Christmas Festivities ~ 2011

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Remembering Aaron and Bruce on Christmas.

 My mother in law always has this Santa and Mrs Claus come to her store the first Saturday of December. I think they are such a cute and perfect Santa and Mrs Claus.

Aaron asked for a remote control car.

 

 Spencer and Kristi's family were in town for Christmas.

This is Aaron Jr with their kids. They each had a balloon 'sword'.

 These are my nieces and nephews and Aaron Jr performing the Nativity while my Dad read from Luke chapter 2.

 My Mom made reversible aprons for ALL of the girls in our family.

I love her hand made gifts that she makes each year.

So much effort and so special.

We love them Mom.

Here is a close up of mine and Teresa's.

We are the only ones without a daughter, so we posed together.

My Dad picked out gifts for each of the boys in the family.

They are these awesome LED light things.

The kids were thrilled to have their own new little 'toys'.

They older guys will use them for the real purpose and they will come in handy.

My parents put in their papers for their second full time mission...

and they got their call in the mail the day before our family party...

so they saved it and opened it in front of everyone.

The Canada, Toronto Mission!

They are one lucky mission there...

my parents served there a little over 4 years ago as well.

They are SO happy to be going back to where they served before.

They know the people, the area, and what to expect.

They love the people there and the people love them and have been wanting them to come back there ever since they came home.

We will sure miss them when they go... a lot.

The nieces and nephews with Aaron Jr from the Harkness side.

The nieces and nephews and Aaron Jr performing the Nativity while Steve read from Luke chapter 2. I love having the kids involved on both sides of the family with remembering the true meaning of Christmas. The birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Me with Aaron Jr.

Aaron is here holding a little baby Jesus figurine...

and reciting a poem for everyone.

Here is the poem he recited:

"Day of light

day of birth

here is God

come to earth."

He recited it perfectly and I loved it.

Aaron took my camera and started taking photos.

Here are a couple of his photos.

Grandpa and Grandma Harkness.

 Uncle Kenny (Sue's brother) gave each of the kids a gift...

this is them telling him THANK YOU!

 Here is another photo that Aaron Jr took.

He took a photo of Daddy and Mommy's photo on the wall.

 Aaron Jr got some dinosaurs, and Sue gave him a couple of little remote control racing cars, I wrapped up Bruce the shark again just like I have done every year since Aaron passed away... Aaron bought this for Aaron, but since it is for older kids, we never had him open it at the time... so, I keep wrapping it up from his Daddy every year until he is 8. That is the age it says on the packaging.

The bottom right photo is the remote control truck I gave to Aaron for Christmas.

 

The meaningful gift that I gave to Aaron Jr this year was a photo book that I put together online.

I went through every photo of mine from the night Aaron Jr was born until the day that Aaron passed away... I was looking for every photo that had all three of us in it. I wanted to put together a book that has every photo of our family so that Aaron Jr had them all in one book.

It was a mixture of emotions... I was so happy to finally have them all in one place, but also very sad knowing that there will never be another family photo taken of our family.

I made one of these books for each of the grandparents as well.

 Here is my Dad making waffles on Christmas morning.

And this is my Mom with Aaron Jr at Aaron's headstone.

Aaron Jr and Me at Daddy's / Aaron's headstone. Our Christmas visit to see him.

There was a candle burning on the other side of the headstone that Sue had put there a couple of days before. It was still burning and it smelled SO good.

We also went to the headstone of my parents...

which is also in memory of my brother Bruce.

My brother is buried in Missouri, so this is the first Christmas that we have been able to 'visit' a headstone on Christmas to remember him.

For Christmas, I bought myself the cardinal shirt that I am wearing in this photo, I also bought the cardinal shirt that Aaron is wearing for him for Christmas. They were to remember my brother.

When my brother passed away, he was a sophomore in high school and he played several sports there... the mascot there was a cardinal, so ever since he passed away, the cardinal has been a symbol to remind us of Bruce.

I can't see an ornament of a cardinal and not buy it.

Aaron Jr has found two different puzzles now with a cardinal on it and wanted to buy them for Grandma to remember Bruce. We just got done putting one of them together a couple of days ago.

Anyhow, that is why I bought these shirts... to remember Bruce.

 Me with Mom at the headstone to remember Bruce on Christmas.

I could tell Mom was so happy to be able to have a place to put flowers in remembrance of Bruce.

  Aaron wanted to show off his new BYU beanie and his new Cardinal T-shirt.

Aaron loves his new remote control truck.

It is always a treat having Christmas fall on a Sunday.

We get to go to church and have a Christmas program.

It helps us all stay focused on the true meaning of Christmas.

I am so grateful for the birth and life of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Thank you to everyone who blessed our lives this Christmas with love and generosity.

We are so blessed.

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