Our Thanksgiving was great! We delayed it till Saturday so that all of my siblings could be together. We didn't have much planned and it was nice to be able to relax. I had my sister take some family pictures of us on Sunday. Here's what we ended up with:
On Monday I had the opportunity to help my sister set up and decorate a tree at The Festival of Trees. I also helped make the stockings and some of the things that went along with the tree. If you don't know anything about The Festival of Trees, the trees are all donated and then sold to businesses and the public. All of the money earned goes to Primary Children's Medical Center. Last year it brought in $1.7 million if I remember right. Most of the trees are dedicated to a person and their story and picture is posted near the tree. The tree was dedicated to my nephew Lewis, who is thankfully alive and healthy because of the caring and knowledgeable staff at P.C.M.C. He had Hirschsprung's disease, which required a few surgeries and a lot of concern and worry. It was a very emotional day for me to walk around and see some of the trees there and hear some of the stories (lessons learned: life is fragile, count your blessings, and never miss and opportunity to tell someone you love them).
On top of that, I had found out that morning that our friends' finally received a new liver for their little girl and her surgery was scheduled for that afternoon at PCMC. It has been a long road for her. She's just younger than Lane. She's been at P.C.M.C. for probably half of her life. Five weeks ago she was basically on life support and they made the decision to take her off. The doctor's told them she wasn't going to make it, that she had no fight left, and the family was ready for her to return to Heavenly Father if that was His will. Miraculously she not only lived through being taken off life support, but she started to progress and got well enough that she could be put back on the waiting list, and to the answer of many prayers, she received a new liver and is recovering well. She really is a miracle. If you want to read more, you can here. Anyway...my nephew's tree ended up selling for $2,525. I really feel like I started the holiday season off on the right foot :)
This is Maggie's advent calendar. The poem underneath says, "Santa's beard is very bare. On his chin there is no hair. Each day, add one puff of white (cotton ball); when they're all there he'll come that night." She gets really excited to glue the cotton balls on. Christmas is so much more fun through a child's eyes. This is the first year she is really starting to understand it. And while I don't want her to grow up greedy, and I want her to know the true meaning of Christmas, I get a lot of joy in seeing her excitement.
This is my homemade version of the Elf on the Shelf. If you're not familiar with him, he watches you through the day, then comes alive at night, flies to the north pole to let Santa know how you were through the day, then he returns and hides in a new location before morning. I've named him Slem (short for Santa's Little Elf Messenger). This morning was the first morning he appeared; hanging on the curtain rod. Maggie was excited to find him. In the morning he'll be resting on the deer's nose. (also a jig-saw project :) ) I've got all sorts of hiding places for him up my sleeve :)
I spy a little elf:
and these stars...I bet you wouldn't guess they're made out of cereal box cardboard (unless you've seen them before.) They're actually pretty sturdy and I think everything will hold up a little better than the salt-dough ornaments. Hopefully next week I'll have a picture of the entire tree. My camera batteries were low and the lighting was all wrong, so none turned out today.
I'd like to relax now, but I still have lots of projects planned for the kids...Thank goodness for naps and early bedtimes :)
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