A Christmas Greeting from the Garcia Brothers

Roman and Isaac love to sing. This was one of the songs that they sang in Sacrament meeting the Sunday before Christmas. Unfortunately, Isaac was late getting on the stage, so he didn't get his spot by his friends. He cried behind the taller kids for the first song, and then was pulled off for the second. They were both more than happy to share their song with me the next day.

Picture a stable in Judea...

A Visit from Grammy Great

My grandmother is the glue that sticks our family together. My childhood is full of memories of the families converging on grandma's house for Christmas parties with Santa and Christmas brunch. Not to mention the other year round activities that brought us together. Since she moved to Cedar City, our family gatherings have been few and far between.

The weekend before Christmas, Grandma came out with Aunt Leslie. My mom hosted a potluck at her house, complete with BBQ. I was quite opposed to BBQ in December, but then it turned
out to be mid 70s that weekend!!

The cousins were all there, except a few wives. The kiddos are all getting so big and had so much fun together. Aaron and Teegan are just 4 days apart. They were both a little clingy that day, but once the toys came out, they were much more social and wanted to trade around.

I love family time and wish we could do it more, without needing a holiday or special occasion. But I'll take what I can get.

The Santa House

How do I even describe this place?!? It's in Poway, in one of the custom home neighborhoods. This guy, JH, is like a big kid with an even bigger allowance. Ever year he decorates his house and hires a Santa, and people are welcome to come for free. The kids get a toy, and there are cookies and hot chocolate.

JH is in my grandparents ward, where we lived when we were first married. The year that I was pregnant with Roman, they had the ward party at his house, I don't think there was a Santa though. We walked around and saw the
decorations. This was the first year that we have gone since we have had the kids though. And it was even wilder than I had remembered!! Actually, I hear he does something new every year!!

You walk up to the driveway... because of course there is no parking near by, and there are huge lit archways, and right away you get to wait in line for Santa. Mr. and Mrs. Clause have their own little gazebo with a full size sleigh and garlands and what not. The boys made their requests and we took a few pics. Mrs. Clause gave them each a
candy cane, and then it was time to pick their toys. Buckets of toys lined the back of the gazebo for the kids to pick from.

JH has been doing this for a while, and a few years ago, decided that he needed more room. He actually built an addition onto his garage, just for the purpose of displaying his Christmas toys. So that was where we headed first. Little snow covered houses, animated Mickeys and friends, a Christmas tree and waist high reindeer. Amongst others.

Then you get to go into their actual house, just the entry way. More toys and decorations. One full room of oversized stuffed animals, nearly life sized.

Outside he has a series of little play houses that are decorated and themed. One is a chapel with little cabbage patch kids sitting on the pews watching the My Size Barbie marry Ken. Another is Santa's toy testing area, with a train going around and other cutting edge toys. Then there was a soda fountain where Santa went to relax.

Outside there was hot chocolate and cookies, and more decorations. Giant ornaments hanging from the trellis, lights everywhere, and a carousel with gears and filled with toys.

The baby enjoyed his very first candy cane while the boys snacked on cookies and shared a hot chocolate.

When we lived in my grandparents ward, we had so many people take us under their wing. One of those families lives right across the street from the Santa house. The sweetest, kindest people you could ever hope to meet. We stopped by, unannounced, at 8 pm to say hi. They had never met Isaac or Aaron, and last saw Roman when he was a baby. They welcomed us in and we visited for half an hour. Seeing them was definitely the high light of my night, and perhaps the whole season. They are an amazing example of love and charity and I hope someday I can express to them just how much they mean to me.

Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

Ben was left to pick the tree himself this year. We started out all together. Had a lovely dinner at Olive Garden and then headed to Home Depot. We were 2 trees in, when the boys BOTH decided they had to go to the bathroom. So I found a cart, loaded all 3 kids and raced to the bathrooms in the back of HD. I learned some valuable info that night... you can fit a whole cart in the handicapped stall of the Carmel Mt HD. As we were racing off, I had told Ben to feel free to pick the tree without us. So he did. And he found the tallest, most beautiful tree they had. I was quite impressed.

By time we got home that night, it was time for bed. So we had plans to decorate the following night. We tried to let the boys do it themselves, without worrying too much about how it would look. At first they were hanging them right next to each other, Roman had a small clump and then a foot away, Isaac had a cluster of ornaments. With a little instruction they got pretty good at spacing them out though.

The boys had fun inspecting each ornament that they took out and started laying claim to them. Where did they learn that one?!?

I tried to get a picture of the baby reaching for an ornament, but instead I got it of him after he had grabbed it... just before he threw it. Thank goodness for shatter proof plastic bulbs :)

Ward Christmas Party

Have I mentioned that we have the BEST ward ever?? Well, we do. Anyway.

This year our Stake dissolved the Spanish Branch, and so we got at least 6 new Spanish speaking families. I think it was in their honor, we had Mexican food and pinatas at our Christmas party!

One of the sisters had made tamales, and there was rice and beans and carne asada with all the fixings. It was yum.

Santa Clause was played by the 2nd counselor in the Bishopric. Every year Isaac asks Santa for a candy cane, and he is never disappointed!! Roman is a little more thoughtful in his request. This year he remembered that he had already asked Dana for a Spiderman Monster Truck... so he had to think of something new to ask Santa. I think he asked for a scooter.

Last year the baby was a nightmare the whole day of the Christmas party. He hadn't slept, wouldn't let me put him down, and had cried alllll day. He finally fell asleep on the way to the church, so I had left him in the stroller while the other boys got to see Santa. Yes, he was so naughty that he didn't even get to see Santa. So I thought this year he would be a little more excited about getting to sit on Santa's lap. Nope. He was terrified of the old guy. Or maybe it was that he didn't feel too secure when we plopped him halfway on each of his brothers' laps. It did look a little precarious, I might have been calling for help had I been put in that situation :)

Next year we will try again for 3 smiling little boys on Santa's lap. Will he be able to handle that?!?

Thanksgiving

The Garcia side of the family lives in AZ. They started out here, and one by one moved away. For it being only 6 hours away, we just don't see them often enough. I refuse to go out there in the heat of the summer, and well, in AZ, that is 80% of the year!

This year we went out for Thanksgiving and had a great time. The boys are at the age, and have just recently gotten there, where they remember their cousins, even when they only see them twice a year. They picked up where they left off and were wild animals together for 4 days
straight.

Adriana is the only girl on the Garcia side, and is an absolute doll! She has so much personality and is just so different from the boys, although she does make sure that she is not forgotten in their games.

The first night that we were there (we were fortunate enough to stay with Adrian and Nichole, thanks again!!!) we put all 4 kids in the same room. Sighris, Adriana, Roman and Isaac. We had tried putting all the boys together when they
were last at our house, and it had worked well. They had gone right to sleep. Either we had done a better job wearing them out last time, or Adriana was the little wild card that kept them all up until after TEN!!! (We all tend to lean more to the later) Adrianna finally passed out in the hall way sometime before eleven!

Thanksgiving was delicious!! Julie and Clarissa must have spent the whole week cooking. We had the traditional turkey, stuffing, potatoes, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole... PLUS we had Puerto Rican pasteles. Yum. I was so
stuffed but wanted to keep eating!!!

After dinner it was of course time to visit... AKA dog pile. Who am I kidding?? This happened the whole night :) The AZ Garcias are a little wilder than our boys... but they had a blast cheering for their cousins. Isaac tried to jump in a few times, we saved him before he took a kick to the head or got rolled on. A few more years, and he'll be able to get in the mix better.

It was a really great visit, and I enjoyed watching the boys with their cousins. The only problem
was keeping the baby out of their way. Hopefully next year he'll be able to join in a little more.

Oh, we also went to one of the least exciting parades ever in Tempe. There just wasn't a lot of noise and excitement. And we got there as it was starting so there was no where to sit. We had to hold all the kids, and the baby was a fuss ball (he had been MISERABLE the whole day). That was were we took that quick group pic.

A New Christmas Tradition

Every year growing up, we would get piles of presents. The tree was buried in them, they would take up the whole room. Even if my parents were broke, they would scrape up the money to get us dollar items or make us things. I loved it. And I love watching my boys open presents, and I imagine the joy that will fill their eyes as I shop and hide things in the closets.

This year I decided that the kids don't need any more stuff. And we all definitely need a reminder of what the season is really about.

The hardest part, is how much I enjoy watching them open the presents and crawling through a living room strewn with wrapping paper to find more! So I knew we would need to replace that joy with something even better.

This year we are going to give a present to Jesus, as we remember his birth this Christmas. We have a box that is wrapped nicely, and every time some one does something nice for any one else, we will write it down and put it in the box. Then on Christmas morning, we will read the nice things that have been done and talk about how happy this makes Jesus.

We unveiled the plan last night, after decorating for Christmas and reading the story of Jesus' birth. The boys had seen the "present" earlier in the day, and were very excited when I pulled it down off the entertainment center to explain what it was for. Roman seemed on board, and then Isaac asked how we were going to give the gift to Jesus. Ben told him that if he had been listening, he would know. So Isaac started thinking very hard...

"Put it up in the sky?"... "No".

"Just wait until we die?"

There we had to laugh. Very logical guesses actually, we were impressed.

It took another minute, and I'm not sure that he truly got it, but we tried to explain that when ever we do good things for others, Jesus knows and it makes him happy.



In case you are worried about my poor neglected children... they are getting scooters from mom and dad and a stocking from Santa. Just not the gobs of presents that have resulted in a toy room too full to play in!!