McAllister Family Blog - christmas, thanksgiving

Christmas Lesson of Present Precedence

Sun, 04 Jan 2009 20:15:00 -0700

Amber and I learned a valuable lesson this year. Christmas morning we were so excited to watch Ashley as she opened her presents. So excited, in fact, that we were the ones waiting for her to wake up before we could start! We started with the stockings, where Ashley would say, "ooooh! I'm gonna share that one," to every present that she saw - no matter if it came from her stocking or not. When we moved to the tree we were still getting situated while Ashley was already diving under the tree ready to pull all the paper she could see. In the rush she opened two presents before we could really get started. The only problem with that was the second present was a DVD with Ashley's favorite character in all of existence, Sleeping Beauty, on the cover. After looking in awe at the glossy packaging for a few seconds, Ashley stood and requests to put on a dress (preparation for nearly all activities) and watch the movie. We asked if she wanted to open any of her other presents, to which she repeatedly answered, "No!" It took a lot of coaxing, but Ashley finally sat and enduring unwrapping all of her other less important presents - hardly ever taking her eye off of Sleeping Beauty. We now know which present we should have let her open last.

Merry Christmas 2007

Sun, 06 Jan 2008 10:45:00 -0700

Snow was falling in large clumps by the time I pulled into the garage on Christmas Eve. Normally I would have felt bad for shopping on the last possible day, but with my recent work schedule I was lucky to get out and shop at all. Plus, I was getting home so that Amber could have the car to head out one last time herself, so I didn't feel too bad. By the time Amber returned from her excursion into the masses the flakes had accumulated a few inches, softening the world with a wintery glow. We prepared a ham, cheesy potatoes, and green bean casserole for our Christmas Eve feast. And, although we missed being close to family, we reveled in the quiet simplicity of being at home. The remainder of the evening was spent watching a short film entitled, 'The Other Wise Man,' and explaining to Ashley what was going to happen in the morning. I think we made progress, as we could hear her excitedly repeat, "Santa's coming", before falling asleep in her crib. We were awakened by Ashley talking happily, and although it would make a great story to say that she was still saying, "Santa's coming", we're pretty sure it wasn't that. Although, we're not exactly sure what she was saying. We started with stockings, with the best part seeing the understanding that would come into Ashley's eyes when she realized that the presents inside the sock were for her. Next came breakfast, and then our gifts to Jesus. Watching our child's reactions was the most fun I've had on Christmas, possibly ever. Ashley was into the whole process. It didn't matter who the present was for, she was there to assist in the tearing of paper or picking off of bows. Watching her was worth every bit of preparation and work that went into the Holiday. Following the presents we made use of the sled that Ashley got me, the snow clothes that Ashley received, and the newly fallen snow outside to give Ashley her first real experience playing in the snow. There is a slight incline in our backyard that provided an ideal sled hill for the first-timer. She laughed with glee as Amber and I pulled her around on the sled. The rest of the day was spent relaxing, and was so peaceful. Ashley spent the afternoon stockpiling all the bows she could find; and then she ran around the house carrying as many bows as would fit in her arms. Amber and I enjoyed the ensuing week off of work, as the university was closed between Christmas and New Years. The beginning moments of 2008 were spent with our good friends the Billmans. Their son Sam was born on the last day of 2005 - which makes him a little more than a month older than Ashley. We partied for Sam's birthday in the afternoon. Then after the kids went to bed we played games until just before midnight, when we tuned in to watch the ball drop in Times Square. Our festive celebrations came to an end this weekend as we travelled down to the Bagby homestead in Orem to exchange gifts amongst Ambers siblings and parents. An added bonus to the weekend was having the privilege of sharing in the joy of Amber's longtime friend April getting sealed to her longtime sweetheart Clint. It's always fun to see two people come together to start a new family, especially when those two are as happy as April and Clint. Family is the string that ties us all together, and Christmas is one of those times where the string is tightened to pull us all that much closer together.

Hey, Look! We skipped November!

Fri, 14 Dec 2007 22:01:00 -0700

What started as a weekly email has now degraded to a bimonthly blog. We last wrote just before Halloween, where Ashley masqueraded around the neighborhood as a bumble bee. It didn't take long for her to understand exactly how Trick-or-Treating worked. Before we realized what was happening our quick visit to immediate neighbors turned into a trip around the block with Ashley running from house to house in search of more candy. That same night was the start of the USU basketball season. As mentioned in our previous post, we sprang for season tickets thinking this was going to be a special season. So far, it has appeared that the basketball team has been hanging out with the football team. But, the games are fun to attend. After her initial first game jitters Ashley has settled in to the whole basketball game routine. She'll now clap when the crowd does and knows the name of our star player, Jaycee, our coach, Stew, she can make the sound for "woosh" when ever the Aggies make a free throw, and most importantly, her favorite phrase is, "Goo Aggies!" Thanksgiving brought family together from all over the northern part of the state. The first annual Family Soccer Game was organized at the Bicentennial Park, just behind Jen's (Amber's sister) house in Provo. Representatives from both Amber and Scott's families were in attendance, and fun was had by all who were there. The day concluded with an extremely pleasant meal at the Bagby homestead, surrounded by family and friends alike. One major difference from our celebrations of previous Thankful weekends was the omission of Black Friday observance. In years past, we would get up before dawn with the rest of the bargain crazies and stand out in the cold to get get some nifty gadget for next to nothing - after completing the mail-in rebate, of course. No, this year we decided to sleep to a normal hour. Amber went out to the stores after they opened and was still able to get all the deals we were remotely interested in. Feeling rested for the remainder of the weekend was welcome change, and helped to keep all activities pleasant. As the Christian-American population is aware Thanksgiving signifies the formal start to the Christmas season. Each year the Holidays get more and more exciting as Ashley learns more about them. This year will be remembered as the time when Ashley learned about the Christmas Tree. A couple of weeks ago, while Amber was visiting with a neighbor in their kitchen, Ashley was playing with a couple of the neighbors kids in the front room. The oldest of the neighbor kids came into the kitchen, where the ladies were talking, to get some food. At that moment there came a loud crash from the front room, followed by Ashley erupting into tears. Running into the room, the reflex of the mother of the two children was to yell the name of the child still in the room where the crash was heard, and the crying was still pouring from. However, the adults found that said child was fast sleeping on the couch while the balling Ashley stood next to the festively decorated tree - now lying on the carpet. Embarrassed by the destruction that our child accomplished, Amber excused herself and Ashley after helping to pick up pieces of some broken ornaments. After such an experience, we really don't mind that according to Ashley all brightly decorated trees are called, "kiss-mass tree. no touch!". -------------------- In case you receive these messages via email we've done a little fixing up of the blog's layout. Check it out: http://www.twincreekdesign.com/blog/mcallisterfamily