Christmas Day

I loved that Christmas was on a Sunday this year.  We had a wonderful Christmas service, lots of music and scriptures and good Christmas stories.  Holding Caleb during most of the meeting really added to the spirit for me.  There's something special about gazing at a newborn baby while listening to the story of Christ's birth.  

The kids woke up early and opened their stockings, but we saved the rest of the presents for after church.  Ben figured out Santa this year...Santa made a mistake and left a receipt in one of Ben's books.  We couldn't convince him that Santa might shop at the Wilkes book fair.  He wasn't too upset, though.  He said he was glad he didn't figure it out the hard way, hearing it from a friend.  He also said he needed to know because when he's a dad he wouldn't know whether or not to put gifts in his kids' stockings.  He promised not to tell any of his cousins or friends. 

Brad gave Nate personalized Jones Soda bottles.  They're so much fun!

Later in the day, we went to my parents' to open presents and have dinner.

Tif made this fun scarf for Jillian.  It's so soft!

Nate's friend, Katey, came over for a while. I hope she wasn't overwhelmed by the craziness, but she seemed to have fun!

My mom made us aprons!

All of us at dinner.  Merry Christmas!



Christmas Eve

I made an attempt to take more pictures on Christmas Eve this year.  We always spend the evening with Brad's family and we have so much fun together that I forget to take pictures.  I did a little better this year, at the beginning, anyway. 

The second cousins: Kylie & "T"

The cool guys: Dad, Brandon & Nate

The affianced: Emily & Zach

More second cousins: Andrew, Amanda, Alexis, Emily, Zach & Troyana

The "wanna-be" Van Akens, trying to blend in with real Van Akens.  Can you tell them apart? 

Getting ready for "Chinese Christmas"

Kylie counting to make sure the number of gifts equals the number of people.

The ancient tradition of Chinese Christmas (the name horrifies my children and I, myself, once had a hard time saying it, but I got used to it) has been in Brad's family forever.  No one can explain the origins of the game, or the reason Brad's family calls it Chinese Christmas instead of Yankee Swap or White Elephant. 

We thoroughly enjoy playing every year, no matter what it's called, and a "friendly" rivalry has sprung up between the Jonathan Williams family and the Brad Van Aken family.  The Williams family admitted to training hard for this year's event.  Jonathan claims they devoted 48 Family Home Evenings to perfecting their strategy.  Shoulda made it 49, I say!  'Cause we kicked their behinds!  Although the James Wise "Van Aken wanna-be" family made a strong showing at the very end. 

The final tally was something like ("stealers" are in bold):  Van Aken family:  Nerf shotgun, 2000 Black Cat firecrackers, Beta Fish with tank, jumbo deck of playing cards, wooden/vinyl letter plaque with Gordon B. Hinckley's "Be-attitudes", finger football game.  Williams family: ukelele, $15 Itunes gift card, foot care set, head massager, Rubbermaid set, candles.  Wise family: electric train set, cake decorating set, jumbo pack of play-dough.  Clearly the Van Aken family, who ended up with the most "stealers", was the winner! 

It's always so much fun to see which gifts are the "stealers." Who would think that a ukulele or a Beta Fish would be a big hit?  



Another New Cousin!

We started the year with a new cousin and ended it with another!  Brad's sister Alicia gave birth to Caleb Ryan on December 21st at 1:30 am.  He weighs 7 lbs. 8 oz. and is 20" long, and is such a cutie!  We visited them in the hospital Wednesday afternoon, and then again when he arrived home on Friday.  And then again on Saturday.  And Sunday.  And one more time today (Wednesday).  Can't get enough of that sweet new baby-ness!

Student of the Month

Jillian was selected as the 7th grade girl student of the month for November and was honored by the Kiwanis Club at a breakfast at the Wing Point Country Club.  All of our kids are good students, but Jillian's the first one to be student of the month.  We're very proud of her great example and hard work.  And now we're sporting a "Proud Parent of a Kiwanis Student Award Winner" license plate holder!

Tradition, part 2

Once we cut the tree, the second part of the tradition is decorating it!

See, isn't it beautiful? Full, evenly spaced branches, almost symetrical shape!

Ben's favorite part of decorating is putting the angel on top!

Perfect!

Tradition!

It wouldn't be Thanksgiving weekend if we didn't go to the moutains to cut our Christmas tree!  We weren't sure if we were going to find snow, since the temperatures had warmed up and it had been raining a lot, but once we got up there, this is what we found:

Snow!  YAY!

But when we got to our sledding spot, this is what we found:

Four wheelers, BOO! 

  

But there was still enough snow for the kids to have a good time.

Kylie sledding with Ben

Jillian and Charity

Brad found a beautiful Silver Fir, probably the best one yet!

Then he found another great one for his mom. 

Kylie and Aubrey

We were joined by five other families: the Kollodges, the Hooyers, the Kims, the Hickmans, and the Hansens. We tried to get a picture of all of the kids together, but some of them were trying to stay warm in the cars.

We did get a picture of all the moms, though! 

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had Thanksgiving at our house again this year.  It's become a tradition that I really enjoy.  We're able to mix my family and Brad's family and our "adopted family" very nicely! 

Kylie and I started the day with the 2nd annual Bainbridge Island Turkey Trot 5k run.  Another tradition I enjoy!  No snow this year, thank goodness! 

Coming down the final stretch!  We stuck together for the first mile or so, then Kylie took off and ended up beating me by a few minutes.

I was happy with my time, though, and it felt great to get a run in before the big feast.

After the race, Kylie joined Brad and Ben and many others for a pick up game of soccer, and I went home to start cooking.  Jillian and I had made pumpkin and apple pies the night before, so we had plenty of time to cook the turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, herbed yams, and gravy.  Everyone brought side dishes to round out the meal.

Fortunately Mariann (our adopted crazy aunt) loves to take pictures so we actually have some from dinner.

Grandma Susan, Grandpa Tom, and Kylie

Jane, Ashley, & Brandon

Grandma Vikki and Alicia

Jillian getting seconds (or is it thirds???)

Me and Brad

Nate & Jimmy

Grandpa Tom, Jillian, Kylie, Mariann, Ozzie, Izaac, & Ben

Ozzie is a party animal!

He's checking to see if I'll give him some more!

After dinner we played a rousing round of "The Game of Things," and then ate pie until we fell into a collective coma.  Another successful Thanksgiving!  It has been an interesting year, lots of challenges and times for growth, and so many things to be thankful for.  I'm especially thankful for my family, all of them...my immediate family, extended family, "adopted family," and friends who feel like family. Without their love and support, it would be awfully difficult to make it through this crazy journey of life.