Magic of Christmas

As I've gotten older and moved into my own adult life I think that I've sometimes forgotten the magic that Christmas holds, especially for kids. I always enjoy Christmas time and the break it brought from school/work, but I don't think I have fully comprehended how special it really is. I love giving people gifts and having them open the gift with so much excitement because of what they had received, but this year was something even better.

With McKay and I both being in school, money has been a little tight these past couple months, so we decided that instead of having a grandiose Christmas (like we did last year) we gave each other a $5 limit for buying for each other. The idea was that we could be creative and make it more special, rather than focusing on how much money we spent on each other. I was the one who suggested the drastic money limit, but then a couple weeks before Christmas came, I found myself kind of stressed about this idea. It was supposed to be "fun." Did I forget that I'm not really the creative one? What was I thinking to suggest such a limit when McKay is the one in our relationship who always finds the best deals?

Luckily my mom suggested that I do a memory quilt for him out of old t-shirts. With finals and my job, I only had about one week to get all the t-shirts collected, sewn together, and tied up before Christmas came. It was crazy! Every time McKay left the apartment I went over to my parents house to work on this blanket. He had picked up some extra shifts over the break which helped give me more time to put things together. I wouldn't have gotten it all done without all the help from my mom, siblings, my mother-in-law, and McKay's siblings. Family really is the best! They all supported our crazy idea of only spending $5 on each other and everyone pitched in any extra fabric, batting, and sewing tools they had.

Here is the final product that McKay opened Christmas morning:

He was so impressed by my craftiness and my ability to get it done in such a short time frame (I assured him that I had help). He loved all the shirts I chose to make the blanket including high school swim team shirts and lots of shirts he had designed for ERRA. McKay got me the next Harry Potter book that I need to read in the series and also two hug mugs (please look them up if you don't know what they are, they are wonderful). He was able to find all of these things for $5 because he shopped at DI. I was super impressed by his finds and loved what he gave me. We might just have to keep this small price limit up. 

We were able to be up at the Anderson's house for Christmas Eve and Christmas morning which was a blast. The highlight of Christmas day was skyping with Kristen (McKay's sister) who is serving an LDS mission in California right now. I love that they let missionaries skype now so that we can see each other in addition to talking, it is great that we were all in one big room hearing about her adventures. We love her and miss her so much, but seeing her made everyone feel confident that she is where she is supposed to be. You could just see the light in her eyes as she talked about the people where she is serving, missions are amazing things.

McKay and I both got new hats in our stockings

Rebecca, Dustin, Bailey, and Sarah with their new CD's (loved the titles of each of them)

Later on Christmas day we met my family at the movies to see Frozen which was adorable. It was a perfect Christmas where we could be with so much family and be reminded of all that we are blessed with. I really felt like our focus was in a better place this year, not spending a lot of money on presents for each other and thinking of all that we are grateful for. We found the Magic of Christmas!