no....," he wrote to Santa.  Crafty kids.  Nate was reasonable in his requests, but tested Santa by daring him to reveal something that only Nate and God know.  (Gulp) 

Stay tuned for the outcome...  Santa set a pecedent that apparently our children plan to take full advantage of.

Thanksgiving in Moab

Tim had to work on Thanksgiving this year, so after much deliberation on whether to: (Curtain A) Stay and be supportive and spend the holiday (after work) with our loving husband and father or, (Curtain B) Go to Moab for an exciting weekend with Grandpa, aunts, uncles, and cousins, we chose...  MOAB!

Cousin shot...Nate managed to escape this photo.

Joie at the window to Delicate Arch...love this view.

Jeran at Sandstone Arch being Jeran.

After all, what's a day of hiking without a comedy routine?

This was my view of Nate most of the day.  I wouldn't be a parent if I said I wasn't a little nervous...

Megan was a kid magnet.  Every time I looked at her she was hiking with younger cousins on her back...and didn't even break a sweat.

Proof Nate and I really were there...

Moab always leaves us wanting more.  What an incredible place to enjoy Thanksgiving. 

And as a sidenote:  No husbands or fathers were psychologically harmed in the making of this wonderful Thanksgiving memory.  Tim went to the movies twice while we were gone.  And I should also add that the photos are courtesy of my sisters who made it to Moab with working cameras.