This Christmas was definitely one we will remember for the rest of our lives. What a wonderful reason to celebrate! The birth of our Savior Jesus Christ was truly the center of our thoughts this year. Our dear neighbors who lost their baby boy on December 5 so elegantly reminded us of this. Last year when we lost our nephew, Tyler, we had thought that Christmas would be the hardest time to lose someone you love. The Cope family changed my thoughts on this. Brother Cope stood at the funeral of his beautiful infant baby and expressed that he was grateful to be able to celebrate his sons life simultaneously with the birth of the Savior, for without the Savior he would not have the opportunity to be with his son again. In the most trying trial of their lives, they were grateful. Our ward was fasting together on the day that sweet little Daniel passed away. Everyone was praying for a miracle. Brother Cope was concerned that some would be upset about this or think that they didn’t get their miracle, but he wanted us to know that they did get their miracle. Their miracle was that they had the time to give Daniel a name and blessing and they got to hold him until his little spirit returned home. I am so grateful for the example the Cope family has been to me. They strengthened my testimony immensely and I can only pray that I can bear my trials with as much grace.
Our whole month was filled with events that truly made this a SEASON OF CHRIST that we will never forget…
This was left on our door step a few days before Christmas. Our neighbors wanted to do something special for Mitch this year. They went above and beyond! I can’t explain how much this meant to our family. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts to the Keisels, the Paxtons, and the Kellers. We love you.
It’s a SWING! Mitch absolutely LOVES this swing! “Kids Who Count” is where Mitch goes for “Friday’s Kids” and they have a swing exactly like this one. Mitch doesn’t get out of it the entire time he is there. My dear neighbors are so very thoughtful. They wanted to give him something that he would love and they heard about this swing. Completely selfless act of kindness. Do I not have the best neighbors EVER!
When Will brought it back to his room, HE FOLLOWED HIM! (or rather the swing)
He got in it himself!
LOVES IT! Will hung it in his room and I haven’t taken pictures of it yet. Mitch spends most of his time in his room now:)
I have to thank my whole neighborhood for their generous acts of kindness toward my family. A lot of them were anonymous so we don’t know exactly who to thank so we will just say thank you to everyone and we love you all.
Amazingly, not a single penny came from our pocket this year for Christmas. A lot of these gifts came from people that don’t even know us very well. One gift came from someone that Will has been doing work for a very short time that I have never even met. This amazed me. I do know that prayers are answered. We got news this month that our mortgage payment went up, imagine that! When everyone else’s is going down, ours went up. That sent me over the edge with stress. So when Will had someone approach him and ask if he could help, again I was amazed that it came from someone I have met once that Will has, from time to time, done some work for. We were both astonished to find that he had completely caught our mortgage up so now we are up to date. I love that prayers are truly answered. As tears are streaming down my face I also have a smile there because I know my Savior lives. I love that through each other we are strengthened in Him. We are all connected. I have so much joy in my life because of Him and I hope you do too!
Wow, this is going to be a very long post… so on to CHRISTmas eve! Santa came by for a visit to make sure the boys went to bed before he started his work.
Major got very nervous… hence the hands in the pocket.
Madd on the other hand, went straight up to Santa and told him exactly what he was thinking. He is the sweetest boy… my parents came to Utah for Christmas this year and he was worried that Santa wouldn’t be able to find them. So, he wrote some things down that he thought they might like and gave it to Santa along with a picture he drew for him. ha-ha
Darn it, little Mitch already fell asleep!
CHRISTMAS MORNING!
HUH?!?
This face would normally describe how Will feels about Christmas but this year was different for Will too! We were pleasantly surprised to find Willy, well, PLEASANT! I don’t know why he looks so ornery in this picture, oh I remember… he was teasing me!
My brother and his family came down to see us. They were in Willard with Natalie’s family this year. It was so nice to see them. We don’t get to see them very often any more since we don’t go to Arizona but once a year these days. Their kids have gotten so big I can’t believe it.
Merry Christmas from the Morton's!
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