Our Christmas

We got a few pictures of our Christmas thanks to our awesome family members we were able to get a few pictures of Christmas. Thanks Abbey! And Sarah! And Mom and Dad Stephenson!

The Swensons - Christmas Eve and Christmas day. Sooo much fun. We all stayed the night at John's parents. Christmas Eve we had an amazing Ham dinner thanks to Paige. It was Delicious! Dave gave us a wonderfully spiritual devotional about the true reason for the season. Then we opened pajamas that Paige was so good to pick out, drove around and looked at lights then came back played games and tried to sleep. Cache was unfortunately miserable with a bad cold, so we slept VERY little Christmas Eve night.

We woke up that morning, excited to open presents and spend more time together. Christmas day we had some Orange French Toast, (a Stephenson family tradition) hung out and went to the movie, Invictus, which I recommend by the way. Then back to the Swensons after the movie to play games and relax. Such a great day!

Also, Christmas night I got to talk to my Bro in the Phillipines. He's got 11 months to go and counting! Well, we are, maybe not him. He's doing well there and we are so happy, but we do miss him and are anxious for him to see his first nephew! :)

The Stephensons - Our Christmas started the day after actually. My parents and Sarah Beth came to our house to open presents. We got on Skype so my sister and her husband in North Carolina could join in. They had our name for Christmas and were very generous.

Then we headed down to SLC to see the lights in Temple Square. It had been several years for me, and probably over 25 for my parents! They were beautiful! They stayed the night at our house, went to church with us in the morning and we had a wonderful Turkey Christmas dinner afterwards. We spent some time Sunday hanging out and watching several versions of A Christmas Carol.

Thanks family for making our Christmas wonderful!

We are truly blessed. I read or watched or listened to something that made me realize the spirit of Christmas needs to last all year long. Not just at Christmas. I know, "Duh!" How many times have we heard that?

But seriously, something about whatever it was I heard struck me this time. The urge to serve should be natural not seasonal. Giving should be an every day occurence not a once a year tradition. Our Savior showed us the way. His life was the perfect example of service and in his atonement, death, and resurrection, he gave the perfect gift.We were blessed this year to have much and give much and I commit, from here on out, to give more no matter how much I have.

Happy Holidays Everyone!