The Nelson Family : Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Merry {Different} Christmas!

This year was a little different at our house - we all felt it. It seemed to be the theme for this Christmas season - different. A couple of traditions we had been holding onto fell by the wayside. Everyone still felt the Christmas spirit, the anticipation and the excitement but I think all would agree it was a bit different. Different isn't bad - different is different. Our Missionary has been out for almost 3 months at this time and I freely admit I miss him! We miss him! We are overwhelmingly proud of him and love receiving his emails and phone calls which do nothing but reassure us that he is well and where he needs to be but there is a presence who has always been with us missing and we felt it this Christmas. Now while some traditions kinda got forgotten 1 of my favorites is the Santa Photo and I persisted and they willingly agreed. I wanted to have a larger picture of Max but when I grabbed the 8x10 frame off the wall Cooper said 'People will think he is dead' - Huh! Hadn't thought of that but it did seem a bit much so on the phone - hard if not impossible to see is our Max :) and a different Santa than years past - different!

Another tradition - the Christmas Sunday before Church picture with another appearance on the phone is Elder Nelson (Yes Cooper is very tall but the real story this year is Brody - He has sprouted like 4 inches this year and has past me liberally - just harder to tell when standing next to Coops))

Yup - Cooper can rock a photo!

This year our ward put on a Live Nativity Pageant. Over the number of years we have lived here the ward has always put on a Nativity display in the building with 100's of Nativity sets from all over the world and it has always been so beautiful and such a neat offering to the town to share in the spirit of Christmas but it was time to do something different... again something different. Cory and I both served on the Nativity committee in areas of our strengths - Cory with Advertising - so calling people he doesn't know and asking them to do stuff they may not normally do and I was in the kitchen organizing the refreshments for after each performance - this was not different! Can't think of anywhere I would rather be!! It was such a fun experience and the town really surprised us with their response! What a wonderful way to bring the Spirit of Christmas not only to those watching but to all of us who participated - such a special thing.

Cooper as the Angel Gabriel, Brody in the chorus of Angels, Cory, Ivy and Tanner as Shepherds. It was such a beautiful night with the snow lightly falling but it was really warm to be outside. Such a cool experience.

Yup - we look like a million bucks on Christmas morning!! We had to send Tanner back down to the hide-a-bed around 4am but then the fun got started at 6:30ish.

Tanner and his Santa gift - he got just what he asked for a Marvel Avengers Gaunlet

Brody just asked for a hoodie with an all over pattern - so Santa found one dear to his Dad's heart! Brody was very pleased and has hardly had it off his body since the paper came off!

Cooper didn't get his letter into Santa this year but Santa remembered him with

some new Basketball kicks - Greek Freak 1's

Apparently I did not get a picture of Ivy with her new Fitbit but Santa found her as well - obviously because she is always on the Nice list! Tanner also got this T-shirt which he immediately put on and then went to his room to find his Stampeder's hat and the 2 have hardly been off his body since Christmas as well!

For the last 10 years we have had the missionaries over for Christmas breakfast. We have loved this tradition and I have even had to book them as early as October to make sure they know they are expected at our place around 9am on Christmas morning to indulge in deep fried French toast - we love it! They come and some have made their calls home from our home, some come in their jammies and all come and seem to really enjoy spending that time with us. Again going along with the different theme of Christmas we, for the first time had Sister Missionaries! Sister White and Sister Sommerville are beyond awesome and we love having them in our home every time and this time was no different! They came and played games with us (numerous rounds of Dutch Blitz!!) and ate a very small amount of breakfast - (Cooper's record still holds at 8 pieces) but they were different in the most lovely way and I loved having them with us. Then it was home to Barnwell for Marlene's Christmas dinner which was as always amazing - games were played, laughs were heard and peace was felt. There is just something about being surrounded by family at Christmas. We always go down south during Christmas holidays but it has been years since we were there for the actual Christmas day dinner and it was so wonderful! I have been a Nelson for 22 years and it is my home as well and I love to be there. Cory, Cooper, Brody and I headed back on Boxing Day for work and friend time but Ivy and Tanner stayed for a few extra play dates with the twinners and Macy.

This year for New Year's Eve we also did something different - for the last number of years we have been down South and participated in their NYE festivities but this year we were on our own to plan some fun so we went to dinner and hit the movie - Jumanji 2 was great. We loved the first one and the second was just as fun! Brody then headed to the Youth dance and partied until 3:30 am - yup 3:30 am!! He was the night owl this year! Cooper hung out with friends and was tucked in bed before Brody got home if only by an hour. Me, I was tucked in and drooling by 12:10!! Much to Tanner and Ivy's disappointment- thankfully Cory is a bit more of a night owl and I honestly don't even know when they all headed to bed - bliss!

On New Year's day we again did something a little different for our family - we love the outdoors but do tend to spend more of our summer months outside and our winter months inside waiting for the summer months! But I convinced everyone to head out to Chester Lake and snowshoe up a mountain trail and then we crazy carpeted back down! So much fun! It was a first for Ivy and Tanner but they were great troopers - it was a tough hike but there wasn't too much complaining. Heading down was true to form for our family - Cory had to be talked in letting me carry the extra stuff so he could join in the fun, Brody took off and never looked back, Cooper watched out for Tanner and Ivy took a bit longer to warm up to the idea but ended up going for it and having a blast! I went on this hike a while ago and have wanted to take my family ever since I am so glad they were good sports (they had had very late bed times), the weather was perfect and the trail wasn't too busy because it was a favorite memory for me and I love that we started our year off a little different!