Christmas 2012

 Saturday December 22, 2012 the Marcano family braved the cold to spend the day at Seaworld. We met up with our cousins Cory, Joanna and Gabe and Hunter while we were there. It was great.

The first show we saw was Shamu's Miracles. At first, I was mostly worried about getting wet as there wasn't any room on the benches that weren't in the splash zone. But then the show turned towards miracles of giving birth to a son. Of course it was symbolic of our savior whose birth we were celebrating. As a duet of singers began to sing Christmas carols and broke out into "Joy to the World" I looked around the arena at all those many many people gathered there. These people were of all different religions I'm sure and all different walks of life, but they were all hearing the same song that was jubilantly being sung by this duet. As I heard the words, "let earth receive her King!" my eyes teared up. Yes, let us receive our King! How glorious that day will be when he comes again and all knees shall bend and heads shall bow and tongues proclaim that this is the Christ! I caught a glimpse of that vision as I sat on that bench watching thousands of people celebrating the ultimate Miracle! What a great way to start off Christmas break!

Christmas Eve, Ammon got to open his first gift kind of by default that Jhonny grabbed it out of the car before we got the kids to bed. Oh well. I figured he wouldn't know the difference. He sure was excited to get in it the first time and be able to play sitting up. He's sitting up on his own a bit better now. Hopefully he will get the hang of this soon.

 Not to be outdone, the kids all got to open their new Christmas PJ's on Christmas Eve. Thanks to Grandma for sending $ for me to go buy them along with a few other items.

 Ammon's first Christmas gift! He opened it with Jessica's help of course.

 Lily couldn't wait to open her gift from Jessica. I believe it was her idea to draw names and give gifts to siblings this year. She is a great gift giver. I think it must be one of her love languages. She probably already knew what was under the tree, but she was excited to open it anyway.

On Christmas Eve, Ammon went down for his nap. When I went to get him up, he looked like this. Soo cute. My little man.

 Lily got the one thing she had asked for from Santa, me, Grandma and anyone else who might be willing to buy her a gift for Christmas. Hurray!

 Gavin opens his gift from Mom and Dad that barely made it in time.

 Ammon was much more interested in the tissue paper.

 The kids all got a tablet for Christmas. This of course was decided when we weren't sure if we would remain here or go over seas next fall and I didn't want "big" presents to dispose of. I figured this would be a toy that would compile all other toys/books/games in one. The kids were surprised and excited!

 Gavin got just what he asked Santa for - Captain America to add to his Avengers/super hero collection. Of course this was his original list. He was a bit upset when Santa didn't bring anything on his list that he brought home from school the last day before Christmas break. I had to explain that I sent his requests into Santa's workshop months ago. Santa has to prepare after all. No fair changing your mind at the last second! He got over his temporary disappointment and enjoyed his gifts after all.
Later, Lily whispered in my ear that Santa didn't bring Gavin this present because I (mom) did. I looked at her confused and said, "I don't remember which one he got from Santa." Hmmm. Close one. Do you think she suspects?

 Here's a few more shots of the last first Christmas in the Marcano household. . .

 My super hero! He LOVED his gift from Ammon.

 After presents, the missionaries came over for a Waffle breakfast. We got a few extras that didn't have appointments that day. It was great having them over. After breakfast I warned them that I wanted to hear missionary miracles for their spiritual message that morning. They all took a turn sharing a miracle from their missions and then Jhonny and I shared a couple from our missions. The spirit was burning the place up! It really brought a nice feeling into our home for the rest of the day. I also put a stocking together for each of the Elders and threw in a gift card for each one. They were so surprised. I just hoped to make their Christmas a little bit more memorable. I know it was tough as a missionary to feel very productive on Christmas because few people really want you in their home that day to preach to them. And other than a phone call home, it's hard for it to really feel like Christmas. I hope it was better than Christmas for them. I thought they looked so handsome in their suits all dressed up. I mean that in the most motherly way. I am old enough to be their mother after all.

The next day we traveled to Houston to visit my family. I got a hair cut and instead of seeing Les Miserables as planned, I got sick and ended up in bed. Then I shared it with my mom. Yuck. Not quite how I imagined spending the holidays with my family. Fortunately it was over within 24 hours. On New Years, my former Visiting Teacher came over so we could go see the show. It was soo worth it. I cried through about half of the show. It was heart wrenching and kind of ugly in places, but the music was incredible and moving. I didn't think they could out do Broadway, but they did.

Speaking of New Years. We had a little informal get together on New Year's Eve with friends from our ward. We hung out and played catch phrase and the kids played up until almost midnight. It was kind of exhausting, but so fun. Now it's back to work.

My New Year's Resolution? To survive 2013 and gain my energy back while enjoying every little moment I can with this cute little darling. We're moving into a new phase in our family - no more babies. I hope we are able to capture some great memories along the way.