AN ABSOLUTELY DELIGHTFUL CHRISTMAS - Pt. 3 (Twin Falls)

  It was so fun to be with Nathan & Colleen this year.  They always make us feel so welcome.  We had lots of fun grand-daughter time and lots of game playing after kids went to bed.   Becky, Charles, Audrey & Ethan were able to travel up from Las Vegas as well so there was a lot of energy & excitement.  Nathan's girls are great at creating and make-believe so we even had very few fights and possessiveness!

A tired Becky & Charles after the all night drive from Vegas.  Kids were refreshed and ready to go and there were enough other adults around that we could let the mom & dad "catch up" a little.

Victor's niece & family Diane (Deming) & David Jensen also live in Twin Falls and graciously opened their spare bedroom to the Grafs.  We all had a fun Christmas Eve together -a double gift from them since they were planning to leave the next day to take their kids on a Disneyland/Lego Land, etc. adventure.   The Jensen's have a great downstairs play room and dress-ups and their kids are great to take over and entertain the younger ones.  Since I remember Diane when she wasn't much older than Amaya is,  it is so fun to see what a wonderful adult and mother she is.  (Relief Society President on top of all this!)

Diane shared with us the tradition of the Christmas Pig.  You each get to share a story of the best thing that happened to you during the year and then take a whack at the pig (which has been placed in a bag).  Then when all are done you get to eat the pig pieces.

By the time the pig bag got to Victor I think it was already pretty pulverized!

Taking the cue from our friends the Bryants Victor bought a bunch of fun hats to play "Scum" with:

AN ABSOLUTELY DELIGHTFUL CHRISTMAS - Pt. 2 (Good things come in Twos)

Nathan and Colleen have been working with the girls to help them learn about the first 4 generations of ancestors.   Colleen made a cool photo chart to hang on the wall.   (They posted this to their blog a few months ago).  The maps show where people were born and the girls are learning facts about each one).

Since this is the first iota of interest any of my children has shown in my pet area of interest they knew I would be happy to see their handiwork more closely when we arrived.  But as soon as I saw it I felt a sense of un-ease that something was off.   What was it?    Agh!!!  It was that on the left side there were FOUR children not THREE!   

Yup, you guessed it!  Baby Austin #4 is due to arrive on May 19th.  Both the due date and sex were clarified the very next day when Colleen went to the Doctor.  How exciting to see the simple text, "Boy!" on my I-phone when Victor and I got out of the temple!  

Nathan is very proud to at last have a "man child" on the way.   We are excited for our other only little boy, Becky's Ethan, to have a playmate of his own. Until then Nathan will continue to harass Colleen with his chosen set of suitable male names:   Ebenezar, Qwilleran, Ramses, Sophocles, Gidgidoni, etc. etc.    Feel free to throw in any outlandish manly names you can come up with!!

So if one is good, two is better!   (No...they are not having twins!).  At thanksgiving at the cabin I couldn't figure out why Becky was eating cereal just three minutes before I was about to set a breakfast of sausage, eggs and hash browns on the table for all of us.  I sort of sniped at her, "Becky, I am about to serve breakfast."   Her reply.  "I can't wait that long!"   "You can't wait 3 minutes???," I thought and then it dawned on me.   "Becky, are you pregnant?"     She is.   And her baby will come just one month after Colleen's.  So it is great fun that they get to share this experience together.   We don't yet know what the baby will be, but the doctor has assured her that so far this pregnancy seems to be going well.  She is feeling that it might be another little girl, but that could have to do with the fact that little Lauralyn Emily that they lost in April was a girl.    We will be so excited either way!  It seems so surreal to me that Victor and I will be the Grandparents of 9 grandchildren when such a short time ago we only had one!

This little guy will at last get to be older than someone - and maybe not bossed around by all the little girls in his life!   (Ethan turned two Nov. 27.  We celebrated at the cabin during our Thanksgiving time there).

The happy Mommy & Daddy:

AN ABSOLUTELY DELIGHTFUL CHRISTMAS! - Pt.1

    For the first time I actually attended the live nativity pageant that various LDS stakes have been sponsoring in Las Vegas (for nearly 30 years).    I was deeply touched, so much so that I have talked with very few people about my feelings on that night.

One of the things that amazed me is that at the conclusion of the short pageant most of the crowd pressed toward the stage so they could see the infant child - even knowing full well that the baby was not really baby Jesus!   It seemed to speak volumes to me about our desire to be near this child who changed everything - or to experience in some small way what it must have been like on that Holy night.

Victor and I attended other wonderful seasonal presentations:  The Messiah, Desert Chorale's Annual Christmas Program, Signature Production's Holiday Show, the Stake Youth Choir.  We also enjoyed and sang in the Monte Bello Ward Christmas Fireside where there was a wonderful feeling and a sweet flow of talent from our Spanish speaking ward members and missionaries.  Enjoyed friends at two ward Christmas Dinners.  Kept the decorating to a minimum this year and gratefully had a lot of the gift purchasing done early so that we could relax a little more to enjoy the season.

Sometimes the giving is made better when you MAKE the gift.  I worked on Family History calendars and Family History themed placemats to help my siblings, our children and grandchildren know their heritage a little better.  That was a fun creative process for me as well as feeling the approval and support of those featured on the pages.

Because we decided to travel to Twin Falls to spend Christmas with Nathan and Colleen's family (Becky & Charles joined us there too) we had a separate Christmas with Jill and Peter and Aly.  Went out to lunch at Zeferinos (in the Venetian Hotel) and opened their gifts with them ahead of our departure.  The weather cooperated wonderfully and was overcast and cold, making it seem truly like Christmas.

Aly was fascinated by the Silent Statue at the Venetian - but not at all willing to go near her without Mommy!

She was on her best behavior at the restaurant though and afterward loved looking at all the awesome decorations around the Casino shops.   Amazing what a large budget can help you create!

 Jill and Victor enjoying the fading light of the Canal Shoppe's skyline.  From our table up above we got to hear 6-8 different renditions of "Santa Lucia" which apparently the Gondolier's were instructed to sing that day each time they came to our end of the canal!    GOOD food.

At gift opening time Peter was excited to get the number one thing on his list - A hatchet!  Only HE can explain to you why he wanted that so bad!


Unwrapping came to a halt when Grandpa put Aly's little train set together for her.  She played with it for quite a while.  Who knew she would find that so fun amidst all the other things she got?

Merry Christmas everyone - from Aly, Jill, Peter and us Grandparents!

FOLLOW UP: On two posts ago (I think she liked it!)

Audrey - happy with her new elephant

What you are NOT seeing here is the full-blooded tantrum Ethan threw when he realized the elephant was not HIS!   First time I ever witnessed that from my little boy!