Merry Christmas from the Jensons

2011 in a Nutshell

• Tom is now working for CenturyLink (because Qwest was bought), and keeps busy in creative pursuits. He is still taking care of the church building.  

• Ann stopped working after the last school year and has enjoyed having more time for home, family and calling. She loved participating in the “Hymns of Thanksgiving” (a community choir/orchestra concert in November)

• John and Laney have moved to Teton, Idaho, and are preparing for school to start. Laney is the manager of the Arctic Circle in Rexburg.

• Tim served in Windsor, NS; Amherst, NS and St. Stephen, NB this year. St. Stephen was a repeat since it was his first area. He is now in St. John, New Brunswick which is the largest city in NB. He is loving his mission.

• James is a junior and recently got his driving permit. He enjoys (?) driving mom and dad around town.

• Hannah is first chair in the cello section. She is a sophomore this year.

• Tom and Ann celebrated their 25^th wedding anniversary.

  

We hope this Christmas season finds you well

and enjoying the blessings of our Heavenly Father.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Love, The Jensons

Christmas traditions aren't complete without...

homemade chocolates (peanut butter truffles and oreo truffles)

Gingerbread houses! This is the one we sent Tim. He still hasn't opened the package.

Hannah's

My house 

Tom's 

James'

Pre-Mission Tradition

LAGOON!!!

Wicked

The Merry Go Round

The old rollar coaster

Musical Express

Colossus

The Conquering Heroes

Airplanes

The Scrambler

Sky Coaster---He loved it. I got my thrill for the day just watching him do it.

The Samuri---Tom says never again

Rattlesnake Rapids---They had the water running faster this year. I got drenched.

What a fun day! Time to go home...(or to visit the Grubers!)

12 Days of Christmas and the BIG day

Day 10...we watched another Christmas movie..."It's a Wonderful Life"...and the kids "camped out" in the family room.

Day 11...we were supposed to read stories, but just hung out playing games together, etc. James Cluff came to stay with us for a couple days so we spent time visiting with him.

Day 12...We finished the Christmas Advent Book, watched "Mr. Kruegar's Christmas" and snacked. The kids opened one gift each and a gift for the family. That one was Cranium for Families...much easier than the other one. We all gathered around and played a game of Cranium together.

THE BIG DAY

We had a wonderful time. On Dec 23 Big James arrived and stayed with us until yesterday evening. It was great to have him here with us. He will be in Japan for the next three years. John hasn’t seen him for 1 ½ years and then the next 3. Here’s Big James in his uniform. James told us not to buy him any presents, but we couldn’t do that. We couldn’t expect him to leave while we did things without him either. After all, he is one of the family.



All month we have been reading a scripture, story and singing a song at night which has kept our minds on the real meaning of Christmas. The kids have looked forward to it every day and often asked, “Mom, when are we doing SSSP?” The “p” was for prayer.

Hannah was sick all Christmas eve. I don’t know what she ate or what kind of bug she had. Fortunately, she felt better in the evening and was feeling wonderful on Christmas day. This is a picture of her with her friend from the fourth grade. Maleigh moved to Oregon a couple years ago, but was in town for visiting.

Yesterday morning started out in the traditional Jenson way. Tom got up at 8 am and put the breakfast casserole in the oven. Then we started getting through the shower…first Tom and then me. We finally sat down to breakfast at 9:30 am, and read 3 Nephi 11 as we finished eating.

Then we opened gifts. Each person has one small gift in their stocking which they investigate first. All the gifts under the tree have only numbers on them. One person starts by choosing a present and giving it to the person it belongs to. I have the master list. The only rule is they can’t choose one of their own and if they do I tell them that one has to wait. Then each person unwraps their gift and chooses the next one.

I made new quilts for James and Hannah this year. Hannah is showing hers off and James has his wrapped around him.

Here is Tom in the duct tape tie Tim made for him.

Big James is opening one of his gifts. We gave him a card with a photo of all of us (including him) that was taken before he left for basic training. We also gave him a rubic’s cube key chain and a wallet to put his picture in. I told him we wouldn’t be offended if he couldn’t use the gifts, but he enjoyed them and appreciated them.





This was one of the family gifts. The kids like to unwrap those ones all together.

This was the first “broken” toy…the basketball kept getting stuck in the hoop because it was frozen.

Of course, one of the best parts was talking to John on the phone. He is doing great and having a very successful mission. They are teaching a young man who will be baptized tomorrow. John said they found a three piece suit in their apartment that must have belonged to a previous missionary. They took it to this young man and it fit perfectly, so now he has a suit to wear to church. John gets to call 4 times…on Christmas and Mother's day both years. He has only one call left...next Mother's day and then he will be home! Can't believe how fast it has gone.

This is John’s girlfriend. As soon as John called Big James called Jess to let her know and she was here in seconds it seemed like.



Our driveway is wide enough for two cars, but there is quite a drop from the driveway to the street. So we like to let the snow and ice build up in the base of the driveway so it will be smooth for once. Right now it isn’t packed down very well and when Big James’ friend came to get him she got stuck in our driveway. Tom, Big James, Tim and James went out to get her unstuck. Then we said our goodbyes. Big James calls me “Third mom.” He told Tim to stop growing or he’d be taller than him. Tim just smiled and said, “That would be cool.”

These photos are of our back yard. Tom thought the snow on the trees and bushes looked so pretty in the sunlight.

The two best gifts I received...

I love gifts because they make me feel loved, but I really enjoy giving them because I can show my love through them.

My sister Nancy gave me a belt pack thing with a pedometer on the buckle so I can carry my mp3 player while I’m exercising or walking.


The best gift was from Tom. My grandpa Housley (mom’s dad) used to make beautiful clocks out of wood cross cut off the stump of trees. He would varnish them until they were glossy and smooth, and then attach a clock face and works. I always wanted one of those clocks and years ago I got a couple cuts of wood from my aunt. I’ve had the clock works for ages, but never got around to doing it. I needed someone to help me drill the holes I needed in the wood. So, Tom snuck my pieces of wood to someone (I haven’t asked who yet) and had a clock made for me. He gave the man the other piece of wood for his labor. Here it is:

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and have a Happy and Prosperous New Year!

More Twelve Days of Christmas

Day 7...

We dipped all the candy centers.



Day 8...

We made the gingerbread houses.



Starting out.



Linda



James



Tom, Hannah and Tim

***************

Here are the finished products.

Tom's

Hannah's

James'

Linda's

Mine

Tim's

If you look closely you will see a fish theme. Tom put a Swedish fish over his door. James' gingerbread man has a fishing pole and they talked me into putting a couple fish on the barby. LOL...it's better than the year I bought chocolate covered bananas and raisins. It didn't take long for our kids to decide the bananas and raisins were reindeer droppings that year. I've never bought them again.

Day 9...

Was supposed to be caroling, but only one other family came and we decided that since the kids were enjoying the snow so much we'd stay inside, chat and play a game.

On the fourth, fifth and sixth days of Christmas...

Day 4...

We watched a movie. Ok, it wasn't actually a full length movie. The boys went to the church to play dodgeball and returned home around 9 pm. So we watched the 25 minute film of "The Other Wise Man."

Day 5...

The kids all went to YM/YW, and I made candy with a friend. We put in "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and "Horton Hears a Who" (the old cartoon versions) for her kids and we chatted and cooked up a storm. We made one batch of caramels, one batch of mint patties and one batch of coconut bars. We'll be dipping them for Day 7.

Day 6...

We're supposed to play games tonight, but Tom is at a meeting. Tim is playing computer games. I'm updating the blog, checking emails, sending cards...lol. James is laying around and Hannah is reading. I think I'll find a game we can play quickly now it's 9:30 pm and then send them to bed.

Here's to hoping for a snow day tomorrow!

On the first, second, third days of Christmas...

This tradition is a carry over from things we did while I was growing up. I've changed some of the activities (since going to see the lights as Temple Square is kind of hard to do when you live in Boise).

Here's what we've done so far...

On the first day of Christmas...

We made gingerbread for the houses we'll make later on.

Cutting out the gingerbread after it's baked.

Now they get to age for a week...They need at least a few days to be easier to work with.

The kids' best part...the scraps.

John's girlfriend does a house from a kit and then brings it to us. This is the second year she's done it.

On the second day of Christmas...

We made the kids' ornaments.

Our first Christmas a tree was given to us and we decorated it with popcorn and a borrowed strand of lights and a sheet as the tree skirt. Then I started making ornaments for our tree and soon I started making one ornament for each child each year. By the time I am done they will have more than 24 ornaments for their first trees. I hope their spouses will appreciate the ornaments and that they will use them at least during the lean years in the beginning.

James gluing.

Hannah gluing. James holding an ornament up.

Here's John's collection so far. I have six more days of Christmas to complete the set and I'll do one for his mission. Then his will be done.

On the third day of Christmas...

We attended Hannah's orchestra concert.

She loves playing the cello.

It looked like she was doing very well.

I'll post about more as the days go by.