Christmas 2010

We had a wonderful Christmas AT HOME for the first year of our married lives! It was nice not to pack all our gifts and change time zones. But we did miss our family dearly!

We got a big Christmas surprise...

Yes, snow! In North Carolina, and a lot of it. I don't think NC has had a white Christmas since 1947 and not this much in at least the last 10 years! Of course this meant no church and a few extra days at home! What a great gift! We used it to watch Joy to the World, The Testaments, and Finding Faith in Christ.

Of course we immediately went out to play in it...
Dad got his exercise...
Dylan spent every moment he could in it...
We (the mom's and dad's) built two snow forts for a big cul-de-sac snow ball fight. Boy was it fun, but my arm is sore!
But it was worth it.

I was reminded (by my welts) of how accurate and hard Dylan throws. Too bad he wasn't on my team!

We enjoyed making our own Thompson Traditions:

• celebrated Joseph Smith's Birthday on the 23rd
• shopped for our family gift exchange
• bought an ornament that symbolized the year
• bake and deliver goodies as we caroled
• read the Christmas story
• enjoyed watching movies and playing games as a family Christmas Eve
• We made reindeer milk and food to leave out Christmas Eve
• Our elf, Ferby, was with us all of December to make sure we were nice. He went home with Santa
• We enjoyed doing a service ring and run 12 days of Christmas for someone (can't say who)
• Big Breakfast Christmas Dinner, German pancakes and all- just thinking about it makes me salivate!

Fun Memories:

• Ashlyn loved Caroling, she practically begged us to go before it was even close to Christmas. She could have gone all night long if we hadn't said "enough." Dylan disliked caroling to the same degree as Ashlyn loved it.
• Dylan picked Ashlyn's name for the family gift exchange. That was the last person in the world he WANTED to give to, but it was good for him!
• Ashlyn almost didn't make the "nice" list
• Corbin, Ashlyn and I did so many puzzles- we love dollar store puzzles of our favorite characters
• Ashlyn was desperate to see the reindeer, she wanted to pet them. She didn't so much care about seeing Santa.

The most argued over gifts in our house:

• bakugons
• key car
• back pack

Yes, this was Corbin's gift, and he loves it! Ashlyn tries to sneak it away from him. We are also using the cold winter weather as a reason to stay in and potty train. Good luck to all of us!

We hope you had a wonderful Christmas filled with the Spirit of our Savior and the love of his sacrifice. We hope that this will continue throughout the coming year. Happy New Year!