Christmas of 2011…… What a wonderful time of year to celebrate Christ’s birth, remember Him, and His sacrifice for us! Colton and I had a unique Christmas this year, probably the last time this will ever happen again, but we had 4 Christmas’s.
Reflecting upon this past holiday Thanksgiving, sharing time with both families was very overwhelming for me… thinking that our Christmas was going to be very similar, I walked into the holiday with very low expectations and low hopes. But to my surprise, the Holiday turned out to be one of the most memorable holidays!
Saturday morning we had the privilege to spend Christmas Eve with Colton’s family! We arrived, played games, and then were graced with a spiritual uplifting thought from Dix Baines, encouraging us to have a greater faith and desire to be better! Then we opened presents…. Traditions in Colton’s family are different from my family, for example in your individual stockings each gift is wrapped with a certain wrapping paper, this indicates which wrapping paper your gifts are wrapped in and placed under the tree. It was so much fun partaking in this tradition anticipating which big boxes were yours lol. We then proceeded to open gifts… I feel completely loved because this family took me in, as their own, taking me under their wing, extending great amounts of love. They even got me thoughtful gifts!! It sure was fun. Then we opened gifts given to each other… The most memorable gift was from Rachel Baines, she put so much thought and love into her gift that I felt loved! Thank you Rachel for taking so much time making me such a beautiful gift!
After opening up gifts all morning we ate one of the greatest meals…… “Finger Food!”
Then we proceeded to Grandpa and Grandma Baines’ Christmas party that evening. What an incredible spiritual night that was! We first enjoyed a delicious Baines Christmas meal, followed by Santa visiting with candy canes. After everyone sat on Santa’s lap the Spiritual program proceeded. We first heard from Colton who read the story of Christ’s Birth touching every heart in the room with the Spirit of Christ. Then I had the opportunity to sing one of my favorite songs “Breath of Heaven”, which I was very grateful for!!! Then Grandma Baines spoke to us about journals and how important keeping one is (so here I am really trying to keep up on it). Then we had the opportunity to hear from Grandpa Baines who really touched our hearts with his stories of his father, and strong testimony of the Gospel!!!! What a great meeting!! The floor was then opened for the rest of the family to bear testimony….. One by one, each family member bore a strong witness of Christ and their conviction toward him!!! The spirit was so powerful that I was brought to many tears of joy and moved to speak freely of my love and dedication to the Lord!
After a powerful Christmas Eve Celebration, we then opened presents from Grandma and Grandpa Baines!! They are the kindest people, Louise spent so much time searching high and low for presents for us, how thoughtful! Colton and I received clothes, along with all the other grandchildren! This sure was a special night….. and to top everything off, we listened to great Grandma Baines speak about her life recorded on a tape. This is one of my most unforgettable Christmas Eve’s that I have ever had!! I will cherish this memory forever with a great desire for my own children to witness the same sweet Christ feelings of Christmas!!
Christmas morning quickly came as the sound of my alarm clock wrung in my ear waking me up, reminding me that I was still exhausted from the night before and not quite awake….. reaching for my alarm clock, after a few moments, realizing that 8 o’clock in the morning had arrived and my brother was calling from his mission! The trigger of anticipation and excitement to hear my brother, Rhett’s voice, and talk with him finally woke me up. After getting connected with the conference call, I was able to hear how Rhett, I mean Elder Oler was doing and hear stories of the miracles happening daily on his mission. Listening to Elder Oler for an hour was fun, but I was excited to open the presents my husband and I got for each other…. So with a little convincing, I was able to get Colton out of bed and feel the excitement too!! Trading off opening presents, we revealed gifts of love and hard work!!
I was so pleased to see the gifts I received and watch Colton love the gifts I got him!!! I couldn’t have asked for anything more for our first Christmas together!! I just love my husband and am so grateful to have him in my life!!! I will never forget this day for it was such a 
blessing and witness to me 
that Heavenly Father loves me!After opening our gifts we raced quickly to get ready for church, for we were part of the Christmas Program! What an amazing program this was, Heavenly Father truly blessed Colton and I as we performed Silent Night as the closing number, Colton on the guitar and me singing….. The spirit was a powerful witness as we sang about our Savior being born!! After the Program, we ate and mingled with the members of our Ward! This was such a fun time to make new friends and rekindle the ones we have made. Not staying there long, we were off to our 4th Christmas with my family the Olers! We packed our presents, guitar and headed down south to my parents place. This was so much fun!!!! We enjoyed a wonderful meal together and then opened the many gifts under the massive tree! I just love watching the faces of family and friends open presents from us!! We loved all the wonderful thoughtful gifts given and closed our night with games and fun!!!!
This was my favorite Christmas that I have ever had because I had #1 The opportunity to spend this holiday with the person I love, Colton!!! #2 Feeling the Spirit of Christmas the entire weekend and what Christmas is all about! #3 Opening presents for 2 days straight, who wouldn’t want to do that!!!! #4 Watching those we love partake in unwrapping gifts of love and feeling the Spirit of Christmas!!! Thank you Heavenly Father for blessing me with such wonderful loving families, and helping me feel the true Spirit of Christmas!!! 
