A Roper Family Christmas

We had a great Christmas this year.  Laid back and quiet- just right!

Christmas Eve at 5:00 pm- time for my annual mad rush to make Christmas pajamas!

While upstairs in the kitchen, chef Glenn cooked the amazing dinner.  I didn’t quite get to the Christmas tablecloth and other adornments, but we did manage the Christmas dishes!

After dinner, the best part- kids snuggled up in matching pj’s to read The Grinch and The Bible:

Then cookies and carrots for Santa (the boys were feeling extra generous on the carrots this year)…

Some gifts dropped off by a mysterious doorbell ditcher…

Then off to bed to get ready for Christmas morning (poor Derek had a sore throat- he has been swamped with sickness this winter)!

It looks so similar every year- the kids are just a little bit older and the gifts are slightly different, but I love how reliable Christmas morning is for our family.  I can count on smiles, hugs, and chaos.  There are always messy faces and Legos strewn all over the house.  We always stay in our pajamas as long as we possibly can.  There is always some fighting and whining, but more joy and kindness.  There’s nothing like being a family on Christmas day.  Once again, it was a wonderful Christmas!

Gingerbread House Decorating

On Monday we had our annual gingerbread house family home evening (and I felt very proud of myself for pulling it together the day after our big Salt Lake trip).  We decorated graham cracker gingerbread houses and then doorbell ditch them to people we know.  I have fond memories of doing this every year when I was growing up (although we always did it with the same two families).  We make a point to invite someone different every year.  We have kept the tradition going now for many years, and I love it every time.

This year we had the Trythall, Camp, and Ricks families over.  It is always fun to see how each year’s group blends and what comes out of the evening.  We had a great time decorating the houses, and with an unusually large number of very young children, it was pretty chaotic!  We doorbell ditched 4 houses with only one dropped house, which I consider to be a great success!



We’re lucky to be surrounded by great people.  Another fun Christmas experience!

And Finally, The Concert

After all our festivities in Salt Lake, the moment finally came that had brought about the whole trip- the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert.

The boys and I parted ways with Glenn and the Ericksons and stood in line to get into the Conference Center.  I was a little surprised at my own giddiness once our tickets were scanned and we were riding the escalator up to our nosebleed seats.  I was so excited to be there (the boys were excited too, despite their totally fake smiles in the picture)!

The concert was everything we hoped it would be.  It held the boys’ attention for the whole thing, even though it didn’t start until past their bedtime.  Adam was exactly the type of concert-goer they were appealing to when they lowered the age from 8 to 5.  He was so thrilled the whole time that he would loudly giggle and exclaim at all the exciting moments.  His laugh was so full of joy and excitement that people in the rows surrounding us all craned their necks to see his reaction whenever something funny was said.  At one point Santino Fontana, the guest star, asked all the children ages 5-10 to stand up and yell, “Merry Christmas” as loud as they could to help bring Christmas cheer to the concert.  Derek and Evan stood up, but they kind of uncomfortable shifted around when the time came for their participation.  Not Adam.  He yelled “Merry Christmas” with all his little heart and soul!  It was fun to watch.

Here are a few pictures from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir’s Facebook page, since we were too busy enjoying to take pictures during the concert (and it wasn’t allowed anyway)…

Although I feel like most of my friends (particularly those who live in Utah who had much better seats than we did) would think we are a bit crazy, I thought the weekend was totally worth the 16 hours of driving!  The concert was really so much fun, particularly to get to spend it with my 3 little dates!

On our walk back to the hotel, we went through Temple Square for one last view of the Christmas lights.  By that point it was very late and the boys were freezing cold (yet refused to zip up their coats).  I think Adam’s face is so funny in all of these pictures.  He just wanted to go snuggle up in his warm bed and couldn’t figure out why I wanted to take a picture in front of every tree on Temple Square!

The lights are just so beautiful.  I managed to get him cheered up as we were leaving Temple Square by pointing at silly things like the trash can and suggest that we should take a picture with it to remember our fun evening.  Adam perked right back up and I couldn’t get him to stop suggesting that we then take a picture next to every rock on the ground or person passing by.  By the time we got to the hotel, the boys were all full of enough pep to take another hour to relive the best moments of the concert while telling Glenn all about it, cute giggles included.

What a great opportunity!  We even managed to make the drive home through the snow without getting too grinchy.  We have had so many great chances to think about Christ and Christmas this season- it is hard to believe that Christmas is now almost here! 

Maybe Christmas Doesn’t Come From a Store Part Two

Here’s a synopsis of the next portion of our trip to Utah…

Friday night we went to Candlelight Christmas at This is the Place Park.  It wasn’t quite as exciting as I thought it would be, but we enjoyed being together while riding a train, meeting Father Christmas, seeing a live nativity, and doing pioneer Christmas activities.

Amelia giggled through the entire train ride…

We had to take a (blurry) picture next to the shop of our ancestor!

The boys all clamored to put their names on the “Nice” list…

While Glenn was quick to add Amelia’s name where it belonged…

Some of the kids enjoyed meeting Father Christmas more than others.  One refused to meet him at all (but did finally agree to be in a family picture with him as long as the child did not actually have to stand next to Father Christmas).  I thought it was particularly sweet that when Adam climbed up onto his lap, Father Christmas said, “You’re the brave one, I can tell.”  How true that is in multiple ways.  Amelia, on the other hand, loudly let everyone know that she wasn’t feeling particularly brave that evening.

We enjoyed snuggling together in the hotel (Amelia insisted that she was going to sleep with the boys, but we eventually had to kick her out).

On Saturday we spent the morning leisurely wandering around Temple Square (in the rain and snow).  We’re always so busy when we go to Salt Lake that we don’t have much time to go to the Visitors Center and really look around.  This time we took the whole morning and went at a leisurely pace.  We even managed to find time to have a fancy lunch at the Lion House, a special place we like to eat there on Temple Square.  It was refreshing (and a little chilly).

Here is one of those moments that you just can’t stage.  We were all sitting on the benches looking up at the Christus statue and one by one the kids slowly gravitated right to the base of the statue.  I loved watching them gaze up at it together.

Saturday evening we went to see our friends, the Ericksons.  Mike was one of Glenn’s best friends in law school.  We have loved him and Jenet ever since (well, he didn’t marry Jenet until about 5 years ago, but we have loved her since then).  We had a great time with them and then headed as a group back to Temple Square to see the Christmas lights.  It was drizzly and cold, but beautiful.

Once again we realized that Christmas is about faith, friends, and time with family.  We managed to fit in just the right things to serve as a good reminder!  We couldn’t have asked for a better time!

Maybe Christmas Doesn’t Come From a Store

This past weekend was so great for our family, and for me in particular.  We took a whirlwind trip to Salt Lake City to see the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert, and it was a perfect way to keep the Christmas spirit going around here!

Back in October I entered the lottery for tickets, knowing that there was a low likelihood that we would get any.  It was a totally random thing to do.  I just saw that the Sesame Street Muppets were the special guests and that they lowered the age limit for kids to get in to 5, so I thought it would be really fun to take the boys.  Miraculously, we got the tickets!

I decided I wanted to make it a special Christmas weekend.  Our family goal this year is service, and we haven’t done as well on focusing on that as I had hoped, so I decided I wanted to find a service project to do.  A weekend where we were away from home without all our other responsibilities was the perfect opportunity.  Through a long series of events, I found Bel Reh- a caseworker for the Asian Refugee Association (who is a refugee himself)- and he had the perfect family we could adopt for Christmas.  It is a Burmese family with 6 children ages 9 and under who came to the United States 2 years ago after living in a refugee camp in Thailand for the last 11 years.  The parents don’t speak any English, and the kids are starting to pick it up pretty well.  We set to work planning out some Christmas gifts we could bring.

The weekend finally came (after what seemed like waiting forever).  I realized at the last minute that I was not as prepared as I hoped.  I was up packing until 2:30 in the morning, my saintly mother was running around doing last minute shopping for me, and I realized that there were friends we wanted to see that I hadn’t contacted.  Nevertheless, we set off.

We left on Friday morning as early as we could get going.  We quickly realized that we would only make it in time for our appointment with our new friends if we drove with basically no stops and went straight to their house.  After 8 hours of driving we pulled in with just enough time to freshen up in the car, then meet Bel to deliver their gifts.

I knew they must be struggling since they came to the United States with basically nothing and don’t speak English.  I was not prepared, however, to walk into their tiny apartment (in a run down complex full of refugee families from all over the world) and see that there was nothing in the front room.  There was a little kitchen in the back with a kitchen table that they pulled chairs from for us to sit on, but that was it.  The kids’ school pictures with “SAMPLE” stamped across them and a couple of school assignments were their wall decorations. 

We carried in the little Christmas tree we had brought.  The grandma went upstairs and came down with a little table for us to set it on.  The boys and members of the family all helped carry in the gifts (which I wish had been more), and we spent a fun 30-45 minutes talking, using Bel as the translator.  The little kids spoke to us in English.  They were polite and friendly and so sweet.  It was a really touching experience. 

Being there with that family and sweet young mother (who was much more smiley than the pictures make it seem) made me think of the luxuries I have as a mom taking care of my children and how difficult it would be to take care of 6 kids with so little, wanting the best for them.  I always have a hard time knowing how helpful it is to just give things to strangers (I wonder how they feel about it) or for our kids to give Kiva loans for example (I think the money probably just goes into a big pot, but the kids like to feel like they’re giving to someone specific).  Without knowing what will really have an impact, I just hope that something we do can make a difference.  I know it makes a difference to us, but I want it to make a difference to them.  It is a special experience to be allowed into a stranger’s home, see their circumstances, and think that the gift of Baby Jesus was just as much for them as for us and how much He loves them too.

Anyway, the experience left me feeling grateful for the opportunity to widen our circle a little bit and to realize that all over the world we have brothers and sisters who aren’t that different from us.  Life has planted us in different circumstances, but we all have similar needs and desires to love and be loved.  Friday afternoon I felt both.  I hope my kids felt it too, and that it spoke to their hearts at least a little bit that maybe Christmas doesn’t come from a store.   Perhaps it means a little bit more!