Christmas Day, YAY!!

The last few months we have been busy with preparations for CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS! There were plenty of parties and plenty of fun.

Lady Hiva and I had a few more parties to attend as the final days counted down to the big DAY. One of them was to spend time with the Youth at Church. It was great to have some time enjoying their energy and excitement about life. We also went to a party with some of the Stake Leaders and their spouses. These are the times that we remember we celebrate this time of year because of our Savior Jesus Christ.

Christmas Eve day—thanks to my boss President Obama—we had the day off! Lady Hiva and I went to Greenhills (which was surprisingly quiet for the day before Christmas) to buy a Nativity set for us and Heather that was made in the Philippines so we have it when we leave. Then that evening we went with some work friends to eat Christmas Eve dinner and then to Mass with them. It was fun to be around children again and feel their joy in the Season. It was funny to see that same joy led most of the parents and their younger children out into courtyard at some point during the Service. (I have to admit the beautiful glass windows showed the fountain, the sun and the fun the kids were having…I may have joined them if I did not think it would be rude to leave in the middle of the sermon)

Christmas Day was finally here! Lady Hiva and I watched a few videos about Christ on LDS.org before we opened the gifts we purchased for each other. We have so much to be thankful for this year. We truly have been blessed. To keep ourselves within a budget…not spending a whole bunch just because we can…we decided to set our limit for $100USD each. It was fun to see what we could buy within that limit. I was excited to see what Lady Hiva thought about the gifts I purchased for her. I had a “Date Night” Christmas theme for the gifts…each gift was an idea of something that we could do on a date together.

I was also excited to open my gifts. During the Holidays we have a couple rules for each other: 1- Dust cannot shake, hold, or touch gifts. This is due to my ability to guess what is in the box (a hereditary skill from Normy) and as a result “ruin Christmas” 2- Lady Hiva is NOT allowed to purchase things for herself during the Holiday Season. Every year she thinks she needs something and buys it and it turns out that I too have noticed she needed it and already have it wrapped under the tree 3- We each choose a credit card to use and an Amazon account to use and we cannot check each other’s until after Christmas.

I was SO good this year. I did not touch the boxes, even when I vacuumed. I also did not check the credit card that Lady was purchasing things on (which is a miracle itself because I am usually obsessed with paying off things and constantly doing numbers in my head—Lady says I need help! HAHA) HOWEVER, despite me being good I still found out about a gift by accident. Lady and Madre and Kell had worked together to get me an Ipad to surprise me. Really cool…I know. But a few days after Thanksgiving I was on the phone with Best Buy trying to get a receipt for another computer we had purchased earlier in the year and the girl, who was trying to be really helpful, however she said, “The only thing I see this year is an Ipad that you purchased 23 NOV…” What? “I only see your Ipad” Oh, ok…. LADY HIVA is going to kill me! LOL ! I finally told her about it a few weeks later,  just so we have no secrets…It was fun to open it and we were able to watch Heather's family and Leni's family open their gifts via Facetime! Technology is amazing!

We helped cook some food to feed the Marines dinner and then we went to have a get together at the neighbor’s home with several friends. It was so much fun to be together not at work or planning something else—we were just enjoying each other.

It was a wonderful season. Again, Lady Hiva and I have so much to be thankful for…