Christmas is Coming!

Dear Ty—

How are you doing? I hope this has been a great week. Seems like you’ve had a lot of change in the past month or so. How was it saying goodbye to Elder Oldroyd? How is your new companion? Did you have to move apartments? Ah! So much change! Hopefully it’s all good and you are just enjoying the ride. And hopefully you have found some people who are interested in learning about the gospel. Missionary work is so hard, but I imagine it’s also quite rewarding. I’m interested to hear what the city is like during Christmastime. Do many people celebrate? Are there decorations up? Hopefully you have something special planned for Christmas Day. We are looking forward to talking to you, but will miss having you home with us. It’s just not the same without you!


This week for me was all about holiday prep---


1. I found AND mailed the Christmas cards!

2. Tuesday I spent the ENTIRE day baking and packaging caramel popcorn. I tried to get out of it by telling dad I’d make popcorn just for him and find something simple for the neighbors. But no. He really wanted to give popcorn! So. That’s what we did. The popcorn popper gave up the ghost at the end of the day. 24 years of popcorn making is not bad! Ethan is going to be sad until we get a replacement.

3. Ethan and Blake put up Christmas lights! We haven’t had lights on our house for over a decade! They look really nice and festive—and I’m so glad it wasn’t me on that ladder, because it looked terrifying to be up that high. Next year we will have to try putting them up before Halloween when it’s not so cold outside.

4. I spent several hours this week wrapping presents—which means I will not be up all night on Christmas Eve! Huzzah!

5. Tate had a kindergarten holiday program that was highly entertaining to watch. Poor Dad had to miss it. He would have enjoyed all the little kid shenanigans.

6. Rob and Leisja drove to Utah Thursday so we could have a family party with them because they will be spending Christmas in Idaho. We ordered pizza and went to Grandma and Grandpa Rawson’s house for dinner and games. Leisja planned a bunch of games to get everyone playing together and Grandma provided prizes like candy bars and fast food gift cards. Everyone had a great time. Blake’s favorite was a game where you put a brown shopping bag on the floor. Then everyone takes a turn bending down to pick up the bag with their mouths. If you can reach the bag without falling over or touching the floor, then you rip off the part of the bag you touched with your mouth, so it makes the bag a little shorter and harder to reach for the next player. Blake is surprisingly flexible and was able to reach down far enough to pick up the bag even when it was all the way flat with the carpet! 

7. Friday we had the Reed family party at the church with Great Nana and her kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids. It was such a good decision to move the party to a church rather than trying to all squeeze into Nana’s house! We listened to uncle Bob share pictures and stories about Great Nana and Bampa, then we had a huge family picture taken before having dinner. After dinner we sang the obligatory 12 Days of Christmas and the kids did their dance to go along. And then the human piñatas came out and the kids got to go collect candy. It was a really nice night.

8.This week Ethan got to go to a party at Flowrider to celebrate the end of his volleyball season. He said he’s not sure he wants to do volleyball again next year. Bummer. We will have to see what he decides. He wants to start going to the football workouts at the high school. So maybe he will decide to play football? Who knows?

9. Michael finished up his finals and is now home for Christmas break. It’s fun to have him around again!

10. Blake answered his date to the Winter’s dance by making her a plate of Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo (with very little help from me.) I was extremely impressed!

I’m looking forward to talking to you soon.

Love always,
Mom






























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