Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas Time - In Peru

 Christmas was different this year!

Instead of 40+ boxes of decorations, I had  two nativity scenes, a Christmas train and a few lights. George took time out from his busy schedule closing out the mission financial records to put together this shelf for me.

I think it looked quite festive!

Rather than a lot of baking for friends and neighbors, I baked a lot of sugar cookies for some very appreciative missionaries.

When I returned from the US in October, I brought back one can of pumpkin but no pie plate so instead of a round pie, we enjoyed a square one. 

 The Assistants to the President, who ate Christmas dinner with us, didn’t seem to mind the shape.  For Elder Vallejo, it was his first taste of pumpkin pie.

 

No winter wonderland here! 

It is summer with the temperatures and fierce sunshine to prove it.

From exactly midnight until 3:00 a.m. Christmas Eve there were fireworks which definitely added to a 4th of July feel of the high temperatures.

A few things were the same..

Santa made an appearance.

William, our driver is so fun!  It takes a special guy to wear a Santa suit in this weather.

He delighted the missionaries we visited that day.

The youth and children at church put on a sweet nativity, which brought back lots of good memories from our years in Barcelona.

Out Bishop invited us to join the ward leaders for a Christmas party at his home.  A highlight was a wild White Elephant Gift exchange which they called an American tradition. At first it was quite tame until Elder Lewis decided to steal an already opened gift.  Then things got crazy!

What a fun group!

Back at home in the USA, our children and grandchildren enjoyed the holiday.

Scott flew over to Boise and stayed with Matt and Cady.

Our two boys went snowboarding at Brundage.

Mary, Mark, Jackson and Trevor celebrated in Harper’s Ferry.

John, Monica and Isabella didn’t go to Paris.  John is a master at AI! 

Christmas in Meridian was great for Isabella!

We missed some of our ‘normal’ Christmas activities but embraced the opportunity to celebrate in a new culture, Truly we are so grateful to be here in Piura to commemorate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ, the blessings of His atonement and the promise of resurrection and eternal life.

Grandma and Isabella Get Creative

 Before we leave for our mission I wanted to take Isabella on a fun outing.  First lunch at Chick-fil-A , which was was her choice!

Then painting pottery at 'A Way With Clay' in Meridian.  You pick out a piece, paint and decorate it and they fire it for you.  The hardest part is waiting a week to pick up the finished piece.

Isabella decided on a cute bear 

And worked very hard on her painting.

It took a lot of patience to let it dry between coats.  

Luckily they gave us some fans to help with the process

Next Isabella added details.

I stuck with a simple geometric vase in one color.

Isabella wasn't too impressed but I like it.

When we were done with our pottery, Isabella asked, 'What are we doing now?"  I thought we were going home but when she asked for a treat I did what any Grandma would do.....we went to Crumbl!

Isabella was a bit impatient waiting to see her creation but she was very happy with what she had created.  I love it too.

I will miss spending time with this cutie....

I am leaving when she is in 3rd grade. I'll be gone for her whole 4th grade year and will be back just about the time she starts 5th grade.

I fully expect her to be taller than I am by then.

I couldn't 't possibly love her any more than I do!

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Christmas Traditions

 Christmas traditions are important to me.  That's probably one reason that I have a ridiculous number of Christmas decorations.  Some of them my Grandma Boyle made before I was born, others I remember from my childhood, still more from the time when we had little kids plus so many from our trips. I collect nativity scenes and also try to get a tree ornament at each destination. I love them and find joy each year when I get them out.

Traditions of things that we 'do' are even more important.  During my growing up years, all of my Daddy's family came to our house for Christmas Eve.  First we went to our different churches for a Christmas Eve service and then all my aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents came to our house for eggnog and good food.A few years  after I was married the electricity went out during the party.  Unsure what to do with a crowd in a dark house, a new tradition of singing Christmas carols together was born!  Funniest of all, we sang 'The Twelve Days of Christmas" with different people taking each verse.  My Daddy's sister, Maudie, always sang, '3 French hens' and although she could not carry a tune, she was quick to laugh at herself and that just added to the fun. After Maudie passed away, we never sang again because it was just too painful. George and I did renew this tradition when we lived in Spain by inviting all our friends over for food and carol singing on Christmas Eve.  

Our George Lewis family traditions have evolved over the years.  When the kids were little, we acted out the nativity story and also read 'The Polar Express' and of course left out cookies and milk for Santa. 

Our children all have sweet memories of first Grandpa Walt Lewis and now Grandpa George Lewis reciting the Harrison R Merril Poem

'Christmas Eve on the Desert" 

They remember all the years as little children when they didn't understand the poem at all and just felt anxious for the evening to end so Santa could come.  When they were teenagers, the beauty of the poem and the tender sentiments expressed became clear. Now it is a treasured reading every Christmas Eve.

On Christmas morning we open gifts one person at a time. I love this because then you get to see the reactions as special gifts are opened.  When it is a free for all, you miss seeing the recipients delight.

Now that we have adult children and grandchildren, traditions have evolved and we seem to have hit upon the perfect mix for this stage of life.

This year I loved listening to 9 year old Isabella anticipate the Christmas traditions.  Her excitement about the games and food made all the work that goes into making this holiday special well worth the time and effort!

Christmas Eve starts with ornament making.  Every year since 2011, we have made ornaments. You can see them on our tree in this photo of Matt and Cady and their cute dogs, Millie and Baby Dog.  The boys do occasionally grumble about 'crafts' but they are good sports and make one each year!

Games are next on the agenda!  From a marshmallow toss to Christmas Tree Cup Stack to mini golf, they are all so fun.  This year we added 'Oregon Trail' and 'Left, Right, Center' to the mix.

Monica won the grand prize for the "Left, Right, Center" game and promptly gave the $24 to Isabella.

Our competitive Isabella really wanted to win the big games competition. (Although the $24 did make her happy too)  She always does want to win any game she plays but this year she really, really did.  Last year Cady suggested that I buy a trophy to pass around to the winner each year.  And I did.

Isabella coveted that trophy.

We had a Christmas miracle.

I won the game competition!

First time ever!

Isabella really did not think this was fair since I bought the trophy!

After all these years, I finally won so I am keeping it for the year.

This might be the only time I ever win.  George had the handicap of a cast on his arm.  Matt was having severe back pain. And Johnny missed the games because he was working.  Scott came in a close 2nd.

This was MY year!

Game traditions!  Ornament making traditions!  And of course food traditions!

Tomato Basil Parmesan Soup with sandwich fixings....

And the oh so important to Isabella, chocolate fountain....

Her favorite thing to drizzle with chocolate -  the angel food cake!

I agree!

Christmas morning - It's all about the presents and the food again.

Breakfast pizza and cinnamon rolls!

 I made the comment that since everyone loves these two items so much, I should make them more often.

Interestingly the consensus was that I shouldn't.  They like them being special for Christmas morning.

Before and after breakfast we opened presents.

There were a lot of very thoughtful ones!

Not the most important part of Christmas but still so fun!

By the end of the festivities I felt like I should have been wearing Matt's hat.

But I would need it to say

'Tired but oh so happy!'

Next year we will be enjoying Christmas in Peru and trying to make it special for over 100 missionaries who are also far from home.

I can hardly wait!

But I will really miss all these faces!

Wicked

On Friday Isabella and I went to 'The Village', a very nice outdoor shopping mall, to see the movie version of 'Wicked'.  I had totally not taken into account that it was 'Black Friday' and 'The Village' is very popular. 

I am not exaggerating when I say that we spent 35 minutes, mostly stopped in traffic gridlock, looking for a spot.  Just about the time the movie was going to start, Isabella said, "There is a spot".  Unfortunately for me, it required parallel parking.  And I hate parallel parking. In fact I avoid parallel parking at all costs BUT the movie was about to start so I attempted it.  I admit that I was probably 3 feet from the curve and I spent the entire movie hoping my car wouldn't be towed or side swiped.  And it wasn't!  Isabella told me that her Daddy could park in the spot easily in one try and I don't doubt that.  Without comparing myself to John or to George, I was pretty proud of myself.  

And we loved the movie.  Isabella gave it a 10 out of 10.

I give any time spent with this girl at 10 out of 10 - even in traffic gridlock and with parallel parking.

 

Thanksgiving

 Our Thanksgiving was perfectly lovely! Truthfully I was thinking of taking the family to Chuck-A-Rama like we did a couple of years ago when only Monica, John and Isabella were joining us. The variety of foods was a big hit for everyone and the quality of the food was better than I remembered,  Chuck-A-Rama was one of George's Dad's favorite places. He made sure to get his money's worth by piling his plate high and even stuffing rolls in his pockets.

My original plan changed when Matt told us that he was not going to Wyoming with Cady to her Grandmother's 90th birthday because he knew we would be in Peru next Thanksgiving and he wanted to spend this one with us.  When I heard that I knew I had to fix a traditional meal with all the foods we love.

And that is what I did!

Turkey, dressing, gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, fruit salad and rolls.

Followed by cherry and pumpkin pie with lots of whipped cream for dessert!

Served on the china my Daddy bought in Occupied Japan with the silver that was once my mother's, the water glasses that belonged to my great grandmother and George's mother's bread bowl. 

A multi generational table setting.

Isabella did the centerpiece and also helped with dinner preparations.

I googled 'best mashed potatoes' and found a recipe that called for a 2 sticks of butter for 5 pounds of potatoes.   Isabella cut them into small pieces and added them to the potatoes.  I told her to count to 20 between each addition and she very carefully did just that.

And the potatoes were definitely the best ever....tons of butter tends to make everything 'the best'.

I love these people more than I can adequately express.

Sure glad they are mine!

We followed this advice.

And we don't even feel guilty!

Halloween

 Jackson has not been the biggest Halloween fan in the past but this year all that changed and he really got into it. Kindergarten has given him a lot of confidence.  He went to five different Halloween events. From the Ward Trunk or Treat to a party at the Children's Home Society, a Community Center 'candy drop', a neighborhood event (which included a visit to the local fire station) as well as his school's fall festival. In the years past he has refused to wear his costume.  Not this year!  I think he is now converted to the fun of the Halloween! 

He was a scary skeleton!

And got a big haul of candy!

Isabella has always been a

 Halloween fan.

This year she was Sarah Sanderson from Hocus Pocus.

I really need to watch that movie someday.

Enough candy to keep her happy!

This may have been from the Ward Trunk or Treat

Every year John, Monica and Isabella go down to Harrison Boulevard in Boise where there are elaborate Halloween decoration displays.

It's one of their traditions.

"There's something strange in your neighborhood.  Who ya gonna call?"

Ghostbusters!! 

Our 'pre-teen' Isabella was not as enthusiastic this year. 

Growing up brings changes to long held traditions!