Merry Christmas!!!
We all had a wonderful Christmas this year. It ended up being very white and cold, so it was nice that we were all snuggled down in our house and just enjoying the day. On Christmas Eve we always try to invite one of my set
of parents over for dinner. This year we had my Mom and step-dad and my sister Denise and bro-
in-law Ted over. We had a big ham and all the fixings. Its crazy how we cook soooooo
much and then we complain about the leftovers.
This year I tried not complain, but
be thankful that we could eat on them
for the next 3 weeks (ha-ha).
Really, I do love leftovers, they always taste better the 2nd time around. We played scum and had alot of fun. Its tradition that Deron does the dishes on Christmas Eve (since that's when
we have our big dinner) so I got to have a break from the mess as he and Halle washed everything and put it away. It was so nice of them. Its wonderful having the family over and sharing the holidays with them.
After everyone left we enjoyed hearing the story of Christmas being read from the scriptures. That is one of my favorite traditions
that our family has.
Deron and I just celebrated our 22 Christmas together and we have read the Christmas story every single Christmas eve, we love it. Then the kids (Kim, Cam and Halle-because that's all the kids that were with us this year) all opened their Christmas PJ's and got ready to settle in for their Christmas Eve party of movies in Kim's room and playing games until they all fell asleep. Of course, we had to wait up for "Santa", since we don't have a chimney for him to come in we have to let him in. He didn't get here until about 1:00am so it was a long "or short night"-depending on how you look at it. At 5:52am the kid were calling us from upstairs in their room to see if we were awake and ready to open presents.....ahhhhh....it was a short sleeping night for sure! So up we jumped (after about 20 minutes of deciding if we were awake or not) to gather our camera's and open the gifts. This year we decided to make the gift opening last a little longer (more than the 15 minutes that it usually takes) and have everyone open them one by one as the rest of
us watched and anticipated what they might be getting. That way we were all able to see what everyone got and enjoy the morning. It took us about 1 1/2 hours and it was so nice! I loved doing it like this and plan on making that another one of our traditions. After we opened presents we fix a gigantic breakfast and Deron's family comes over to eat with us. Usually we have to set up 3 large tables and fix and enormous amount of food, but with everyone living far away and doing different
things we didn't have to set up any tables and didn't have to cook near as much food, in fact I think we ate most of it without having to have leftovers. Its a fun thing to have everyone over Christmas morning and visit with them all. The kids really look forward to it and to eating a big breakfast of pancakes with strawberries and cream, eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns, biscuits and gravy and OJ...this year we didn't cook it all because there just wasn't going to be as many people, but we still had alot of food and no one went hungry by any means! The day was spent lounging, sleeping, playing and watching movies. Later that night we went to Deron's parents for a wonderful turkey dinner and more games. I
love all the get together's and the family bonding time that the holidays allow us to have. We just don't make the time during the rest of the year, but for some reason during the holidays we all make special time to be together. Maybe its part of the "Spirit of Christmas" that brings us back to whats most important!
This year was our first "Wilkerson Family Christmas Party". We decided that with our kids growing up and some of them getting married, that it was time we started a new tradition. 
r old traditions, but with the times changing and our family going in different directions it was time to get a few new ones going. Dana planned the games. They were so much fun. Everyone got involved and had an awesome time. It certainly wasn't one of those parties that everyone sat around and waited for something to happen. 
MT and so he ran down there to check Cameron out and see what had happened. Whenever its a neck injury they don't mess around with it. It becomes very serious, very quick. The boy that Cameron was wrestling had done an illegal move on Cameron's neck. He said that he heard a crackle and a snap and then had intense pain. (I was sure it was broke) I was up in the crowd deciding then and there that this was the LAST wrestling experience that he was going to have and that he was done forever, no matter what!!!! (Mom's do that you know) Deron, the coaches and a few others, were down on the mat accessing his injuries and all I could do was watch. It was pretty intense and scary for a bit. But about the time I was ready to go down and let that boy have it, Cameron said that he would be okay and was going to finish his match (Not what I would have chosen for him, but hey, I'm just the mom). He got up and proceeded to finish his match. I could tell that he was hurting but I admired his strength and courage to go on. Luckily it wasn't anything serious an
d he iced it good and it was just sore for a few days, but none the less wrestling scares me. Cameron loves it (how could you love being beat up and twisted into a pretzel...boys are weird) and assures me that with any sport there is a chance for injuries. Its been fun seeing him excel at something that he loves. I just have to think....it's not going to be too many more years and we will be empty nester's and then we will really miss this kind of stuff. 
t up and make it last all year long. I went out to the city to get my Christmas shopping done over the weekend. It was crazy busy, but as I was leaving the city and all its rush, I saw the Christmas lights twinkling on the trees of yards and office buildings and it took me back to my life when all my kids were young. We would take an evening in December and drive around town or the city (wherever it was that we lived at the time) and look at all the Christmas lights that others had so carefully put up in their yards, on their homes and around the trees. Some were elaborate, some very simple, but it was so fun to hear the kids squeal from the back seat when they saw some they liked. "Mom, look over there, did you see that one?" and so on and so on. Those were great years and are wonderful memories. 
year for all of us to have dinner with our in-laws, so it worked out well to have our dinner with dad on Friday. All of my siblings were there except my sister Denise, who was in New Mexico for the holiday. We had such a great time. 
), the boys played basketball (we had it at the church...for lack of space at my house), the kids did crafts with Kimber and Dana and the rest of us sat around and visited. It was awesome to get to spend that time with my family. We don't live very far apart but finding the time to all get together is really hard at times, since everyone has lives and things that they do....its been awhile, but we can only do what we can do. I hope this Thanksgiving starts a tradition that we can do at least every other year, if not every year. We made a lot of memories and I look forward to making many more. 
