Dorrel and Stephanie: The week before Christmas

Isaac goes skiing
On Monday, Janice and Matt took Isaac up skiing to Stevens Pass. It was Isaac's first time up this year. We've hardly had any rain in December which means no new snow in the mountains. Even though they expected it to be icy, Isaac was still willing to go. (When someone else is paying for your ticket, why not?!)

It didn't take Isaac long to get his "ski legs" under him again. It ended up being a very icy day. Janice and Matt are learning to snowboard. Janice fell on her 1st time down and smacked her tailbone really hard. So hard that a few days later she went to the doctor to see if she'd broken it. Just a bad bruise! Isaac picked up a bruise too.

My 40th birthday
I'm sure glad Dode and my mom had the brilliant idea to celebrate my birthday on Saturday! In the middle of the night before my birthday, I woke up with the stomach flu. It lasted the entire day. Instead of filling my day with fun activities, I curled up in a ball and read on the couch.

My dad took me out to breakfast and all that sounded good was a waffle. It ended up being the only real food I ate that day. I told Dode he was off the hook for coming up with a dinner for me, there was no way I wanted to go out to eat. My dad gave me some cinnamon he'd ordered online from Sri Lanka. He included the shipping information showing it had come over 9,000 miles in three days, all for $10. I wish I could travel 9,000 miles for $10! The cinnamon smells and tastes a lot different than the cinnamon I'm used to buying, in a good way. I can't wait so see how the Christmas cinnamon rolls turn out.

I did make up for my lack of eating the next day. For dinner we had creamy vegan mac and cheese with a big salad Jacob made and chocolate lava cakes for dessert. Yum!

Nativity Party
On Thursday, we had our annual family Nativity party. It's the time when Dode's siblings get together to celebrate Christmas. Randy and Lisa dropped their kids off in the morning to play while they went to the temple. Since I already had a house full of kids, I thought, "What are two more?" Seth and Ellie also came over to play. Bringing my total to 14. When I called Dode to tell him what was going on he wanted to know who else was helping to keep order. Just me! Every where I went in the house, I found children playing. I wish I always had a house full of kids.

After dinner, the kids got dressed up for the nativity. My collection of old costumes from day camp comes in handy when we're outfitting everyone. We always start with the prophecy of Samuel the Lamanite concerning the coming of the Savior. From there, it was time for the Christmas story found in Luke, followed by an appearance of the wise men. Once we were finished with the nativity, the older girl cousins each played a piano piece for us. I realized too late that we should have done it like a formal piano recital with each girl standing in front of Grandpa Dickson, telling him what they would play, and then playing. His back was to the piano so every time someone got done playing, he had to ask who it was. I'll be better prepared next year!