Christmas 2010

This year's Christmas was a little smaller than your usual Greenman Christmas, usually consisting of my parents, grandpa, the Greenman children, their spouses, and screaming grandchildren. While this year we only had one Greenman grandchild, a couple siblings, and were missing my sweet mother, we still had a great Christmas with lots and lots of love and a ton of presents. My sister Michelle and her family were having a white Christmas in ID (something new for them, being from AZ and growing up in CA), my sister Kimberly's family was having fun in WA, and the Welty's were soaking up the sun in Hawaii. We being the poor young family didn't get to go to Hawaii, but were living vicariously through many picture text messages being sent.

So Brian, Jackson and I, Scott and Brittany, Chris, Nicole, my dad, and grandpa spent our Christmas in Atascadero. One of our traditions is to have someone tell the story of the Cornhusk Doll on Christmas Eve. My grandma used to do it, then when she passed away my mom took over, and last Christmas my mom was too sick to do it so Kimberly told. This year with none of those people here I told the story and was honored to take over for my wonderful grandma and mom. My grandpa also told the story of Christ's birth, reading several scriptures from the New Testament. I remember when I was little I used to dress up as the angel while he told this story, my brothers would dress up as shepards, and whatever sister of mine had a young baby at the time would dress up as Mary and Joseph and baby Jesus. This year we didn't dress up but I hope to continue this tradition with my children because it is so fun and is a little reminder of what we're really celebrating.

Nicole is such an amazing aunt!

 Playing Jackson's favorite game peek-a-boo Christmas morning

 Scott and Brittany

 As unflattering as this picture is of me, I had to post our matching helmets! Brian and I love snowboarding together, but you really can't be too careful because accidents happen even to the most skilled snowboarders so we went in on matching helmets! We've seriously considered taking my Aunt Kathy's advice and wear them around the house all the time!

 Chris was sweet enough to help Jackson open up his presents

 The Welty's

 This was Jackson's big Christmas present, a new jumper! He loves to jump around and if you hold him up to stand he will inevitably start jumping up and down. While we love helping him jump, it can get pretty tiring on the arms so we figured a jumper would be the perfect Christmas gift! Grandma and Grandpa Welty and Grandpa Jim all went in on it and so far he absolutely loves it!

 Last year was my favorite Christmas of all time. Even though Brian and I put a spending limit on what we bought for each other and my mom was sick in a hospital bed, for the first time it wasn't about the presents. It was about being with family and spending those last days with my mother. Brian and I agreed that even though it wasn't the biggest Christmas the feeling in the room was so spiritual and we felt true happiness simply being with our family and taking turns laying in bed with my mom. I was about 17 weeks pregnant in these pictures and one of my favorite things was to have my mom put her hand on my stomach, even though we couldn't even feel Jackson kicking yet. This Christmas wasn't quite the same without my mom telling the story of the Cornhusk Doll, singing "Jolly Old Saint Nicholas", or handing out Christmas presents to everyone that morning. I'm just so thankful for how close my family is and I feel that my mom's passing has just strengthened those bonds even further. We hate that she missed so many important things in 2010 like the birth of Jackson, Kim's son Dallin, Michelle getting pregnant, Scotty getting engaged and married, and Chris getting engaged. We all know she's with us in spirit though and we know she was with us this Christmas, singing Jolly Old Saint Nicholas from Heaven.