Nativity

I have to tell you that my Dad's family (the Palmer's) are not really big into the Christmas thing where religion is concerned. I don't remember very many times even hearing the Christmas story out of the Bible with Palmers. But this year Grandpa and Grandma had a party at their house. The grandkids did a nativity. Thank you to my aunt Susan for the costumes. The kids had a great time and Kimmie has been trying to talk everyone she knows into doing the nativity with her. Johnny and Kimmie made great a great Mary and Joseph. Baby Jesus was played by my cousins baby Timothy.

Christmas Letter goof up

I was in a mood when I wrote this year's Christmas letter as you can see. Although with this mood came a few weird things. Including a few things that I need to apologize for.

Christmas eve I gave Jeanette our Christmas letter and she freaked out after reading the first line. She also found my typo at the end it is suppose to say with love and affection. So Jeanette gets the star for pointing out my mistake! Also sorry to Erik for being hard on you (my brother-in-law said I was too mean).

SORRY! I guess I will chalk up this years letter to being too tired when writing. I will have to get a proof reader before sending next years letter.

Christmas Clothes

My mom is famous for getting my kids new Christmas church clothes. This is this years outfits! They look so cute!!! I can't believe how big they are getting.

Bingham Alumni Choir

Yes, I did put on their choir. Minus a few rare occasions I haven't sung in public very much since high school. As I posted a few months ago. Bingham high school (where I gradated from way to many years ago to post) had their 100 year celebration. A bunch of us got together and performed at the annual Candlelight concert on Saturday. I had a wonderful time. I don't think I have thought that much about high school in years. I really started to look forward to rehearsals. Our choir teacher from back in the days LeAnna Willmore lead two of the three numbers that we did. The performance was great! I think I even saw a standing ovation at the end of the third number! Although the lights were in my eyes so I could have been imagining things. We also sang with the choirs during the traditional Hallelujah chorus (photoed here). Thank you Bethany for these photos. My camera's batteries died. Thank you also to those that put this together I really had a wonderful time! Thank you also to my husband for taking care of my kids and helping me so that I can do this. I appreciate all you did to help with this. It really put me in the spirit of Christmas again. The other photo is one of those of us who sang in the choir together in high school that participated in this fun opportunity. I also learned something again. If I rehearse enough I can still hit a high C!!!

This years Christmas letter

Dear Family and Friends,

Well, Erik quit his job of 12 years at Target, we sold our house, pulled the kids out of school, and are moving to a commune in Montana to grow organic food, raise animals, and live in peace with the universe. Ok, maybe not . . . we changed our minds once we realized there was no indoor plumbing. Truthfully, we sold our home and moved to another home in West Jordan. We are still in boxes (therefore no cute homemade Christmas cards this year) but we are enjoying more space. We wanted to start this letter with something more interesting than "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!" (It still got in!).

For those of you saying "but Kris, your Christmas letter is the most exciting part of my family's Christmas celebration and we look forward to it with joyful glee and anticipation" - OK . . . this section's for you . . . the usual facts/stats about kids, etc. - or, as Erik says, "the blah, blah part."
You are welcome to skip this section and jump to the "with love" part if you want.

Hansen family 2008 facts and stats (read in a monotone, it gives you the full effect).

Erik: is still at Target and after 12 years he got demoted then promoted and now is back in charge of electronics where he loves it! He is missing our calling as the Young Single Adult reps in our old ward and is looking forward to new experiences in our new area.

Kris: Still works for Intermountain Power Agency part time. I am also the President of Epilepsy Association of Utah. I am still enjoying the working with the summer camp and Crop Because You Care. I have had the opportunity to speak in a few different places this year and am scheduled to do a lot more speaking next year. I also worked really closely with the legislatures to pass HB361.

Kimmie: Is now doing well. She is now in 5th grade. She is learning to read and is now “large” seizure free for the past eight weeks (knock on wood here please). The doctors are really impressed at how well she is doing. We had the opportunity to meet with Dr. Chiron from France in August at the International Dravet Education Conference in Chicago. Aunt Lara came the last couple days of the conference to play with Kimmie. They had a great time. We are incredibly grateful for the friends and family that did so much to get us there. It has made a huge difference in her life the past few months! She is also starting to read!

Johnny: Is now in Kindergarten, and is doing well. He has a few girls that he likes although no girlfriends yet (he is way too young for that). He is loving being in school and learning. The teacher tells us that he is incredibly tender hearted and amazingly smart. He is incredibly shy at school although none of the rest of us see that side of him. He is looking forward to a full day of school next fall (Mom is looking forward to that as well). He is also learning to read and is enjoying helping his sister with the reading process. He started playing tee-ball this past year and loved it. He can’t wait until spring so that he can try soccer.

Ok . . . now before you go to sleep we do wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year in 2009!

With Love and Affliction,

Erik, Kris, Kimmie and Johnny

Johnny's School Again

Okay this has not been the greatest thing in the world. All the drama associated with Johnny's decision to stay at the same school all down the drain. The principal wouldn't sign the papers to keep Johnny at MS until the end of the year. I was so frustrated. He had already said he would then he wouldn't. We apparently there is a new law. So he couldn't. With some major HELP I got Johnny's new school to put him in AM kindergarten! I got his old school to agree to keep him there until Christmas. It has been a total nightmare and a half. But the short of the whole long thing is thank you to those who helped me figure this one out and get Johnny's school taken care of.

Festival of Trees

Every year Kimmie's school class attends that Festival of Trees. The kids really have a great time. Erik and I seem to be taking turns every year and going with their class. So here are photos of Kimmie at the Festival of Trees!!!

Christmas Tree Dress

I really don't understand this thing that my mom and Kimmie have. I love it although I don't really understand it. My mom has always been really good at making dresses. Kimmie is such a girlly girl that she is the recipient of many of her creations. In fact Kimmie has a hard time wearing any dress that Aunt Lara hasn't bought or Grandma hasn't made. My Dad asked me to stop the two of them about this time last year. I asked him which one started it and which on is willing to end it. With that being said Kimmie is the receipent of two dresses a year, an Easter dress and a Christmas dress. Plus anything else the two of them come up with. About three or four years ago my mom made Kimmie a dress that has Eggs on it for any Easter party that Kimmie goes too. Well this year Kimmie asked for a Christmas tree dress to wear to parties. First of all how many parties does this child go too and who needs a Christmas tree dress and what in the world is that anyway? So here is a bad photo of my kids but my mom's latest creation the Christmas tree dress.

Black Friday

Yes, I am one of those crazy shoppers that went out on black friday!!! Erik had to work it and Bethany and I wanted to shop so Jarin took care of all six kids. Thank you Jarin!!! We brought him pizza as a thank you! Bethany and I had a great time. I got so many good deals! I am almost all the way done. I have a few things left to get for my kids but not much. I also have only three individuals of the 15 we buy for between both families left. We weren't crazy enough to go out at 4 or 5 am. Although Erik had to be at work at 4. This year he was not harmed in anyway execpt being overly tired by working Black Friday for 13 hours! About ten years ago when a certain elmo was the rage he got in the middle of two Grandma's fighting over one. For some reason this years madness seemed to be worse than in years past. I don't know if the economy being so bad spared people to run over a individual and kill him or what.

Then my evening came! Once a year my family gets together to honor my aunt Ann and we go do sealings at the Temple. This was a far cry from the shopping I had done earlier in the day. It was an amazing experience like it always is. Thank you to my family for having such a neat tradition. Ann is definately watching and smiling at all of us!