Boxing Day

We had my entire family home for our annual Boxing Day Dinner – which equals 37 people!  We go up to the church for dinner and it works so well for the kids as they can run and play in the gym.  We got the kids busy with a bunch of straws and styrofoam balls.
   
Lennard was busy in the kitchen carving the enormous turkey.
 
Then we got busy eating all that yummy food!


Another tradition that has been passed down is fishing for gifts.  The little kids needed some help “casting their line”. 
     
Brendan thought he would be funny and asked if Matt was going to help him out, so he got some help!  It was a fun day!

Christmas Day!

Growing up, we had the tradition of having everybody wait to go into the living room and we all had to line up youngest to oldest.  This tradition has stood the test of time and now our kids are getting in on the action!  Spencer was still a little sleepy, so Mindy carried him in, and Tyler was hiding from the camera.  It was a super fun morning with 11 kids and 6 adults!

      
I was behind the camera all morning, but I was excited for my gifts too.  Matt got me a new pair of sheepskin slippers, and a blender and food processor attachment for my Bosch!

Christmas Eve

We went out to my Mom and Dad’s for Christmas this year.  It was a busy, crazy evening and the kids were super excited for a visit from Santa the next morning.  We had a family home evening where everybody said what their most favorite thing about Christmas was.  My favorite comment came from Tyler -- he was excited for something new that makes noise!
 
We had a lot of yummy snacks and then attempted to put everybody to bed.  It’s always a little tricky when you are sleeping at Grandma and Grandpa’s house and we ended up with all our kids except Brendan and Grace in one room with us.  Good memories!

Santa found us all!

Becky’s Baptism

Becky finally turned 8!  I am sure she has been counting down to this day for almost a whole year.  She was excited to start going to Activity Days with her older sisters, and she was especially excited to get baptized.  For her birthday she invited a couple of friends over and we all went out to the movie “Frozen”.  It was a great movie and the kids all loved it. 
2 weeks later, on December 14, 2013, Becky was baptized.  Earlier this year Becky found out that it was possible that Brendan could baptize her, and ever since then that is what she wanted.  Brendan was a little nervous, but excited as well.  So, Brendan baptized Becky and Matt confirmed her a member of the church.
 
We had a yummy lunch of corn chowder and taco soup with homemade buns and lots of yummy desserts that my family brought to share with us.  I was glad that my sister Mary Lou was there.  Once again my camera was out of commission (somebody had misplaced it, again), and she brought her camera and snapped some pictures for us.  Thank you!

It was a fun day and a highlight of Becky’s year!

The true meaning of Christmas

We have had an amazing week. 

We have been so blessed.

On Sunday the Bishop handed Matt an envelope that was simply addressed to "The Matt Hatch Family".  The Bishop told us he was asked to give it to us on behalf of a member of our ward that wanted to remain anonymous.  There was $500 in the envelope.  WOW!

Then yesterday, I got stuck.  We have had a lot of snow and our van isn't the greatest in the snow.  It is rear-wheel drive and doesn't have great traction.  We got two new tires put on this summer, but hadn't gotten around to the other two yet. 
I was fortunate that two of my neighbors were able to come out and help me out.  It took over half an hour to dig me out and just as we were almost done, another neighbor came out to help too. 
I was able to get moving enough and then just drove around the block and parked across the street so I could get the driveway shovelled out properly.
I spent almost 3 hours outside shovelling our driveway, sidewalks, and our neighbors sidewalks too.  Brendan and Grace helped, and a friend of Grace's who lives three doors down came and helped too.  Matt got home from work a little early and he made the work go a lot faster. 
While I was out shovelling, one of the neighbors that helped me earlier, came and asked me for my keys.  I thought he was going to pull the van into the driveway for me, but he took the van and was gone for a couple of hours.
When he brought back our van, there were two new tires on it and it also had a full tank of gas.  Wow, wow, wow!

I am overwhelmed by his generosity and kindness.

He has truly showed our family the true meaning of Christmas.

Not everybody is able to do things like he did, but we can all do something.  I intend to do what I can this Christmas and throughout the whole year.

Merry Christmas!