christmas!

Something really fun (and very time consuming) we did this year was audition for "Scrooge, A Christmas Carol" at the terrace playhouse. Cort's teacher suggested that he might need an outlet for his dramatics, so I thought this might be fun and since I would have to take him and stay with him at rehearsals, I decided to do it as well. Gretel decided the night before auditions that she wanted to do it too. I was a town person, Cort was a street urchin and Gretel was a Christmas Past ballerina. I also got to waltz at Fred and Betsy's party (which was a riot, i am trying to talk Ty into taking lessons with me) and the kids got to be dance partners at the Fezziwig party. We had such a wonderful time and made great friends and memories. The kids are dying to do another show sometime. Ty was such a brick about us being gone so much. My awesome mom also helped with rehearsals and shows when Ty wasn't home to watch the younger three kids. I appreciate the two of them so much for allowing us this fun opportunity.
This was my 5th year singing with the Heartbeats. They have been singing for 25 years, during the Christmas season, at resthomes and care centers. We usually do 15-18 performances in the 3 weeks before Christmas. It is such a neat experience. Once this large, black woman came up to me afterwards and said, "Your husbands are out there saving lives and you women are out there saving souls!" I wish I could say it in her southern bellow! She also said, "You didn't bring the program, you were the program!" Wow, that says it all! The ladies are so great and we have a fun time together. We begin rehearsals in September and our first performance is the Christmas Tree Jubilee the day before Thanksgiving usually.

Our family at church, the Sunday before Christmas

Christmas Eve. Always spent at Ty's parents home. We first enjoy a marvelous dinner of traditional roast beef and all the fixings (recipes handed down from the Dixon side). Next we have a program beginning with the youngest up to the oldest grandchild. Each does a talent. We finish off the evening with the swiss tradition of a giant sheet over the pile of presents. The youngest child begins by reaching under and selecting a gift without peeking. They present the gift to the person it is meant for and then that person selects a gift until they are gone. The kids love the mystery of it and watching each person open their gift.

P.D. (his nickname- for Pace Dixon) cannot stand to wear a shirt! Behind him is Great Grandma Carnahan who is living now with Ty's parents. His mom is amazing and takes wonderful care of her mother even though she is so busy.

The talent show this year had fiddles, dancing, singing, jump roping, craft displaying, story reading, gymnastics etc. It's always so fun!

Cort sang Melekaliki Maka and began with this blanket around him, then threw it off for a dance and a big finish with laughs galore all around him! He decided (unlike PD) not to take his shirt off.

Gretel singing

The newest thing in the Dixon family is puzzles. Not the pictures, but those wooden or metal "thinking puzzles" I noticed that in most of my pictures you can see someones hands to the side working on their puzzle they were given. (I stay right away from them because they frustrate me!)

Daphne scored a soft bear and loves to tackle it and hug it! (you can see the sheet of presents behind her)

I have a little bit of a hard time seeing my five-year-olds getting guns, but that is the tradition in the Dixon family. Five years old and you get a BB gun. It's not that big of a deal I guess, we just make the boys put them straight into the trailer so they can use them up camping. Ty and his brother Matt used to take theirs in the back yard and shoot each other! Boy times have sure changed! This is Trey and his cousin Jett who is just a few weeks older than him.

All the girls get matching pajamas and a matching stuffed animal and they immediately rip off their clothes and put them on (after all the girls have opened them of course)

On Christmas morning we found many more puzzles! Ty had gotten some for the family because he loves them and I had gotten some for him because he loves them! We ended up with a ton!

The kids opened their stockings in their nest. They made it down stairs and slept in it for the Twelve Days of Christmas. We booby trapped the stairs (just a little- not very dangerous!) so they wouldn't forget and come up before we came to get them. They were supposed to yell up through the vent into our room when they woke up. We actually woke up before them at 8:00! Pace woke us up because he came in to tell us what he got from Santa! He had come up during the night from the nest because he was scared. We hurriedly set up a few traps in the hall outside his door and put him in his bed. In the morning he got up and bypassed them easily and went right out by himself to enjoy his presents!

Gretel is such a sweetie! Always so worried about Daphne and being a little mother to her.

This is just a typical PD face- thought i'd include it! He likes to say he's an R dude- I don't know what it means! Along those lines as a side note, he also likes to stand on a stool and yell "I'm on fire!"

This is a typical Christmas morning picture of Ty- putting in batteries! I'm off somewhere looking for more batteries! Just kidding i took this picture, then went to look for batteries.

This may be my last year wearing my full footie jammies. They are funny, but give me a wedgie!

Daphne got a darling walker and a little baby doll to put in it. She's doing great with it and loves that little baby to pieces.

Here's another shot of the kids in their nest. We try to do twelve days of service before christmas and each day if we do some kind of service (and the kids are good and don't fight too much) they get to sleep in the nest.

Pacers got a basketball hoop and kept accidentally throwing the ball down the stairs. He spent all morning chasing it. Some fun surprises..... Cort lost his scriptures a few months ago so he was pretty excited to get another set. This time it was actually a nice one, so hopefully they stay around!

Gretel has wanted a big art set "just like Cortie's" forever. I think she was close to crying when she opened this!

SCOOTERS for trey and pace!!!!!!!!! I had to put this one in because it shows trey how he loves to be. no pants! pace and he make up a whole outfit together.

There were big hugs all around for Cort. He was in debt big time to us for breaking his cousins air soft gun accidentally and so had no money for gifts. Instead without us knowing, he wrapped up some things of his, one for each sibling, that he knew they really liked and wanted. Even if he still liked it, he gave each one what they had been eyeing out of his room. They were some of the favorite gifts! This is another example of how thoughtful and generous Cort can be!

This is all the Saunders cousins at my parents house for Christmas brunch. We have scones and a bunch of other delicious breakfast items. We chime, mattress slide and open gifts.

Why is it i always have a plate of food in my hands?

Miley got a slide from grandma and grandpa and all the kids pushed and fought over it for the remainder of the day! Merry Christmas!!!

My kids got these twist and go cars that they have been wanting, and without thinking we let them play roller derby in the house for a few days after christmas until we noticed it was scratching up our floor not just scuffing it like we thought!