A Letter From Santa

With little ones, it's easy to get caught up in all the fun that goes along with the season and, like most parents, we try to find ways to make sure we focus on the reason for Christmas- Christ.  So this year I took a few different ideas I've heard of here and there to put together something that we will do this Christmas to help out in the "true meaning" department.  So as we were putting up the Christmas decorations, the girls discovered a little package in the mailbox from Santa.  In it was a little stuffed Santa Claus who has served as our house elf the past few years and a copy of this letter.  So far it has been going well.  Not to mention it has made my shopping and budgeting so much easier!  Merry Christmas to everyone!  We hope you all can feel the love of our Savior this time of year and remember the greatest gift we all have received.

Dear Israelsen Family,

          Merry Christmas!  I can’t believe it’s that time of year again!  What a wonderful year it has been.  You have a new baby sister, that is so special.  Kenna, Allie, and Ty, you have all been working hard to be such good helpers to your Mom and Dad, I am so proud of you.

          This year I have something very important to tell you.  As Santa Claus, I have a very special job.  Christmas is such a wonderful time of year, for it’s the time we remember when Jesus Christ was born.   Christmas is the time to celebrate our Savior and to help share His love.  Heavenly Father wants all of His children to know how much He loves them and how much Jesus loves them.  Unfortunately, there are many who have forgotten this.  This is the special job Heavenly Father has given me: to help the world remember Jesus this time of year.  I hope when people think of gifts at Christmas, they remember the greatest gift we have ever been given- our Savior Jesus Christ.  So this year, I want to work extra hard to do my job and help you remember why we celebrate Christmas. 

          When Jesus was born, there were three wise men who came to see Him.  They each brought Him a gift.  Do you know why they were wise men?  Because they knew exactly who Jesus was and how very special He was.  They knew that He would show us the way to live and that someday He would die for us so we could live with Him and Heavenly Father again.  The wisest people in the world are those who look for and follow Jesus.  So this year, you will each be getting 3 gifts from me to help you remember the wise men who found the Savior.  I pray that each of you will continue to follow Jesus and keep making good choices this next year.  So guess who I am sending to come to your house?  Brumphy!  He is so excited to be back at your house!  He loves the Israelsen house because he knows they are such a special family.  He has a very important assignment from me this year.  First of all, whenever you see Brumphy, I want you to remember that we are celebrating Jesus this Christmas season.  And when you think of Jesus, you will want to make good choices and choose the right.  When Brumphy sees all the good things you do, he will report back to me.  I can’t wait to hear of all the wonderful things you will do!  

          Thank you for being such a great family.  I love you and am so excited to bring you 3 gifts this year, just like the wise men brought to Jesus.  I am most excited to hear all the good things you do!

Much Love,

Santa Claus

  

7th Heaven

I'm afraid I have a major birthday lover in my crew.  To say Kenna was excited for her birthday last week is a major understatement.  Perhaps an appropriate word would be elation?  We have (or rather, she has) been counting down for her birthday pretty much since Allie's birthday in August.  The day finally came and we now have a 7-year-old in the house.  The requests for the day:

For breakfast, pancakes with sausage and bacon.  Yum.

For her gift, she really wanted some Stompeez slippers-the unicorn ones to be exact.  The eyes pop up when she walks:

She had a little pile of gifts waiting for her on the table when she got home from school.  She kept looking at them and tried her hardest to refrain from ripping in to them so she could wait for Dad to get home from work to join in all the fun.  You see, brand new 7-year-olds can exert great patience.  She waited.  And waited.  And finally just couldn't stand it anymore so opened up "just one" gift.  The smallest one, of course.  Then about a half hour past, and she kept staring at the rest of them.  Trying to keep from drooling.  Then just couldn't wait any longer and opened another.  To sum it all up, basically about a half hour before Dad got home she had them all opened.  The problem was Dad had told her in the morning that she could go ahead and open them before he got home, so that was just rolling around in her brain taunting her!

For some evening birthday entertainment, Kenna wanted to go.....drumroll please....rollerskating!  A friend had a birthday party at the roller rink a few weeks prior, and ever since Kenna had been beyond excited to take the family skating for her birthday.  Fortunately, on a Thursday evening, we basically had the rink to ourselves.  Which is best, because a certain member of the family HATED rollerskates:

We now know Ty does not like roller skating.  However, take off his skates and let him run around and chase us all over the rink?  Now that is more his style.

The girls were sure troopers, bruises and all.

We topped off the birthday festivities with some birthday "k"ake and ice cream.  A "K" shaped chocolate cake with strawberry frosting, as per birthday girl request.  Dad got a little to anxious to get it served up before we could sing and blow out the candle, so we had to put a few slices back together for a pic.

Happy Birthday Kenna D!  I will forever remember the very first day you joined our family.  It was so fun (albeit a bit exhausting) to share another birthday with you!  Looking forward to number 8. 

And since little Lexi Lou didn't get a picture, I have a darn cute one to throw in the mix here.  She loves to use her elbows to push herself up in her chair and sit up straight and tall.  Such a cutie!  I just love how her little ears poke out.  At her 6 month check up last week, we learned this little future basketball player is in the 99.25 percentile for her height.  Way to go Lulu!